PROCESS OF MAKING. 243 



thick, dried, sweet cream, from which all the milk has 

 been pressed. On the other hand, skim-milk cheese 

 has the opposite fault of being too hard and tough, and 

 destitute of flavor and richness. The best quality of 

 cheese is made from full milk, or from milk to which 

 some extra cream is added, as in the English Stilton, 

 renowned for its richness and flavor. The Gloucester, 

 Cheshire, Cheddar, Dunlop, and the Dutch Gouda, are 

 made of whole milk, as are the best qualities made in 

 this country. 



The process of making cheese is both chemical and 

 mechanical. The heating of the milk at the time of 

 adding the acid or rennet hastens the chemical action, 

 and facilitates the separation of the whey ; at the same 

 time great nicety is required, for, if over-heated, the oily 

 particles will run off with the whey. On the complete 

 separation of the whey from the curd, and the amount 

 of butter particles retained in the latter, the taste or 

 flavor and keeping qualities of the cheese depend. If 

 properly made, the taste improves by keeping, but the 

 chemical changes effected by age are not very well 

 understood. 



The practical process of manufacture most common 

 in the best dairies of this country will appear in the fol- 

 lowing statements of successful competitors at agricul- 

 tural exhibitions. The first was made, by request, to 

 the New York State Agricultural Society, and appeared 

 in its transactions, by A. L. Fish, of Herkimer county, 

 one of the finest dairy regions of that state. The 

 value of his statement is enhanced by the fact that his 

 cows averaged seven hundred pounds of the first 

 quality of cheese each in 1844, and seven hundred and 

 seventy-five pounds each in 1845. In his mode of 

 manufacture, " the evening's and morning's milk is com- 

 monly used to make one cheese. The evening's is 



