DAIRY. 



DAIRY. 



weeks, when they are generally fit to be taken 

 to market. 



"Alkmaar, in North Holland, is the great 

 market for Edam cheese. It is not uncommon 

 to see 800 farmers at the market, and 470,000 

 cheeses for sale on one day. The price there 

 averages about 30s. per cwt. ($6 66). (Culti- 

 vator.) 



" Gmtda cheese. This kind of cheese is also 

 made from the milk immediately on its being 

 taken from the cow. After gradually taking 

 off the principal part of the whey, a little warm 

 water is put upon the curd, which is left stand- 

 ing for a quarter of an hour. By increasing 

 the heat and quantity of water, the cheese is 

 made hard and more durable. All the whey 

 and water is then taken off, and the curd is 

 gradually packed hard into a form cut out by 

 the turner, flatter and broader than the form 

 for the Edam cheese. A wooden cover is 

 placed over it, and the press, with a weight of 

 about 8 Ibs., put upon it. It is here frequently 

 turned, and altogether remains under the press 

 about twenty-four hours. The cheese is then 

 carried to a cool cellar, put into a tub contain- 

 ing pickle, the liquid covering the lower half 

 of it. The water for the pickle is boiled, and 

 about three or four handfuls of salt melted in 

 about thirty imperial pints of water. The 

 cheese is not put in until the water is quite 

 cold. After remaining twenty-four hours, or, 

 at most, two days, in the pickle-tub, where it is 

 turned every six hours, the cheese, aAer being 

 rubbed over with salt, is placed upon a board 

 slightly hollowed, having a small channel in 

 the centre, to conduct the whey which runs off 

 into a tub placed at one end. This board is 

 called the zouttank, upon which several cheeses 

 are placed at a time. About two or three 

 ounces of the large crystallized salt is placed 

 upon the upper side of the cheese, which is 

 frequently turned, the side uppermost being 

 always sprinkled with salt. It remains on the 

 zouttank about eight or ten days, according to 

 the warmness of the weather; the cheese is 

 then washed with hot water, rubbed dry, and 

 laid upon planks, and turned daily, until per- 

 fectly dry and hard. 



" The cheese-house is generally shut during 

 the day, but must be open in the evening and 

 early in the morning. 



" Gouda is the principal market for this kind 

 of cheese, where it sells at about 35s. per cwt. 



"Each cow at grass in Holland is calculated 

 to give about three or four pounds sweet milk 

 cheese per day. 



" We omit the method of making the Kanter 

 cheese, which is similar to our skim-milk cheese, 

 and of the cheese utensils. 



" The milk-houses are generally between the 

 dwelling and cow-house, in a square apart- 

 ment, in a corner of which is the cooler ; it is 

 airy, roomy, and paved with square bricks, the 

 upper part serving for churning, making cheese, 

 &c. ; and descending a few steps, into a sort 

 of cellar, is the milk-room, having two or four 

 windows, which are opened or shut according 

 to circumstances. 



" The cheese-houses are also generally cel- 

 lars, kept clean and well ventilated. 



" The Dutch are remarkably particular as to 



the quantity and quality of their salt, of which 

 there are three kinds manufactured; and it is 

 this, our reporter thinks, which is the principal 

 cause of the sweet and delicious flavour of 

 their butter, which, although well-flavoured, 

 hardly tastes of salt, or, rather, of that acrid 

 quality which is perceptible in the butter of 

 Great Britain. 



" Cleanliness governs in all the Dutch dairies. 

 Every dwelling-house is a model and a pattern. 

 They seem to vie with each other on this point. 

 The cow-house is pure and clean, not a par- 

 ticle of filth being to be seen in it; the cows, 

 says Mr. M., 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 whole apart- 

 ments, even the byre (stalls) and hay-house, 

 are generally under one roof; and the cleanly 

 system and the admirable arrangement give 

 that comfort and pleasure which are too often 

 wanted in other countries." See fuel's Far- 

 mers 1 Instructer. 



The Journal of the English Agricultural So- 

 ciety contains an article on the rural affairs 

 of some parts of Holland, in which an excel- 

 lent account is given of the Holstein mode of 

 making the butter which is so very famous. 

 The Holstein dairies are very extensive, vary- 

 ing from 100 to 400 cows, and provided with 

 buildings and every necessary accommodation 

 on a corresponding scale. Whenever practi- 

 cable, the milk room or cellar is made to face 

 the north, and sufficiently capacious to hold 

 the proceeds of at least four milkings. The 

 brick or tile floors have already been described. 

 Numerous windows or air passages are pre- 

 pared so as to secure the most perfect ventila- 

 tion ; they are furnished with glass sashes and 

 shutters, and within have gauze curtains to ex- 

 clude insects. 



When, as is sometimes the case, both cheese 

 and butter are made at the same dairy, the 

 apartment for cheese is always kept separate 

 from that devoted to butter-making, from the 

 vicinity of which last every thing is carefully 

 kept away which by any possibility could exer- 

 cise a sinister influence on the very suscepti- 

 ble substances of milk and butter, which suffer 

 to a degree those unaccustomed to observe it 

 little suspect from an impure atmosphere. The 

 dairy is managed by women, of whom there is 

 the superintendent, or head dairy woman ; and 

 one dairy maid to every eighteen cows. There 

 is besides the owner or overseer, and one or 

 more men who attend to the feeding of the 

 swine. There are others whose business is to 

 attend to the cows, see that they are properly 

 fed, and every thing in its proper place and keep- 

 ing. The overseer sees that the cows are fully 

 milked, as on this the quantity and excellence 

 of the cream is greatly depending. It has been 

 ascertained by carefully repeated experiments 

 that the first drawn milk contains five, the se- 

 cond eight, and the fifth seventeen per cent, of 

 cream. 



The business of the head dairy woman is 

 arduous, and demands a full acquaintance with 

 the various processes. "She must not only 

 thoroughly understand, but accurately observe 

 the precise time when the milk should be 

 2L 397 



