Ch. XXXVII.] ON CHEESE. 423 



both of which defects are injurious to its appearance and quality. The 

 rennet is then at once added to the milk, which is thus coagulated at its 

 natural heat ; but many farmers have not cows enough to form a cheese at 

 every milking, and it must, tlierefore, be then allowed to cool. In doing 

 this, it of course throws up cream, which is not unfrequently taken off for 

 butter, while the second meal, of whole milk, is used along with that which 

 has been already skimmed ; but if the cheese be intended to be of fine 

 quality, the cream must be also added. This, however, should be at the same 

 time skimmed ; for the milk, when cooled, must be afterwards heated to 

 lull 90° degrees of Fahrenheit, in the summer, and to a higher tempera- 

 ture in cold weather, and were the cream to be warmed to that degree, it 

 would be melted, which would cause a considerable portion of the fatty, or 

 butyraceous, matter to be lost in the whey: it is, therefore, generally thought 

 the best practice to gradually bring it to a liquid state by the admixture of 

 moderately warm milk, before it is poured into the cheese-tubs. The curd 

 is then broken into small pieces, and the whey being thoroughly squeezed 

 out, it is salted, wrapped in a cloth, and placed in a chessart, of such size 

 as may be convenient, or is usually made in the neighbourhood; it is then 

 pressed with weights proportionate to its size, and turned occasionally until 

 it becomes sufficiently firm to be taken out of the mould, and placed either 

 on a cheese-rack, or on the floor of the cheese-room, where it is occasionally 

 turned, and dry rubbed with salt, and remains until fit for market. 



New cheese requires to be hardened by gradually drying before it becomes 

 fit for market, and the cheeses, when taken out of the mould, are for this pur- 

 pose spread in a single layer on the floor of the cheese-loft, where they are 

 daily turned by hand, in order to expose each surface alternately to the air. 

 This, on a large dairy-farm, is a slow and laborious operation, which, as it 

 devolves upon the female servants, sometimes prevents them from paying 

 proper attention to that essential duty, A machine was therefore formed by 

 Mr. Blurton, of Field Hall, near Uttoxeter, for remedying the inconve- 

 nience, and the large silver medal of the Society for the Encouragement of 

 Arts was awarded to the invention. It is called a " Swing-Frame for 

 more expeditiously Drying Cheeses ;" and is made in the following man- 

 ner : — 



" It consists of a dozen strong shelves framed together, and having bars nailed from 

 top to bottom of one side of the back of the shelves, in order to prevent the cheeses from 

 falling out while in the act of turning. The frame is suspended on two strong pivots, 

 one of which is let into the wall of the room, and the other is supiiorted by a strong post. 

 Two catches keep the frame upright, and prevent it from benig turned more than half 

 round. By first tilling the shelf nnmediately below the axis of the frame, and then plac- 

 ing tlie cheeses alternately on the two nearest shelves above and below that which has 

 been already filled, the preponderance of one side over the other can never be more than 

 the weight of one cheese; the whole power, therefore, required to turn the machine can- 

 not, in any circumstances, be greater than this and the friction of the pivots. The cheeses, 

 in the act of turning, drop on those shelves, which, in the former position of the frame, 

 were above them, and, having been exposed to a current of air for twenty-four hours pre- 

 vious, have become perfectly dry." 



It has now been for several years employed in Leicestershire ; and it is 

 said, " that by means of it fifty-five cheeses are turned in the same time 

 which is required for turning two by hand. Three other advantages attend 

 its use ; first, that a room thus furnished will hold thrice as many cheeses 

 as when they are laid on the floor ; secondly, that the shade aff'orded by the 

 shelves, together with the current of air which passes between them, lias the 

 effect, in hot weather, of preventing excessive sweating, and consequently 

 loss both in weight and quality, as vvell as diminishing the necessity of 



