220 CHYMISTRY APPLIED TO AGRICULTURE. 



of cheese-making, it is very difficult always to obtain the 

 same results : it is for this reason that we seldom have two 

 cheeses precisely alike in all respects. 



The custom which is practised in some countries, of 

 skimming the milk before forming the curd, gives to the 

 product a peculiar character ; such cheeses are dry and very 

 suitable for keeping ; they may be made of very great size. 



By mixing the milk of the goat or sheep, with that of 

 the cow, cheeses may be made very superior to those ob- 

 tained from cows' milk alone : it is from this mixture that 

 the two best kinds of French cheese, the Roquefort and 

 the Sassenage, are made : if the first of these is superior 

 to the last, it is, I think, owing to the cellars in which it 

 is prepared : these cellars are backed by a rock which 

 presents numerous chinks and openings, by which there 

 constantly escapes a rapid current of air, which keeps the 

 temperature but 4° or 5° Fahrenheit above freezing ; * the 

 fermentation, therefore, is very slow, and may be regulated 

 at pleasure. 



Cheeses made entirely of goats^ milk are more delicate 

 than those made partly of cows' milk, but they cannot 

 easily be kept for any length of time ; they should there- 

 fore be made small, and be eaten as soon as they have at- 

 tained their perfection. 



Much cheese is made in France, but, with the exception 

 of five or six places, but little care is given to this article, 

 and the consumption of it is confined to the vicinity in 

 which it is fabricated. None of our cheeses are capable 

 of being kept any great length of time. 



The importation of foreign cheese is very considerable : 

 it is desirable that extensive establishments should be formed, 

 where the product from the neighboring dairy farms should 

 be brought to undergo the necessary manipulations. 



The manufactories of Roquefort are supplied in this 

 manner with new cheeses bought upon the mountains of 

 Larzac. 



The successful attempts which have been made in many 

 parts of France, to imitate the cheeses of Holland, Swit- 

 zerland, and England, leave no doubt in regard to the 

 possibility of introducing this valuable branch of rural in- 

 dustry among us. 



* In the month of July, 1784, my thermometer indicated 22° (72° 

 Fahr.) in the external air ; v^rhen carried into these cellars, it sunk ta 

 2° (36° Fahr.), and there remained. 



