290 THE OX. 



after being formed, is gently lifted out of the vat and placed 

 on a sieve. When the whey is strained off, the curd is care- 

 fully compressed by the hand till it has become dry and firm, 

 and then placed in a box or mould. It is afterwards set on 

 a dry board, and bound round with fillets of linen cloth, 

 which are tightened as occasion requires. The ends of the 

 cheese are carefully brushed, and when the cloths are re- 

 moved, the sides are treated in the same manner ; and this 

 manipulation is continued for two or three months. Some- 

 times the curd is hung upon nets, but the cheeses formed in 

 this way are not so much valued as those which are made in 

 moulds. 



Another class of cheeses consists of those which are made 

 after a separation of the cream, usually termed skimmilk 

 cheeses. They are less oily, and consequently less valued 

 than the, others ; but they are nearly equally nutritious, and 

 are largely consumed in the recent state by the less opulent 

 classes. They withstand the heat of warm climates better 

 than the richer kinds, are less subject to injury from the 

 larvce of insects, and are better suited, accordingly, to the 

 victualling of ships. They should be made in the same man- 

 ner as the full-milk cheeses, with equal attention to the slow 

 coagulation of the milk, to the careful separation of the 

 whey, and the gradual pressure on the curd. 



Cheese is produced in almost every part of the United 

 Kingdom ; but its quality varies greatly in different districts, 

 according to the care with which the manipulation is per- 

 formed, and the skill derived from experience. The manu- 

 facture is more especially carried on in the country north 

 and west of the line extending from the Wash to Somerset- 

 shire. The centre of the principal cheese-district of the 

 south-western division of the kingdom, is the county of 

 Gloucester, where the rich vales of the Severn and the Avon 

 are depastured by extensive herds of dairy cows. The cheese 

 of Gloucester is of two kinds, the single and the double. 

 The first is made with new milk in the morning, to which 



