352 THE dairyman's manual. 



gence of method between the two systems begins, and a 

 slight difference between the so-called American method 

 and the English Cheddar, which will be noticed as we 

 proceed. 



The separation of the whey from the curd is the ini- 

 tial point of difference. The whey is not drawn off in the 

 American system until some slight acidity has been de- 

 veloped, when it is run off, and the curd is then removed 

 to the sink to drain and cool. The management at this 

 point requires experience and skill, for the formation of 

 acid is to be regulated, retarded, or hastened, with the 

 greatest nicety, on the principle that heat rapidly de- 

 velops the acidity, while cold retards it. Hence it is 

 sometimes necessary to spread or otherwise cool the curd 

 in the sink, and sometimes to heap it to retain the heat. 

 When the curd has become solid it is torn into fragments 

 of two or three pounds in w^eight and left to cool, to 

 harden the fat in it and avoid its loss. The curd is 

 then ground into small pieces in the mill and salted at 

 the rate of a pound and a half to two pounds per 100 

 pounds of curd or 1,000 pounds of milk used. The curd 

 is then put into the hoops for pressing. 



In the English Cheddar system, by which the best plain 

 cheese in the world is made, milk of the morning and 

 evening is brought to a temperature of from seventy-eight 

 to eighty-four degrees, according to the condition of the 

 weather ; if that has been warm, the rennet will be as 

 effective with the lower temperature, as with the higher 

 after a cold night. The evening's milk is placed in ves- 

 sels to cool during the night, being stirred at intervals 

 during the evening. It is skimmed in the morning, and 

 the cream with a portion of the milk is heated up to 100 

 degrees. The whole is poured into the vat or tub, into 

 which -the morning's milk is being strained, so that the 

 whole is brought to the proper temi^erature above men- 

 tioned. The rennet, half-a-pint to 100 gallons of milk. 



