CHIEESEl- 



HOME-MADE AND FANCY FACTORY — MADE FOR 

 cJHIPPING.— I. Home-made.— Even those keeping only 5 or 6 cows 

 will find it very convenient to know bow to make good home-made cheese after 

 the butter season is over; and as I always draw upon those who do "know 

 how " for points upon which I have not personal experience, I will first give an 

 item from an experienced man, L. B. Arnold, as given in the N. Y. Tribune, 

 upon this subject; then a shorter explanation obtained from a cousin of mine, 

 David Sanders, of Strykersville, N. Y., who used to keep about 12 to 20 cows, 

 and for several years made his own cheese at home, and sold it to the village 

 retailers around him, whose demand, you will see in his statements, he could . 

 never fully supply, for the reason, I will add (for I have many times eaten of 

 his cheese), that his cheese was better than that made by others around him, for 

 the home market. Mr. Arnold says: 



"As rennet is the principal agent in making cheese, that should be pro- 

 vided first. If rennet extract can be obtained, that will be the best, because it 

 is always pure and sweet, and uniform in strength, and comes with directions 

 for using. But if it cannot be had, rennet may be prepared by steeping a good 

 clean and sweet rennet in a weak brine at least two days in advance, and gi\'in§ 

 it a half dozen or so good rubbings before using. The next thing will be"a tub 

 large enough to hold two milkings of the dairy, with a little room to spare ; f oi 

 4 or 5 cows a new wash-tub will do. It should be accompanied with a perfo 

 rated division board about 10 inches wide, and just long enough to set down in 

 the middle of the tub with a good fit; also a half-round perforated board just 

 the size of one-half of the bottom of the tub, with the round part beveled to an 

 edge on one side, both one-half inch thick. The tub should also have 2 spig- 

 gots, or faucets, at the bottom and placed on opposite sides. 



"A thermometer will be wanted. Some convenience for heating one mess 

 of milk so it will not get scorched must be devised For a few cows this may 

 be done on the kitchen stove or range, with a tin pan large enough to hold the 

 mess to be heated set in, or over, a pan or kettle containing water, or by some 

 similar means. Then something must be provided for cutting the curd. If but 

 little cheese is to be made, a car\ang knife or a thin spatula with sharp edges 

 will do. If much is to be made, it will pay to get a five-bladed curd-kntfo 

 There must also be provided hoops of the right size, form, and number, which 

 may be of wood or tin, with wooden followers and cloths for pressing, and a 

 press sufiicient to give a pressure of 15 or 20 hundred weight. Lastly, a place 

 to cure the cheese without much variation from seventy degrees, and where it 

 will not be very damp or very dry. Exclusive of a place to set the milk and 

 cure the cheese, the whole apparatus for making cheese from three to six cows 

 need not cost more than $10. 



" With this preparation we are ready to begin. I assume that the milk is 

 furnished by the hand of the dairymaid clean and sweet. When the night's 

 milk comes in. it will be strained into paas and set away where it will keep 

 cool and sweet through the night. In the morning the cream should be dipped 

 t)ft and the milk emptied into the tub. The morning's milk will be heated, not 

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