THE GENESEE FAEMER. 



having taken me into tlie middle of a large field, and whispering lest any one should hear and tell his 

 landlord — that last year he made $60 per cow. He thought dairying by far the most profitable 

 part of farm husbandry. Cheese then sold for 10 cts., and butter for 25 cts. per lb. 



B. Does their system of cheese mating ditTer from our own materially ? 



A. The farmer that I have just me|itioned as making $60 per head from his 30 cows, adopted, 

 in general, this plan : — ^The cows were milked very regularly at 5 o'clock in tha morning and 5 

 o'clock in the evening. Uusually there were four milkers — tlie lady of the house, her two maid 

 servants, and one man — with another man to carry in the milk in a large tin kept for the purpose. 

 The evening milk was placed in the dairy, or cellar as it really was, and remained in deep lead 

 vessels constructed somewhat similar to a hopper, with a hole at the bottom so that the milk could 

 be taken out without ladling. The cream was skimmed off next morning, and then the milk was 

 placed in the cheese tub and, together with the morning's milk, was made into cheese. The cream 

 was churned once a week. In this way he obtained from 60 lbs. to 100 lbs. of butter per week. I 

 think I have told you that they make " whey butter." Instead of throwing_the whey into the ho* 

 cistern at once, it is placed in a large old cheese tub for 48 hours. In this time a considerable 

 quantity of cream rises to the surface and is skimmed off and churned once a week. This farmer 

 often had 20 lbs. of whey butter per week. It sold for about half the price of the good butter, or 

 about 10 cts. per lb. 



B. That is a good price for such an article. It might do very well to sell, but I should not wish 

 to eat it. It seems to me it must be a mean kind of butter. Did you like it ? 



A. I did not; and yet it is not so bad as you would iraaginal It has a peculiar sweet taste 

 from the large quantity of sugar of milk which it contains. It also contains more curd than common 

 butter, and this gives it a cheesy taste ; so what witli cheese and sugar it is not of the best quality 

 imaginable. 



B. I recollect Dr. M. M. Rogeus saying in one of his letters from Europe, in the Rnral New 

 Yorker, that it was next to impossible to obtain good butter in England, in fact that their butter 

 vk^as white, lard-looking stuff, rancid, full of hairs, and, altogether, an unpalateablc grease. 



A. Tliat is not so. As a general thing their butter is far superior to ours. Dr. Rogers must 

 have been very unfortunate in his choice of hotels, <te., to have met with such butter. Warren 

 IsiUM, of the Michigan Farmer, judging from his letters, was also equally unfortunate. I like our 

 cheese better than theirs, and some of our butter is as good as theirs, but we have large quantities 

 of it that are very inferior to Irish, Scotch, and English butter, and even to that imported from the 

 continent. 



B. At what temperature do they churn their butter and set cheese? 

 A. About 55" Fahr. when the cream is placed in the churn gives the best quality of butter, 



though somewhat more labor is required to churn it than if it were a little warmer. They never 

 like their butter to come in less than 40 minutes. The whey butter is longer in coming, for they 

 arc particularly careful to churn slowly- when the butter is come, and when all that is required is 

 to gather it into lumps. The rennet is usually added to the milk when it is 95° Fahr. Tliis is 

 warmer than is common with our best dairymen, but as they do not scald their curd, as we do here, 

 it may not be too warm. Tlie cooler the milk when "set," the tenderer and sweeter is the cheese. 

 Skim milk, too, should be colder "set" than fresh milk. When the curd is come it is finely broken 

 with, an iustrument made for the purpose. It is simply a circular tin rim about half an inch wide, 

 interlaced with wire, leaving spaces about an inch square It is attached to a woodtn handle and 

 breaks the curd very effectually in a few minutes. After this is done the curd is allowed to stand 

 for some time, till it again becomes one mass. The whey is then removed, the curd cut into squares, 

 placed in a strong cloth and pressed to force as much of the whey out of it as possible previous to 

 salting. Afterwards it is broken up as finely as possible and salted. The curd is then placed in a 

 vat of the size the cheese is required. It has several holes at the bottom and sides to allow the 

 whey to run off readily. A large cloth placed in the vat is then filled with the curd. A fillet of 

 tin three to six inches wide is placed in the vat an inch or so, and the cloth is drawn up straight; 

 the curd is then added, and in this way stands several inches above the wooden vat. The cloth is 

 then lapped over the top ; a smooth board is placed on tliis and the whole is then placed in the 

 press. There it is allowed to remain for a few hoiu-s when it is taken out; a clean cloth is yilaced 

 around it and the cheese is perforated with a skewer and again pressed. The cloths are changed 

 several times, and great care is taken to press out all the whey. The cheeses are ke[)t in the cool, 



