THE DAIRY. 257 



hand, being cautious not to bruise or crumble it into fine pieces. Curd knives for horizontal 

 and perpendicular cutting of the curd are the best implements for this purpose, and much to 

 be preferred to hand breaking. After this is done, heat the whey that has been dipped off, 

 or an equal amount of water, to 150, and turn this over the curd so that all parts may be 

 scalded alike. Stir it carefully, so as not to wash out the richness of the curd. Cover 

 the curd again to prevent its cooling, and let it stand as long as it can without sticking 

 together, which will be about twenty minutes. Then the whey may be dipped off again, and 

 the curd drained on a strainer cloth over a basket, which will allow the whey to run off freely. 



In about half an hour, by occasional turning and cutting, it will be sufficiently cool to 

 be returned to the tub, chopped rather fine, so that the salt will distribute evenly, and salted 

 at the rate of about one ounce of salt to twelve quarts of milk used; the rule with some being 

 a teacup full of salt to a cheese weighing ten or twelve pounds. The salt should be evenly 

 mixed with the curd when cool, which is then dipped into the hoop having a cloth spread in 

 it. It should then be put to press, the pressure at first to be quite moderate for a few hours. 

 As soon as the curd unites together so that it can be handled, remove it from the press, put 

 in a dry press cloth, turn the cheese, and fold the cloth evenly, to make the surface of the 

 cheese as smooth as possible, and press again, until the press is wanted for another cheese, the 

 usual time for pressing being from eighteen to twenty-four hours. 



After taking it from the press, let it stand about two hours until the outside becomes a 

 little dried ; then rub it well with hot whey, butter, or other soft grease, turning and rubbing 

 it thus daily until cured, which will require from thirty to sixty days, according to the 

 amount of moisture it contains, and other conditions. Great care should be used not to 

 press the cheese too heavily, or a milky white liquid will flow, which will drain away the best 

 part of the cheese. 



Sage Cheese. The old-fashioned sage cheese, that was formerly considered such a 

 luxury, is sometimes seen in the market at present, and may be very easily made. For a 

 small cheese of about ten pounds weight, two handfuls of green sage and one handful of 

 parsley leaves are bruised and washed in new milk over night. When the milk is set next 

 morning, about one-third is set by itself with this colored milk added to it; the other two- 

 thirds of the milk is set, both being treated alike, as has been* just previously described in 

 making cheese on a small scale. When the curd is ready to go into the hoop, put in a layer 

 of the white curd; then a layer of the sage-colored curd; and so on. in alternate layers. In 

 pressing, the color is more or less distributed through the cheese, giving it a marbled appear 

 ance. Various flavors and colors are worked in by this method, wintergreen leaves, etc., 

 being sometimes used for this purpose. 



The Cheese Fly. This is a great nuisance in the cheese-room. Mr. Willard says: 

 &quot;Most dairymen understand pretty well the habits of the cheese-fly; many, however, do 

 not understand how to provide against its depredations. Some people profess to be fond of 

 a skippery cheese, and regard it as an index of what the English understand as a cheese 

 full of meat that is, rich in butter. And it must be confessed that the cheese-fly has a 

 great partiality for the best goods in the curing house. They do not so readily attack your 

 white oak and skim milk varieties; hence the notion that cheese infested with the fly is 

 rich in butter is not far out of the way. 



The primary cause of skippery cheese, of course, is want of care. Cheese in hot weather 

 should be closely examined every day; they require to be turned once a day to facilitate the 

 curing process; the bandages and sides are to be rubbed at the time of turning, in order to 

 brush off or destroy any nits of the fly which may happen to be deposited about the cheese. 

 If there are cracks in the rind, or if the edges of the bandage do not fit snugly, they should 

 at once be attended to, since it is at these points that the fly is most likely to make a safe 

 deposit of its eggs.&quot; 



