420 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch. XXXVII. 



to Cheshire than to any other county ; for although imitations of different 

 districts have been, in some cases, successfully made in others, yet in no 

 trial has cheese of the true Cheshire flavour been produced, when made 

 from cows fed upon other soils. Whether justly or not, it has been attri- 

 buted to the abundance of saline particles in the earth, as evinced by the 

 numerous salt-springs which abound throughout a large portion of that 

 country, and is so old a remark, that Fuller, in his " Worthies," when 

 speaking of the country, says, — " It doth afforde the best cheese for 

 quantitie and qualitie, and yet the cows are not, as in other shires, housed 

 in the winter. Some essaied in vaine to make the like in other places, 

 thoughe from thence they fetched tlieir kine and dairie-maides : it seems 

 they shoulde have fetched their grounde too, wherein is surelie some 

 occult excellencie in this kind, or else so goode cheese will not be 

 made." There must, indeed, be some truth in the observation, for it is 

 well known that where brine-springs most abound, the cheese is ever 

 esteemed to be of superior quality. Wliatever may be the foundation of 

 the fact, the quality is, however, always better when the cows are pastured 

 during the summer months ; but, provided they be well fed throughout the 

 winter, good cheese may be made the whole year round. 



RENNET. 



Although cheese may be made from the curd, which has been formed by 

 the coagulation of the milk when it turns sour, yet, when thus obtained, 

 it is hard and ill flavoured ; means have, therefore, been found to curdle it 

 with " rennet," which is made from the gastric juice of animals, but more 

 especially from that found in the maws or stomachs of sucking calves, that 

 have been fed entirely upon milk. These maws, or " veils," as they are 

 sometimes called, are occasionally preserved, along with the curd contained 

 in them, by salting; but the more usual mode is to employ the skins of the 

 stomach-bag-s alone : the method being to put a few handfuls of salt into 

 and around the stomachs, which are then rolled up and hung near the 

 chimney to dry, after which they are put by for a long time before they 

 are used. If the skin be good, a bit of it no bigger than a sixpence, 

 if put into a tea-cup full of water, with a little salt, during about twelve 

 hours before it is wanted, will form a stock sufficient for eighteen or 

 twenty gallons of milk ; but their manner of preservation and use is ex- 

 tremely various, and, as the quality of the cheese depends more upon the 

 application of the rennet than upon any other part of the manufacture, we 

 sliall here state some of the most approved modes of its preparation. 



Most dairy-maids are of opinion that if the curd, or chyle, were not 

 removed from the maw of the calf, it would communicate a harsh taste to 

 the cheese, and in Gloucestershire, we learn, from a very intelligent dairy- 

 woman, that she never uses the veils until they are twelve months old ; for, 

 if newer, the rennet made from them causes the cheeses to heave, or swell, 

 and to become full of eyes, or holes. We know also, from experience, 

 that, if too much be used, or if it be unusually strong, it will occasion the 

 cheese to heave ; probably, by causing- fermentation. She prepares it by 

 adding to every six veils two gallons of brine, and two lemons : the lemons 

 doing away with any unpleasant smell, and giving it an agreeable flavour. 

 A large quantity should be made at a time ; and it should never be used 

 until it has stood at least two months. In the same county, however, the 

 method recommended by the late Mr. Marshall, is as follows : — 



mlums offered by the Highland Society for the manufacture of various kinds of cheese.— 

 Trans, of the Soc; N. S.,' vol, i.^ 



