SUPPLEMENT. 



HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. 



1287 



cloth round it. It stands in this form twenty-four hours, the cloth being taken off and wrung dry three 

 or lour times a day during these twenty-four hours : this form is placed upon a hand-barrow, or open 

 standard, over a tub, which receives the whey ; a cross plank is laid over the lid of the cheese form, and 

 it is frequently pressed by the weight of the body. The cheese is then taken out and put into a cheese- 

 well, or form, equally strong, having a cover called a volgirt, and put under a heavv press, the weight 

 being about 300 lbs., where it remains twenty-four hours more. After this process, or' when taken out of 

 the press, the cheese is washed, and in some places it is smoothened by rubbing it frequently with sour 

 skimmed beastings preserved for the purpose ; it is then rubbed with a reddish-coloured substance, called 

 kaasverf or kaassmeer, which the apothecaries sell in Holland, for the purpose of giving it a smooth out- 

 side, and good colour. The cheese is then put into a cool cheese house or cellar, and frequently turned, 

 until brought to market. It is into this kind of common or kanter cheese that various spices are put, 

 although few of the spiced cheeses come to this country. This operation takes place when the curd is put 

 into the first form : the curd is put in in layers ; the first layer has no spices in it, but upon it is sprinkled 

 some cummin seed, and then follow regular layers, with cloves intermingled, until the upper layer is 

 placed which has no spices in it." {Highland Soc. Trans., vol. X.) 



801 1. Graaieshe kaas, or inferior kanter cheese. " This inferior kanter cheese is made of milk twice 

 skimmed, in Vriesland and Groningen ; and is prepared in a similar way to Leidsche, or the best com- 

 mon or kanter cheese to which it is much inferior. The Dutch farmers reckon that thirty cows at grass 

 will give from 100 lbs. to 200 lbs. of line butter, and about 300 lbs. of kanter or common cheese, per 

 week." {Ibid) 



8012. Dairies, or milk-houses. " There is great variety in the arrangements of the milk and cheese- 

 houses ; but the most frequent form is this : — Between the dwelling apartments and the cow-house, and 

 of the breadth of the house, is a square apartment for churning and other similar operations ; at one 

 corner is the cooler, built of brick, as already described, and generally having a pump at one end, for the 

 purpose of introducing the cold water to cool the milk. This apartment is airy, roomy, and paved with 

 square bricks. Descending a few steps from it, is the milk-house, or rather cellar ; it is always three or 

 four steps below the level of the house, paved with brick, and having an arched ceiling, almost always of 

 brick or stone, and two or four windows, according to size. The milk dishes, or pans, which are daily 

 first hand-scrubbed and washed with boiling hot water, and then with cold, are ranged along the floor, 

 (not on shelves), in such a way as each pan may be reached by the dairy-maid. The windows are 

 opened or shut according to the state of the weather, to which particular attention is paid." {Ibid.) 



8013. The cheese-honses are also generally cellars, and adjoining the milk-houses ; but in summer the 

 byres are used for the Leidsche or kanter cheese ; the floor being kept quite clean. All the windows 

 and doors being open, abundant air is afforded. In winter the windows of the cheese-houses are gene- 

 rally kept shut; and, if any intense frost exists, they put in one of the wooden boxes, containing a pan 

 with burning turf. The cheeses are placed in rows on the wooden shelves." (Ibid.) 



8014. " The sweet and delicious flavour of the Dutch butter is said to be principally owing to the excel- 

 lence of the Dutch salt. The butter, though salted, is always well flavoured, and hardly tastes of that 

 acrid quality which the muriate or sulphate of magnesia frequently imparts to butter in this country. 

 This acridity will be found very obvious, when comparing the Dutch salted butter to the best salted 

 butter of Britain. It appears that in the manufacture of salt moie time is allowed for evaporation 

 and crystallisation, and that the crystals are nearly an inch square In Britain the process of evapor- 

 ation is hurried on by artificial heat, so that the crystallisation is never perfect. This is owing to our 

 excise laws, which it is to be hoped will be removed, or regulated in such a manner as to admit of ap- 

 plying the modern improvements in chemistry in this manufacture." (Ibid., vol. x. p. 18-1.) 



8015. The great cleanliness every where observable in the farmeries of Holland Si, "another cause of 

 the general excellence of the dairy produce. This seems to be the result of a well-regulated division 

 of labour. The men attend to milking and feeding the cows, and the women to making the butter and 

 cheese. As to cleanliness, every dwelling-house is a model and a pattern ; the inhabitants seem to vie 

 with each other on this point. The cow-house is pure and clean, not a particle of filth being to be seen 

 in it ; the cows are as clean as if they were in a dining-room ; the milk and cheese-houses, and, in short, 

 every part of the house, are free from dust and dirt of any kind ; the manure is placed at a convenient 

 distance from the cow-house, behind the house, and every particle is carefully collected together. The 

 whole apartments, even the byre and hay house, are generally under one roof; and the cleanly system, 

 and the admirable arrangements, give that comfort and pleasure which are too often wanting in Scot- 

 land." (Ibid.) 



8016. As an example of a Dutch dairy farmer//, we copy the plan fig. 1139. In this figure " a is the 



kitchen or living-room of the family, during the greater part of 

 the year; b, a temporary apartment in which the family take 

 their meals during the warmest weather in summer; c, the 

 cow-house, in which the cows are seen from both apartments ; 

 d, a large room used for various purposes ; e, bed-room ; /, 

 shed; g, dairy; h, dairy scullery; i, cooler ; k, a place for 

 drying cheese ; and /, hay and straw room in the centre of the 

 building " The farmeries in Holland are generally of one 

 story, and thatched with reeds, one immense, lofty roof cover- 

 ing the whole. The highest part of this roof is in the centre, 

 over the hay and straw room. (Ibid.) Mr. Aiton of Hamilton, 

 who also visited Holland with a view of studying its dairy 

 husbandry, gives a similar account of the Dutch farm-houses. 

 See § 7993. 



8017. — 546. An account of Flemish husbandi y is given by A. 

 Thompson, Esq., in which the collection and preservation of 

 manure is represented as the chief excellence of Belgian farm- 

 ing. The tanks for liquid manure are built of brick, 4 or G to- 

 gether, about 7 ft. deep, and each division from 7 ft. to 10 ft. 

 long, and f> it. or 7 ft. wide. Liquid manures are chiefly bestowed 

 on young brairds. " The whole spring they are constantly 

 watering their braird with liquid manure, driving carts with 

 barrels across their fields in every direction, and showering it 

 upon their young crops." Field pasturing is unknown in Bra- 

 bant, and the dung is kept in covered pits. (U. J. A., vol. vii. 

 p. 174.) See also the Rev. \V. L. Ilham, on the agriculture of 

 the Netherlands in the Journal of the Agricultural Society, vol. 

 iv. p. 43. 



8018. — 5G7. The Agriculture of Prussia. The system of 

 national education established in this kingdom in 1819 has been 

 already mentioned, and the reader will find the details, which 

 have reference to the manner in which agriculture is taught 



in the school gardens or fields, in Cousin's work already (§ 79. 81.) referred to. 



81)19.— 573, " The farmers about Bonn," says Williams, " have neither a good plough, nor a good 

 cart, and their hay-foik is like Neptune's trident." ( Williams Travels, cVc.) 



8020. 624. Screens or narrow barns are used in many parts of Carniola lor hanging buck-wheat 



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