314 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE, 



be chopped fine, and thus more of the oily matter is retained. 

 On the same principle, in making the Stilton cheese, the curd 

 is not cut or broken at all, but is pressed gently and with care 

 till the whey gradually drains out. Thus the butter and the 

 curd remain intermixed, and the rich cheese of Stilton is the 

 result. Thus while it is of importance that all the whey 

 should be extracted from the curd, yet the quickest way 

 may not be the best. More time and care must be bestowed 

 in order to effect this object, the richer the cheese we wish to 

 obtain. The quality of the milk or of the pastures may often 

 be blamed for the deficiencies in the richness or other quali- 

 ties of cheese, which are in reality due to slight but material 

 differences in the mode of manufacturing it. The kind of salt 

 used is considered by many to have some effect upon the taste 

 of the cheese. Thus the cheese of Gerome, in the Vosges, is 

 supposed to derive a peculiar taste from the Lorena salt with 

 which it is cured. In Holland, also, the efficacy of one kind 

 of salt over another for the curing of cheese is generally 

 acknowledged. 



The mode in which the salt is applied. In making the large 

 Cheshire cheeses the dried curd, for a single cheese of 60 

 Ibs., is broken down fine and divided into three equal por- 

 tions. One of these is mingled with double the quantity of 

 salt added to the others, and this is so put into the cheese- vat 

 as to form the central part of the cheese. By this precau- 

 tion the after-salting on the surface is sure to penetrate deep 

 enough to cure effectually the less salted parts. In the 

 counties of Gloucester and Somerset the curd is pressed 

 without salt, and the cheese, when formed, is made to absorb 

 the whole of the salt afterwards through its surface. This 

 is found to answer well with the small and thin cheeses 

 made in these counties, but were it adopted for the large 

 cheeses of Cheshire and Dunlop, or even for the pine-apple 

 cheeses of Wiltshire, there can be no doubt that their qua- 

 lity would frequently be injured. It may not be impossible 

 to cause salt to penetrate into the very heart of a larg$ 

 cheese, but it cannot be easy in this way to salt the whole 

 cheese equally, while the care and attention required must 

 be greatly increased. 



Addition of cream or butter to the curd. Another mode of 

 improving the quality of cheese is by the addition of cream 

 or butter to the dried and crumbled curd. Much diligence, 

 however, is required fully to incorporate these, so that the 

 cheese may be uniform throughout. Still this practice gives 



