THE CHEESE DAIRY. 



a number of servants to feed, can scarcely be ex- 

 pected to go to the price of Cheshire or Gloucester 

 thin cheese, when they have a home-made substitute 

 which does not cost them above one-third of the 

 money ; and the practice of making this ordinary 

 commodity is universally known in the country. 

 Cheese-making, however, is a more operose process 

 than that of butter, requiring more attention and 

 labour, and a greater number of utensils and con- 

 veniences ; more particularly so in the regular cheese 

 dairies, where the best cheese of commerce is manu- 

 factured. It is then kept distinct from the butter 

 dairy, requiring several separate rooms, namely a 

 PRESSING-ROOM, for making and pressing the cheese, 

 which ought to join the milk-room, and be provided 

 with a fire-place. A SETTING-ROOM, paved with 

 stones, or smooth plaster, and laid on a descent, in 

 order to carry off water, should also be furnished 

 with a table or shelves, on which the cheeses may be 

 deposited, and turned over occasionally, until ready 

 to be removed. A CHEESE-ROOM, or loft, in which 

 the cheeses are stored until ready for sale. The 

 floor of this room is carpeted with coarse grass or 

 rushes, which are supposed to have a beneficial effect 

 on the new cheese. This loft, in some of the great 

 dairies, is found over the cow-houses, not only for 

 convenience sake, but on the opinion that the ascend- 

 ing warmth of temperature from the cattle has the 

 effect of accelerating the ripening of the cheese. 

 These lofts are more convenient when the walls are 

 lined with shelves, and stages placed in the middle of 

 the room. But the arrangement followed in North 



