424 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch. XXXVII. 



rubbing the cheeses ; thirdly, the ripening of the cheeses is hastened, so 

 that on an average they are ready for market five weeks earlier than usual." 



The store-room should be kept temperately warm, and the shelves or 

 the floor upon which the cheeses are laid, should be strewed with dry 

 moss, or fine hay, as the cheeses, when new, are otherwise apt to adhere to 

 the boards, and thus acquire an unpleasant appearance. At a more ad- 

 vanced stage they may be laid upon straw"; but, at first, it would sink into 

 the surface and deface them. The dried leaves of the tutsan, or of the 

 yellow star of Bethlehem, and the twigs of the common birch-tree, arc also 

 thought to assist in preventing the depredations of mites*. 



The whey which rum from the curd, without pressure, is called " green 

 whey," and is received i'rom the cheese-tub into pans covered with a cloth, 

 under which they are held, until it deposits a sediment, which is added to 

 the curd, after which it is poured into the cistern ; while that which is 

 pressed by hand from the curd, is termed '' white whey," and contains a 

 considerable portion of oily matter: so much so, that it is in some cases 

 kept apart, and set for cream. Most generally, however, the green and 

 white are both scalded togetlier, until they throw up a substance in appear- 

 ance between cream and curd, which is skimmed oft" so long as it rises, to 

 be churned for whey-butter : the difference between which and milk-butter 

 is two-pence or three-pence per pound against the former. The whey is then 

 generally given to the pigs ; but some economical dairy-women put it on a 

 smart fire, and, when near boiling, mix it with a quantity of butter-milk, 

 and these fleetings, or " flit-milk," as it is called, form curds, which are 

 skimmed off', so long as they arise, for the use of the servants f. 



A material point in the manufacture of cheese of every description, and 

 one very imperfectly understood in this country, is the kind of salt com- 

 monly employed ; for although some attempts have been made by the late 

 Earl of Dundonald, Dr. Coventry, and a few others, to introduce a superior 

 quality, yet the generality of farmers use whatever sort they find at a 

 neighbouring sliop, without reflecting upon, or knowing, the dift'erence 

 which it may make in the flavour. This, however, is so much attended to 

 by dairy-men in Holland, that diflerent kinds of salt, evaporated in various 

 ways, and by different periods of time, are by them employed for butter and 

 cheese: the consequence of which is that the butter, thus made, is so free from 

 that bitter taste imparted by the acrid quality of our common salt, that, 

 although always thoroughly well preserved, it yet ever tastes nearly fresh. 

 It is said also, that they mix a solution of salt with the milk before churning, 

 as well as before coagulating it for cheese : for this, however, we cannot 

 vouch ; but we think it merits trial, and that men who are largely engaged 

 in dairy business would do well to import the species of salt we have men- 

 tioned from HollandJ. The proper quantity is also a subject which merits 

 investigation, as the putrescency or ripening of the cheese much depends 

 on it. 



It is not supposed that much improvement has taken place in the cheese- 

 making of this country during a great length of time ; though our " Stil- 

 ton," and in Scotland that known as the " Dunlop," which now bear a high 



* Parkinson on Live Stock, vol. i. chap. i. sect. 12. 



t Cheshire Report, p. 263. — The whey which remains from the curd is called " whig," 

 and when kept until it is sour, is drunk in the north of England with an infusion of mint 

 or other herbs, and is coiisidered very pleasant, as well as wholesome, in hot weather. 



X We learn that a Dr. Swedeaur, some years ago, established a manufactory of salt, in 

 imitation of that made in Holland, at Prestonpans, in Scotland: it was called "salt 

 upon salt"; but we do not know whether the concern is still carried on. 



