106 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



July 



MANUFACTURE OF CHEESE. 



BY A. I,. KISH. 



[Continued from page 142.] 



In raising the heat to scald the curd, it is not proper 

 at all times to raise it to a given point with the same 

 rapidity, because, sometimes when the curd appears 

 ready to scald, a rapid increase of heat will soften in- 

 stead of hardening it, owing to ihe rennet not hav- 

 ing time to perform its office properly. At other 

 times it may be necessary to raise heat speedily, in 

 scalding, to keep pace with the effect of rennet, 

 which is accelerated by the milk being nearly sour. 

 The slower rennet acts upon curd the longer time is 

 required to raise and hold a scalding heat, never ex- 

 ceeding one hundred degrees, Fahrenheit, except to 

 suppress a speedy action of rennet with sour milk ; 

 then, an excess above blood heat will retard its ope- 

 ration and keep pace with its effect. The cheese- 

 maker should bear in mind, that heat and rennet are 

 the principal agents used, and success depends much 

 upon their action being properly combined throughout. 



"Are any other than calves' rc.nets used, and 

 what is the best method of preserve . and preparing 

 them for use ?" 



Swines' rennets were formerly u^ .', mixed with 

 those of calves, to make a cheese sol id tender, and 

 those of sheep and beeves were used harden curd 

 and keep cheese in a pressed shape ; n 1 1 know of 

 no dairyman that now uses them. 



Whatever plan is adopted to preserv rennets for 

 future use, care should be taken that tl decompo- 

 sing properties of the stomach do not con nue to act, 

 and the strength evaporate. When salteo and dried 

 the rennets should be kept in a dry atmosphere, or 

 the salt in them will attract moisture, and soon de- 

 stroy their best properties. It is argued by many 

 experienced dairymen, that the stomach, with all its 

 contents pickled together in salt, will make more 

 cheese, and of as good flavor, as when dried without 

 the curd. But I would ask, if meat were salted with 

 all the blood and animal fluids in it, would it be as 

 good flavored at the end of a year, as if well dressed 

 and salted ? And would not a quantity of food, half 

 digested, salted with the stomach, materially effect its 

 flavor, if kept a long time ? Beef and pork are sold in 

 market, after being in salt one or more years, at a re- 

 duce I price, as " old meat," having lost its best flavor. 



The flavor of cheese depends much upon the flavor 

 of the rennet used. Therefore, I think splitting the 

 rennet, and stretching it with sticks, so that it will be 

 of a single thickness, and will dry quickly, is the 

 best and surest way to preserve a good flavor. 



To prepare Rennets for use. — Take as many 

 gallons of water as rennets in number ; put them hi 

 the water, blood warm ; soak them twenty-four hours ; 

 stir them frequently in the time ; strain the liquor and 

 let it settle ; make it as salt as possible : if any skum 

 rises it should be skimmed off. While this liquor 

 la^ts a uniform strength may be relied upon. It 

 should be stirred to the bottom before being used. 



" Is milk more apt to sour from the effect of elec- 

 tricity, in tin vessels, than in wood ?" 



The ease with which tin vessels are kept clean, 

 makes them preferable to wood. An opinion con- 

 ceived by many, that tin vessels have a tendency to 

 sour milk, at a season when thunder showers are fre- 

 qu 'ol, is not an objection to their general use. There 

 aie other causes for milk's becoming sour, to be ta- 

 ken into account first. Excitement of cows from 

 any cause will affect their milk, and they are more 



excitable in changeable weather, than when the 

 weather is steady, cool or warm. In hot, damp 

 weather, more cows will be in heat, and give bad 

 milk, which if mixed with other milk at evening, will 

 be a more direct cause for sour curd than any effect 

 of electricity upon milk, after it is taken from the 

 cow ; and in such weather, milk vessels are not thor- 

 oughly dried, after being used, in which state they 

 often get foul. An old barrel, put up in form of a 

 leach, near the dairy room, and ashes thrown into it 

 occasionally, and leached, and the lye used freely 

 about meese-cloths, press, foe, will remove one cause 

 for sour curd. I use no wood vessels in my dairy. 



"Is there danger of pressing a cheese too hard ?" 



Not any. If it has been over heated in the milk 

 or curd, it may he pressed so dry that it will be a 

 lifeless (tasteless) cheese, and so it would be if it 

 were pressed lightly. 



" Should the animal heat be allowed to pass off 

 from the morning's milk ?" 



The most perfect affinity should be maintained 

 among the constituent parts of milk that is curded or 

 worked together, throughout, that it may not waste 

 in working; and plague in curing. It is, therefore, 

 necessary that all should b/> cooled and warmed alike. 

 A. L. Fish. — Litchfield, Herkimer co., JY. Y., 1849. 



BENEFIT OF AGRICULTURAL PAPERS. 



Friend Moore : — I send you pay for thirty copies 

 of the Genesee Farmer. It is all I can find, in 

 this place, that wish to subscribe for an agricultural 

 paper; many more, I am satisfied would, were they 

 not ignorant of its value. There is certainly a 'vast 

 difference in the cultivation of tw r o farms, and fixtures 

 about them, where the one is done by a man who 

 regularly rea's an agricultural journal, and the other 

 by one who reads nothing on the subject. It is a 

 matter of surprise to me that there are so many in 

 this county that read nothing on this subject. There 

 are fanners of my acquaintance who refuse to sub- 

 scribe' for your journal for the reason that their crop 

 of wheat failed the past year. 



I know two men owning farms joining each other 



in the town of . One of them has been a 



constant subscriber to the Genesee Farmer for sev- 

 eral years past. His fences, barns, stables and far- 

 ming implements are as they should be; his stock 

 well provided for; his farm produces bountifully. 

 The other knows enough about farming without read- 

 ing; or, in other words, does not wish to be a book 

 farmer; and his farm shows it to any who may pass 

 that way, for it is enclosed with the poorest fence in 

 the town; his farming implements (what few he has) 

 are in proportion. He has no shelter for his cattle 

 but the broadside of his barn, or a small stack of 

 straw; he has nograinery i.i either of his barns, and 

 was necessitated this winter to loan the use of one 

 from his better managing neighbor, to store a small 

 crop of wheat which he did not pet threshed in time 

 for fall market. The former works upon good sound 

 theory, and it gives him pleasure and profit — the 

 latter, of necessity, and if he happens to have a good 

 cron, (though he seldom doe^) he is a lucky man. 

 And, friend Moore, it is universally the case, as far 

 as my acquaintance extends, that those farmers who 

 read the most are the closest and most accurate ob- 

 servers, and universally get the host pay for their 

 labor and capital invested. A Friend ok Improve- 

 ment. — Seneca Co., A". 1 ., 1849. 



