990 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



morning's milk being mixed with that of the preceding evening, previously warmed. The general weight 

 is sixty pounds each cheese. 



6353. Dunlop cheese, so named from the parish of Dunlop in Ayrshire, where it was originally made ; 

 the whole of the cream "goes with the card ; the cheeses are from twenty to sixty pounds weight, and no 

 coloring matter is used. A cheese in every respect similar is made in Derbyshire, excepting that these 

 last are generally of a smaller size. 



6354. Gloucester cheese is in very considerable demand from its mild taste, which suits most palates, es- 

 pecially those of the young and of simple habits : there are two kinds, double and single, the first made 

 from the milk and cream, and the latter with the milk deprived of about half the cream : the latter are of 

 course the least valuable; butas they may be often mistaken for the former, upright dairymen, Marshal 

 observes, impress a heart-shaped stamp upon them to distinguish them from the former. They are made 

 of various sizes, from twenty to seventy, or even eighty pounds weight, but generally /rom fifty to sixty 

 pounds. 



6355. Green, or sage cheese, is made by steeping over night in a proper quantity of milk, two parts of 

 sage, one part of marigold leaves, and a little parsley, after they have been bruised. On the following 

 morning, Vne greened milk is strained off, and mixed with about one third of the whole quantity intended 

 to be run or coagulated. The green and white milks are run separately, the two curds being kept apart 

 until they be ready for vatting : these may be mixed, either evenly and intimately, or irregularly and 

 fancifully, according to the pleasure of the manufacturer. The management is the same as for common 

 cheese. Green cheeses are made in the vale of Gloucester, as also in Wiltshire. 



6356. Lincolnshire cheese is made by adding the cream of one meal's milk to that which comes immedi- 

 ately from thecow ; it is pressed gently two or three times, and is turned for a fewdays previously to being 

 used. It is chiefly made in spring, but the richest is that made in autumn. It will not keep above 

 three months. 



6357. Norfolk cheese is made from the whole of ^the milk and cream ; the size is from thirty to fifty 

 pounds ; it is generally colored yellow, and is reckoned a good keeping cheese, 



6358. Soft, or slip-coat cheese, is made from new milk hot from the cow, and the afterings ; and what 

 is required to make one pound of butter, will, in general, make one pound of cheese : this is a small soft 

 rich cheese, which must be used immediately. 



6359. Stilton cheese, which, from its peculiar richness and flavor, has been called the parmesan of 

 England, is made in the following manner : the night's cream is put to the morning's milk, with the 

 rennet ; when the curd is come, it is not broken as is usual with other cheese, but is taken out whole, and 

 put into a sieve to drain gradually ; while draining, it is gently pressed till it becomes firm and dry, when 

 it is placed in a vat, a box made exactly to fit it ; as it is so extremely rich, that without this precaution, 

 it is apt to bulge out, and break asunder. It is afterwards kept on dry boards, and turned daily, with cloth 

 binders round it, which are tightened as occasion requires. After being taken out of the vat, the cheese 

 is closely bound with cloth till it acquires sufficient firmness to support itself : when these cloths are re- 

 moved, each cheese is brushed once every day for two or three months, and if the weather be moist, twice 

 every dav ; the tops and bottoms are treated in a similar manner daily before the cloths are taken off. 

 Stilton cheese derives its name from the town where it is almost exclusively sold ; it is made principally 

 in Leicestershire, though there are also many who manufacture it in the counties of Huntingdon, Rut- 

 land, and Northampton. Sometimes the cheeses are made in a net, resembling a cabbage net, which gives 

 them the form of an acorn, but these are neither so good nor so richly flavored, as those made in vats, 

 having a thicker coat, and being deficient in that mellowness which causes them to be in such general re- 

 quest. {Bath Papers, vol. iii. p. 152, 153.) Stilton cheese is not reckoned to be sufficiently mellow for 

 cutting, until it is two years old, and is not saleable unless it is decayed, blue, and moist. In order to 

 mature them the more rapidly, it is a frequent practice to place the cheeses in buckets, which are 

 covered over with horse-dung. Wine is also reputed to be added to the curd, in order to accelerate the 

 ripening of the cheese. 



6300. Cottenham cheese, from the town 'of that name in Cambridgeshire, is a thicker kind of cream 

 cheese than the Stilton ; its superior delicacy and flavor are attributed to the fragrant nature of the 

 herbage on the commons on which the cows are pastured, and according to Professor Martyn, to tiie 

 prevalence of Poa aquatica and pratensis. 



6361. Suffolk or skim cheese is made of skimmed milk ; it forms a part of every ship's stores, not being so 

 much affected by heat as richer cheese, nor so liable to decay in long voyages. 



6362. Wiltshire cheese is made of new milk coagulated as it comes from the cow, sometimes a small 

 quantity of skimmed milk is added. In some dairies it is manufactured in winter as well as summer ; in the 

 former case it is liable to become scurfy and white coated ; the last of which defects is frequently concealed 

 by a coat of red paint. 



6363. Of foreign cheeses, the most common is the Dutch cheese ; this is prepared much 

 in the same manner as the Cheshire cheese, excepting that muriatic acid is used instead of 

 rennet, which renders it pungent, and preserves it from mites ; that of Gouda is preferred 



6364. Parmesan cheese was formerly supposed to be made from the milk of goats, 

 but it is merely a skim-milk cheese, the curd hardened by heat, well salted, pressed, and 

 dried, long kept, and rich in flavor from the rich herbage of the meadows of the Po, 

 where the cows are pastured. 



63S5. The process, according to Pryce, {Bath Papers, vol. vii.) is as follows : the evening's milk, after 

 having been skimmed in the morning, and standing till ten o'clock, and the morning's milk skimmed about 

 two hours after it is drawn from the cow, are mixed together. The mixture is then suspended in a copper 

 cauldron over a wooden fire {Jig. 33.), and frequently stirred till it attains about 82 of Fahrenheit ; the ren- 

 net is then put in, and the copper being removed from the fire, the coagulation quickly takes place, and the 

 curd is afterwards worked with a stick till it is reduced to a small grain. The whey now occupies the sur- 

 face, and a part of it being taken out, the cauldron is again turned over the fire, and its contents brought to 

 nearly a boiling heat. A little saffron is now added to impart color, the whole being all the while' well 

 stirred, and the superintendant examining it from time to time with his finger and thumb, to ascertain 

 the exact moment when the curd shall have become sufficiently solid. When this is the case, the caul- 

 dron is removed from the fire, and the curd allowed to subside ; three fourths of the whey is then 

 drawn off, water poured round the bottom of the cauldron outside to cool it, so as to admit of a cloth being 

 passed below the curd, which is thus brought up and placed in a tub to clear. When drained, it is put 

 into a wooden hoop, and about half a hundred weight laid on it for half an hour; the cloth is then re- 

 moved, and the cheese being replaced in the hoop is laid on a shelf; here it remains for two or three days, 

 at the end of which, it is sprinkled over with salt ; this sprinkling is repeated every second dav for 

 about thirty days if it be summer, and for about forty or fifty-five days if it be winter, after which no 

 further attention is required. The best Parmesan cheese is that which has been kept for three or fbur 

 years, but none is ever carried to market for sale, until it has been kept at least six months. 



6366. Swiss cheese is of several varieties, mostly of skimmed or partially skimmed 

 milk, and manufactured like the Parmesan. Its varied and rich flavor is more owing to 

 the herbage of the pastures, than the mode of making ; and some sorts, as the Gruyere 



