Composition of Cheese. 23 



before it is separated from the milk. The remedies are obvious. 

 It is only with respect to the latter point, that of milk getting 

 sour, that I would offer a few observations. If the situation of 

 a dairy is bad, and a new dairy cannot be erected, we should 

 employ all possible means to prevent the milk from getting 

 warm. We should keep it in shallow tins or leads, or, better 

 still, as I have seen in some parts of Somersetshire, in shallow 

 tin vessels with a double bottom, through which cold water may 

 be run during the warm part of the season. By this means we 

 can keep the milk at a considerably lower temperature than we 

 should otherwise be able to do. Having seen nitre and salt used 

 with great advantage to prevent cream turning sour, I would 

 further suggest that they might probably be found serviceable in 

 the same manner for the keeping of milk if used in moderate 

 quantities. Some people, however, maintain that milk requires 

 to become sour to a certain extent before it can be properly made 

 into cheese. A great deal has been, said and written with 

 respect to the great utility to the dairyman of an instrument 

 by means of which the amount of acid in sour milk might be 

 accurately and readily determined. A careful study of the 

 action of rennet on milk, however, has led me to the conclu- 

 sion that the more carefully milk is prevented from getting sour, 

 and, consequently, the less opportunity there is for the use of an 

 acidometer, the more likely the cheese is to turn out good. In- 

 deed, the acidometer appears to me a useless instrument, a 

 scientific toy which can never be turned to any practical account. 

 If by accident the milk has become sour, the fact soon manifests 

 itself sufficiently to the taste. An experienced dairymaid will 

 even form a tolerably good opinion of the relative proportions of 

 acid in the milk on different days and arrange her proceedings 

 accordingly. Moreover, the knowledge of the precise amount of 

 acid in the milk does not help us much. When milk has turned 

 sour, the best thing to do is to hasten on the process of cheese- 

 making as much as possible. 



II. PRACTICAL FAULTS COMMITTED DURING THE MAKING 

 OF CHEESE. 



1. Under the second head I would observe, first, that suffi- 

 cient care is not bestowed upon noticing the temperature at which 

 the milk is' " set," or "run," as it is called in Gloucestershire. 

 Thermometers, indeed, are seldom in use. Even where they are 

 hung up in the dairy, they are more frequently regarded as 

 curious but useless ornaments than trustworthy guides, and 

 therefore are seldom put into requisition. In fact, most dairy- 

 maids are guided entirely by their own feelings ; and as these are 



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