PROCESS OF CHEESE-MAKING. 123 



inches. At milking-time each tube is filled up to the 

 line with new milk, and after standing twelve hours, 

 the quantity of cream floating on the surface is shown 

 by the scale of inches and tenths ; each division repre- 

 senting one per cent, of the whole. If the milk given 

 by a cow at one milking is a gallon, or eight pints, and 

 the depth of the cream in the lactometer is fourteen 

 divisions, you multiply the number of pints, 8, by the 

 depth of the cream, 14, and the result will be, that the 

 produce of the cream of that milking is 112, or 1 pint 

 j^^-. By using this ingenious little apparatus, it will 

 be seen how much difference there is in the milk of 

 cows, even in the same dairy, and under the same treat- 

 ment. One may easily understand, therefore, that in 

 dairies where the owners are careful to keep up their 

 stock of cows of the best breed, and are, moreover, very 

 careful in the regularity and cleanliness of all the busi- 

 ness of the dairy, they may be able to produce a supe- 

 rior article with the very same kind of pastures which 

 are to be found in less celebrated dairies. 



In most of the cheese districts, an artificial colour is 

 given to the cheese, by mixing aunotta with the new 

 milk. Genuine annotta is rather soft to the touch, and 

 easily dissolved. A small quantity of it being mixed 

 with a little milk, is poured into the whole quantity to 

 be made into cheese. But the hard substance usually 

 sold for annotta, is said to be a preparation equally 

 harmless, made in imitation of it. This requires to be 

 rubbed against a hard, smooth pebble, being previously 

 wetted with milk. The annotta and the stone being 

 frequently dipped and washed in the milk, sufficient dye 

 is thus obtained to colour deeply a dish of milk, which 

 is first stirred briskly and then allowed to settle, after 

 which it is poured gently into the cheese-tub, taking 

 care to keep back the settlings. An ounce of annotta 

 will colour about twenty cheeses of ten or twelve pounds 

 each ; but the quantity of this substance used is greater 

 or less, according as the cheese is to be sold as Cheshire, 



