136 THE DAIKY OF THE FAKM. 



regularly until the following day, when it is turned and 

 provided with a clean cloth. The cheeses are then laid in 

 salt and water, where they remain for 3 days, after which 

 they are washed with whey and taken to the drying-room. 

 Here they are placed upon shelves, and daily turned until 

 the second week, when turning is performed every other 

 day. At the end of a month they are fit for sale, hut it is 

 the custom of some of the hetter makers to keep them for 

 a much longer period, when the flavour is considerably 

 improved and the consistence is more mellow. The Gouda 

 cheese is generally made of new milk but, as in all cheeses, 

 there are many farmers who skim the milk once before they 

 set it to curd. 



ITALY. 



Butter -making in Italy is not conducted upon a prin- 

 ciple which can by any means be termed modern or per- 

 fect. Upon small farms, the cream, which is raised in 

 open pans, often made of wood, is churned in cylindrical 

 churns, the beaters within being turned instead of the churn 

 itself. This is the general custom in Lombardy. In Pied- 

 mont it is quite common for the farmer to place his cream 

 at 50 F. into a round box, called a Purragie, which has a 

 kind of spoon attached to the axle. This is turned by a 

 crank and the revolution of the spoon is upon the inside of 

 the periphery of the box. This process is rather laborious 

 and requires the services of two men. " The dairyman of 

 Parma," we are told, "beats his milk with a cream 

 whipper, and skilfully lets the floating cream, which gathers 

 into a bucket, overflow into a fine-edged wooden bowl and 

 thence into the churn." In summer 10 pounds of ice are 



