THE OX AND THE DA1KY. 185 



the outside. This checks internal fermentation, and prevents 

 the formation of elastic matter. 



Gloucester and Somersetshire cheeses are similarly made, 

 with this difference, that the curd is not so often broken or 

 the cheese skewered, and a portion of the cream is generally 

 abstracted to make butter. After the curd has been sepa- 

 rated from the whey and is broken fine, warm water is 

 poured over it, for the purpose of washing out any remaining 

 whey, or perhaps to dissolve any portion of butter which 

 may have separated before the rennet had coagulated the 

 milk. 



Stilton cheese is made by adding the cream of the pre- 

 ceding evening's milk to the morning's milking. The cream 

 should be intimately incorporated with the new milk ; great 

 attention should be paid to the temperature of both, as 

 much of the quality of the cheese depends on this part of the 

 process. To make this cheese in perfection, as much depends 

 on the management of the cheese after it is made as on the 

 richness of the milk. Each dairy-woman has some peculiar 

 method which she considers the best; and it is certain that 

 there is the greatest difference between cheeses made in con- 

 tiguous dairies. The rennet should be very pure and sweet. 

 When the milk is coagulated, the whole curd is taken out, 

 drained on a sieve, and very moderately pressed. It is then 

 put into a shape in the form of a cylinder, eight or nine inches 

 in diameter, the axis of which is longer than the diameter of 

 the base. When it is sufficiently firm, a cloth or tape is 

 wound round it to prevent its breaking, and it is set on a shelf. 

 It is occasionally powdered with flour, and plunged into hot 

 water. This hardens the outer coat and favours the internal 

 fermentation, which ripens it. Stilton cheese is generally 

 preferred when a green mould appears in its texture. To 

 accelerate this, pieces of a mouldy cheese are sometimes 

 inserted into holes made for the purpose by the scoop, called 

 a taster, and wine or ale is poured over for the same purpose ; 

 but the best cheeses do not require this, and are in perfection 

 when the inside becomes soft like butter, without any appear- 

 ance of mouldiness. In making very rich cheeses the whey 

 must be allowed to run off slowly, because, if it were forced 

 rapidly, it might carry off a great portion of the fat of the 

 cheese. This happens more or less in every mode of making 

 cheese. To collect this superabundant butter, the whey is 

 set in shallow pans, as is done with milk when butter is made ; 



