306 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



the butter ; on this cloth a covering of salt is put one inch 

 deep, and cold water enough added to it to form a brine. It 

 then stands till it is to be sent to market when the cloth and 

 salt are removed, the firkin turned down, the top of the but- 

 ter in the keg washed with cold water and the pickle 

 drained off. The firkin is now neatly headed up and sent 

 to market." 



The *alt added to the butter should be from 1.24th to l-28th 

 of its weight, or about of an ounce to a pound, and this must 

 be of the best quality. All the butter-milk must be tho- 

 roughly extracted by repeated washings; and when com- 

 pleted the butter should be immediately packed and not a par- 

 ticle of air allowed to come in contact with it till opened for 

 the table. 



CHEESE. 



THE CIRCUMSTANCES AFFECTING THE QUALITY OF CHEESE. 



" All cheese consists essentially of the curd mixed with a 

 certain portion of the fatty matter and of the sugar of milk. 

 But differences in the quality of the milk, in the proportion 

 in which the several constituents of milk are mixed together, 

 or in the general mode of dairy management, give rise to 

 varieties of cheese almost without number. Nearly every 

 dairy district produces one or more qualities of cheese pecu- 

 liar to itself! 



Natural differences in the milk. It is obvious that whatever 

 gives rise to natural differences in the quality of the milk 

 must affect also that of the cheese prepared from it. If the 

 milk be poor in butter, so must the cheese be. If the pasture 

 be such as to give a milk rich in cream, the cheese will par- 

 take of the same quality. If the herbage or other food 

 affect the taste of the milk or cream, it will also modify the 

 flavor of the cheese. 



Milk of different animals. So the milk of different animals 

 will give cheese of unlike qualities. The ewe-milk cheeses 

 of Tuscany, Naples, and Languedoc, and those -of goat's 

 milk made on Mont Dor and elsewhere, are celebrated for 

 qualities which are not possessed by cheeses prepared from 

 cow's milk in a similar way. Buffalo milk also gives a 

 cheese of peculiar qualities, which is manufactured in some 

 parts of the Neapolitan territory. Other kinds of cheese 

 again are made from mixtures of the milk of different animals. 

 Thus the strong tasted cheese of Lecca and the celebrated 

 Roquefort cheese are prepared from mixtures of goat with 



