240 



Observations on Cheese-making. 



Vol. XL 



the first cotton-gin was put in motion by the 

 inventor, though great improvements have 

 been made in the application and direction 

 of the moving forces, in the employment of 

 steam-power, in the running-gear, and other 

 incidentals. Every one of the various cot- 

 ton-gins in use, under the names of different 

 makers, contains the essentials of Whitney's 

 patent, without material change or addition. 

 The brush and the cylinder remain, like 

 Fulton's paddle-wheel, unchanged in form 

 and necessity, however vast the improve- 

 ments in the machinery that causes the mo- 

 tion. 



A more imposing result of mechanical in- 

 genuity directed to the benefit of a whole 

 nation, and, through it, of mankind, has not 

 been recorded in the history of the human 

 mind. Certainly there is no patriotic Ame- 

 rican who will not rejoice to accord to this 

 eminently useful, though basely wronged 

 inventor, the judgment so well expressed 

 by Mr. Lanman — that "Whitney earned the 

 credit of giving a spring to the agriculture 

 of the South, which has been continued, un- 

 impaired, to this day — a credit that will en- 

 dure while the cotton-plant whitens the 

 plantations of the South with its snowy har- 

 vests, or the machinery of the cotton-factory 

 clatters upon the waterfall !" — Skinner's 

 Farmers'' Library. 



Observations on Cheese-making. 



Cheese may be made from cream alone, 

 or from the whole milk; the main object in 

 either case being to separate the serum from 

 the other materials. This is effected by 

 curdling the cream or milk by the infusion 

 of an acid, the refuse being serum or whey. 

 No acidulous substance is found so suitable 

 for curdling milk as rennet, which is formed 

 of the gastric juice o? a calf that has been 

 fed on milk. There are various methods for 

 preparing rennet for use, most dairymen 

 having a favourite process of their own; the 

 following can be recommended by the writer 

 as a simple and easy process. 



Take the maw of a newly killed calf and 

 clean it, salt the bag, and put it into an 

 earthen jar for three or four days, till it 

 forms a pickle; then take it from the jar and 

 hang it up to dry; after which it is to be 

 replaced and tied down, the covering being 

 pierced with holes to admit the air; and al- 

 lowed to remain in the jar for twelve months. 

 When wanted for use, a handful of each of 

 leaves of sweet brier, dog roses, and bram- 

 ble, with three or four handsful of salt, are 

 to be boiled together for a quarter of an 

 hour, when the liquid is to be strained 08" 

 and allowed to cool. The maw is then to 



be put into the liquid, together with a lemon 

 stuck round with cloves; and the longer it 

 remains in the liquid, the stronger and bet- 

 ter will the rennet be; half a pint of this 

 liquid is sufficient to turn fifty gallons of 

 milk. 



There are various kinds of cheese made 

 in England under the name of Gloucester, 

 Dunlop, Cheshire, &c., each having proper- 

 ties peculiar to itself. I shall confine my- 

 self in these remarks to the cheese made in 

 the county of Cheshire, and hence called 

 Cheshire cheese. 



It has been remarked, that although good 

 imitations of the cheese made in some of the 

 English counties have been produced else- 

 where, yet in no trial has a cheese possess- 

 ing the true Cheshire flavor ever been made. 

 This is attributed to the abundance of the 

 saline particles in the earth, resulting from 

 the numerous salt springs in that county. 

 Cheshire is almost entirely a dairy county, 

 its arable husbandry being neither extensive 

 nor of a superior character. It is said to 

 possess from thirty thousand to forty thou- 

 sand dairy cows ; the quantity of cheese 

 made annually is estimated at twelve thou- 

 sand tons. 



In making the cheese the practice follow- 

 ed is this ; set the evening's milk apart till 

 the following morning, then skim off the 

 cream, put two or three gallons into a brass 

 pan, which must be immediately placed in 

 hot water and rendered scalding hot. Half 

 of the milk thus heated is poured upon the 

 nighVs milk, and the other half mixed with 

 the cream, which is thus rendered thinner. 

 This is done by the dairy woman while the 

 others are milking the cows; the morning'' s 

 milk being immediately added to that of the 

 previous evening, the whole mass is set to- 

 gether for cheese. The rennet and colour- 

 ing being added, the whole is well stirred, 

 and a wooden cover put over the tub, with a 

 clean linen cloth thrown over it. It in gene- 

 ral requires one hour and a half before the 

 milk curdles; and if the cream should rise 

 to the surface in this time, the whole must 

 again be well stirred, which is done every 

 time the cream rises, until coagulation takes 

 place. 



When the curd is formed, if it be firm, it 

 is cut with the cheese-knife, and then cut 

 across, making the incisions about an inch 

 distant from each other. The curd is then 

 broken by the dairy woman, until every part 

 of it is made as small as possible, about forty 

 minutes being generally spent at this pro- 

 cess, after which the curd is left about half 

 an hour to subside, covered over with a cloth. 

 It is then put into a favourable position into 

 the tub to drain, and a weight of about sixty 



