AND RURAL ECONOMIST. 91 



put it into the churn. I have never known it to require 

 more than five minutes to convert such cream into butter, 

 after the churnini^ had commenced.' 



CHEESE — Method of making. ' The milk is universally 

 set for cheese as soon as it comes from the cow. 



' The management of the curd depends on the kind of 

 cheese : thin cheese requires the least labor and attention. 



' Breaking the curd is done with the hand and dish. The 

 finer the curd is broken the better, particularly in thick 

 cheeses. The best color of this kind of cheese is that of 

 bees-wax, which is produced by annotta, rubbed into the 

 milk after it is warmed. The dairy-woman is to judge of 

 the quality by the color of the milk, as it differs much in 

 strength. The runne^ is prepared by taking some whey 

 and salting till it will bear an Qgg ; it is then suffered to 

 stand over night, and in the morning it is skimmed and rack- 

 ed off clear ; to this is added an equal quantity of water 

 brine, strong as the whey, and into this mixture some sweet- 

 briar, thyme, or some other sweet herbs ; also a little black 

 pepper and saltpetre ; the herbs are kept in the brine three 

 or four days, after which it is decanted clear from them. 

 Into six quarts of this liquor four large calves' bags, or, more 

 properly called, calves' stomachs, are put. No part of the 

 preparation is heated, and frequently the calves' bags are 

 only steeped in cold salt and water. Turning the milk dif- 

 fers in different dairies, no two dairy-women conducting ex- 

 actly alike. 



' Setting the milk too hot inclines the cheese to heave, 

 and cooling it with cold water produces a similar effect. 

 The degree of heat varies according to the weather. The 

 curd when formed is broken with what is called a treple 

 cheese knife. The use of this is to keep the fat in the 

 cheese. It is drawn the depth of the curd two or three 

 times across the tub, to give the whey an opportunity of run- 

 ning off clear ; after a few minutes the knife is more freely 

 used, and the curd is cut into small pieces like checkers, and 

 is broken fine in the whey with the hand and a wooden dish. 

 The curd being allowed about half an hour to settle, the 

 whey is laded off with the dish, after it is pretty well sepa- 

 rated from the curd. 



' It is an almost invariable practice to scald the curd. The 

 mass is first broken very fine, and then the scalding whey is 



