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NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



OCTOBER 30, 1S33. 



From the New- York Farmer. 

 PROGRESS OP CHEESE MAKING. 

 BY EPHRAIM PERKINS. 



This article is submitted as a demonstration of 

 what can be effected in our country, bj commu- 

 nity of exertion and enterprise, directed to one 

 staple commodity ; and also what extraordinary 

 impulse has been given in a few years to one de- 

 partment of agriculture, in a small section, by the 

 facilities of transportation on the Erie Canal. 

 Heavy produce is transported from Utica to New- 

 York for 25 cents per 100 lbs. on large contracts, 

 this season. 



Much public and general inquiry has, of late, 

 been excited, by the rapid increase, extension, and 

 improvement in cheese-making, in a district of 

 about twenty miles in length, and ten or twelve in 

 breadth, chiefly within, and parts of the towns of 

 Salisbury, Norway, Fairfield, Newport, Russia 

 and Trenton — and of butter-making in the town of 

 Steuben ; being the second tier or range of towns 

 ou the north side of the Mohawk river,and within 

 the counties of Herkimer and Oneida. A sparse 

 population was spread over all these towns as 

 early as the year 1800, and in 1S15 had become a 

 well-settled country, emigrating to the west ; and 

 at that period, and even till the completion of the 

 Erie canal, cheese, as an article of commerce, over 

 and above the home consumption, was an item 

 little thought of or known. 



It is supposed that less than 60 tons were an- 

 nually exported from this district at that period, 

 and this was chiefly confined in its manufacture to 

 a few families in Norway. This district is hilly, 

 well watered, and better adapted to grazing than 

 to any other department of agriculture ; and, with- 

 out recourse to records, it is supposed that it may 

 have doubled its population since 1S15; and it is 

 now ascertained that in 1832, though an unfavor- 

 able season for making, there was exported, the 

 manufacture of this district, more than one thou- 

 sand tons of cheese, besides twenty-five tons of 

 pine-apple cheese. Mr. H. Burrell, of Salisbury, 

 sold in New-York market near 400 tons of the 

 same. In the art of cheese-making improvement 

 has advanced in this district far towards what, in 

 this age, is known of perfection, as will be ac- 

 knowledged or attested by the extensive cheese 

 merchants in New- York, Philadelphia, and the 

 cities south. 



Steuben, early settled by that noted Baron, is 

 much inhabited by emigrants from Wales, and 

 their descendants ; has long been almost exclusive- 

 ly devoted to butter-making ; and, although a small 

 town, sent, in 1832, one hundred and fifty tons of 

 butter to New- York market — which, as an article 

 to keep good in tubs and firkins, stands high in 

 market. Indeed, some small sections of the said 

 cheese district make butter only. 



The writer of this article was bred a farmer, and 

 from the year 180G to 1813 made a cheese dairy 

 on the farm whereon he now lives, from twenty, 

 and some years from thirty cows. Cheese was 

 then a dull article, and he relinquished that busi- 

 ness ; and again, in 1828, commenced on a cheese 

 dairy of forty cows, and now has, on the same 

 farm, eighty cows. Inquiries are often made as 

 to theory, and statistical facts, pertaining to this 

 subject, from friends and acquaintances, both near 

 and remote, and he has been requested to commu- 

 nicate in writing the modern process of making, 

 as practised by himself and many others, at this 

 day, and also to point out as distinctly as might 



be, the difference between the former and the lat- 

 ter process. This has been done, by saying that 

 less beat, and some less salt, is applied in the 

 making, and the cheese made softer, and is kepi 

 from spreading and cracking, by swathing, soon 

 after the cheese comes from the press. The milk, 

 in warm weather, is not considerably below the 

 warmth of milk directly from the cow. The ren- 

 net must lie free of taint, and made in such 

 quantity as to last several weeks, that its power 

 can be relied upon to " fetch the cheese," in three 

 quarters of an hour, or be sure in an hour, so as 

 to " break up," which is done with the hands, 

 from bottom to top of the. tub or vat, or with an 

 utensil made of fine brass win:, with a sharp iron 

 or brass rim, in squares of three quarters of an 

 inch, like a sieve, with two high bales crossing 

 each other on the top, and reaching above the top 

 of the tub ; when broken up, it is then left for a 

 little time, till the curd settles, and the whey rises 

 on the top ; then begin to draw or dip off', and of 

 the first put some over the fire, and with it, as 

 soon as may be, gradually increase the warmth in 

 the tub, working oft" the whey and making fine the 

 curd, endeavoring always so to manage that the 

 whey is as green as possible. It is a conceded 

 fact, that the greener the whey the richer the 

 cheese. If the weather be hot, and there be any 

 appearance of souring in the tub, the process must 

 be hurried, and less heat applied, or the cheese 

 will be hard and dry, and the yield small in pro- 

 portion. For the last half hour, we have, in warm 

 weather, about milk or animal heat in the tub or 

 vat, and this is called the scalding process, which, 

 if all works well, is done in about two hours from 

 the setting, and ready to dip off into the cheese 

 basket or cinque. It has, I believe, been a gene- 

 ral practice to cool off the curd while in the tub, 

 with cool whey or water, or the cheese will be 

 rank, but we do not so ; we let the cheese go to 

 the press with its warmth, except what is imparted 

 by making it fine and stirring' in the salt, and think 

 it closes better, and needs much less scalding, and 

 is not so liable to be porous and spongy. We put 

 two pounds of dry Onondaga salt to 100 lbs. of 

 curd, pressed and worked so fine and dry that not 

 more than two quarts of whey can be extracted by 

 the press. We choose to have our cheese made 

 so soft as to need swathing the first or second day ; 

 and if the weather be very hot, very soon after 

 they come from the press. This is done with 

 cheap cotton cloth, stained with annotto, and dip- 

 ped in melted lard, and, by some cased entirely 

 over, there to remain till the cheese goes to market; 

 it is then safe from flies to keep any length of 

 time, if made so as not to leak. 



The soft cheese ripens and matures much sooner 

 than the dry hard cheese ; the latter will dry much 

 sooner ; but maturing and drying are, or may be, 

 very different. Cheese will shrink two to one in 

 October that, it will iu August, yet it will ripen 

 and mature three to one in August that it will in 

 October and November. 



Many suppose that large cheeses require more 

 time to ripen than small ones, but we think not ; 

 the ripening process is of a chemical nature, rather 

 accelerated by increased mass than retarded ; as 

 is also the mass of the baker, the brewer, and the 

 distiller, by increased mass. 



A very little cheese, made to please a child, 

 will soon become dry, but never have maturity or 

 taste. The coloring, if any, should be of aunotto, 

 dissolved in pure strong ley, a spoonful or two of 



which is sufficient for the milk of a large cheese > 

 let the outside be painted with the same soo n 

 after the cheese conies from the press, then dry 

 an hour, and be anointed with lard or butter. We 

 do not darken the room, or attempt to keep out the 

 flies, but depend on the soundness of the cheese 

 to save it from their depredations. In hot weather 

 we open our doors and windows, and give air, but 

 cool dry winds, blowing directly on, will crack the 

 cheese. In spring and fall we keep up a generous 

 warmth ; and indeed, in the cool damp days in 

 midsummer, have lire iu the cheese room stove, 

 and so greatly accelerate the maturing process. 



My sons commenced checsc-making the present 

 year the loth of April, and before August had 

 three tons of cheese iu market, which would have 

 passed well with many for old cheese, being so 

 ripened. It is found, by actual experiment, that 

 every pound of butter taken from a cheese will 

 shrink the weight of the same about three pounds 

 for one. The experiment of making cheese of 

 milk directly from the cc-w night and morning has 

 been tried often in this section, but I know of no 

 one who continues the practice. The yield will 

 be greater, but the cheese rank, carrying into it 

 something of that kind of taste peculiar to milk 

 directly from the cow. 



The reservoir for the whey, and every other 

 thing that may have tendency to charge the atmos- 

 phere with impurity, should be kept at a sufficient 

 distance ; and the room where the milk stands 

 over night, well ventilated. 



The question is often asked, how much cheese 

 will each fair dairy cow make in a season ? and 

 how much iu a day will each such cow make at 

 full grass in May? I answer, 300 lbs. is perhaps 

 about an average yield for a fair dairy well kept ; 

 hut a very choice selection of cows well kept will 

 sometimes exceed 400 lbs. in a season, and one 

 such cow may make four or five pounds in a day 

 at full grass. We have very few cows of the im- 

 proved breeds, and very little stock is raised. 

 Many hundreds of cows are brought in annually 

 from a distance, for sale and for use. 



Ephraim Perkins, 

 One of the Com. of the New- York State 

 Agricultural Society for Oneida Co. 

 South Trenton, August, 1833. 



" Living within the above cheese district, I am 

 well convinced that the calculations here made by 

 Ephraim Perkins, Esq. as to the quantity of cheese 

 manufactured in second district, is to be relied on 

 as correct; and his process of making worthy of 

 the attention of those engaged in the dairy business. 



W. WlLLOUGHBY, M. D. 



Late President of the Agricultural Society 

 of Herkimer County." 



FARM HORSES FED ON STEEPED BARLEY. 



The barley is steeped 48 hours in a close 

 wrought wicker basket, fixed into a cask of water, 

 for the convenience of draining it when taken out 

 It is then laid on the floor to sprout, where it re- 

 quires some little care. The kernels should be 

 examined by opening them ; and if the nib of the 

 sprout is half way up, it is then ready to use ; if 

 suffered to grow through the kernel, then the sac- 

 charine matter will be exhausted, and the nutri- 

 tious part lost. No more should be steeped at one 

 time than is used at this state of vegetation. — Gar- 

 dener's Magazine. 





