428 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch. XXXVII. 



into waim whey, where it stands an hour or more for the purpose of 

 hardening its coat. At six o'clock in the evening the cheese is again 

 turned in the vat into another clean cloth, and some dairy-women 

 prick its upper surface all over an inch or two deep with a view of 

 preventing blisters*. At six o'clock in the following morning it is 

 again turned in the vat, with a clean cloth as before, and the skewers 

 are laid aside: it is also turned two or three times more, both morn- 

 ing and evening, at the last of which finer cloths are used than those 

 at first, in order that as little impression as possible may be made on 

 its coat. 



After the cheese has remained about forty-eight hours under the 

 press, it is taken out, a fine cloth being used merely as a lining to the 

 vat, without covering the upper part of the cheese, which is then 

 placed nearly mid-deep in a salting- tub, its upper surface being 

 covered all over with salt. It stands there generally about three days; 

 is turned daily, and at each turning well salted, the cloth being 

 chano-ed twice in the time. It is then taken out of the vat, in lieu of 

 which a wooden girth, or hoop, is made use of, equal in breadth to the 

 thickness nearly of the cheese, and in this it is placed on the salting 

 bench, where it stands about eight days, being well salted all over, 

 and turned eacli day. The cheese is then washed in lukewarm water, 

 and after being wiped, is placed on the drying bench, where it remains 

 about seven days : it is then again washed and dried as before, and 

 after it has stood about two hours, it is smeared all over with about 

 two ounces of sweet whey butter, and then placed in the warmest part 

 of the cheese-room t. 



While it remains there it is, during tlie first seven days, rubbed 

 every day all over, and generally smeared with sweet butter ; after 

 which it should for some time be turned daily, and rubbed three times 

 a week in summer, and twice in winter. The labour is jjerformed 

 almost universally by women, and that in large dairies where the 

 cheeses are sometimes, upon an average, upwards of I-IO lbs. each. 

 The details of this process, it will, however, be observed, apply only to 

 cheeses of 60 lbs. weight, and the quantity of salt used to them is uncer- 

 tain ; the greatest of which Mr. Holland knows is about 3 lbs. each, but 

 much of it is wasted, and whether the cheese acquires much saltness in 

 the salting-house, dairymen themselves are doubtful, though much salt is 

 there expended. Respecting the heating of the milk, the practice must 

 evidentlv vary according to the weather ; and although it is Ids opinion, 

 as well as that of Marshall and other well-known writers, that it most 

 requires warming wlien produced upon poor clay lands, and that upon 

 rich soils it will not bear much heating, yet that is contradicted by Alton, 

 who says, " he never understood that the milk of cows so fed, or even 

 upon wild, waste land, or moss, requires to be heated more than that of 

 cows fed in the warmest valleys, or on the richest haughs in our best cul- 



* This, however, if they occur, can be remedied hy opening them with a penknife, 

 and pcmring hot water into the incision ; then press down the outer rind, put on a litlle 

 salt, and place a piece of slate with a half-pound weight upon it. 



f On the cheese coming into the salting-house, it is, in some dairies, taken out of the 

 vat, and after its sides are well rubbed with salt, is returned into the vat with a clean 

 fresh cloth under it : the top being covered with salt, it is placed on the salting benches, 

 turned and sailed twice a-day, and the cloth changed every second day. On the salt- 

 ing benches it is continued seven or eight days, when it is taken out of the vat, and 

 with a wooden hoop, or cheese-fillet, round it, is put into the salting tub and managed 

 as before described, 



