CHEESE MAKING. 339 



Limburger, Brie, Edam, Neiifchatel, Schweitzer, and 

 other special makes of French, English and German 

 cheese, made in various, widely distant localities, and 

 fully equal in all respects to those made in the localities 

 which became famous a century ago for these cheeses. 



^^ Skillful labor conquers all difficulties," and we do 

 not hesitate to affirm that in cheese making, while there 

 are some naturally favorable conditions for the most 

 successful prosecution of the industry, yet by the appli- 

 cation of the necessary skill quite as good qualities, in all 

 the varieties which are produced anywhere in the world, 

 can be made in America upon farms well chosen for 

 their adaptation to the special pursuit, as in any locality 

 elsewhere. 



The curd of milk is the material of which cheese is 

 made. This consists of a nitrogenous substance known 

 as caseine, and is included among a group of similar 

 substances which are nearly or quite the same in composi- 

 tion. These substances are — besides caseine — albumen 

 of eggs, blood and vegetable matter, fibrin of iiesh and 

 blood, gluten of various grains, as of wheat, oats, and 

 legumin of peas, beans and other luguminous or pod- 

 bearing plants. All these substances are free from color, 

 taste, and odor, are insoluble in water and alcohol; but 

 dissolve in alkaline solutions, coagulate from their so- 

 lutions on the addition of acids or rennet, and ferment 

 readily, emitting a most disagreeable odor, and pro- 

 ducing among other compounds some acids and am- 

 monia. Legumin is used by the Chinese for making 

 cheese which is identical in all respects with the cheese 

 of milk curd. 



The caseine is held in solution in the milk by means 

 of the free soda, and is precipitated by the addition of 

 any acid substance ; being insoluble in water or any 

 neutral liquid it becomes solid as soon as the soda is 

 neutralized, and the milk is rendered neutral instead of 



