620 [Assembly 



watched the processes of the dairy attentively. Cheese making has 

 lately been materially improved hij the use of steam ; we have im- 

 proved our travel in steamboats and railroad cars by steam, and now 

 use it in making cheese! In making cheese in Herkimer county, 

 we used a wooden tub about three or four feet in diameter, 18 inches 

 high, to receive the milk from the cows. These are milked at 6 

 o'clock in the morning, and at 6 o'clock in the evening, the cows 

 being in their respective stalls or stanchions. The mi k is passed 

 through strainers into the tub, and then covered with a very clean 

 cloth; we fill large pans partly with cold water tVom the well, put 

 them in the tub to float, this keeps the milk cool. Two milkings 

 are to be put into the tub, making about two barrels of milk. 

 Cleanliness is of the utmost importance, everything about it must be 

 perfectly clean and sweet; palls &c., cleaned and scoured and hung 

 out on the fences to dry. The tub, whi' h is moved on wheels, is 

 drawn near to the cauldron kettle, the milk put into it is heateil to 

 eighty degrees of Fahrenheit. As to the rennet, out of 150 cows 

 we could not afford to raise all -the calves, therefore, take some of 

 them when about two days old, with their stomachs full of the milk, 

 and kill them in about one or one and a half hours after the last 

 sucking. This delay lets the gastric juice perform its oiiice in the 

 calf's stomach. The rennet (the stomach) is then taken out, with 

 the curdled milk in it, ami is put in a jar with salt, the liquor pro- 

 duced in this way is then used. Take a pint of it and add it to the 

 scalded milk in the tub, stir all thoroughly, and cover over with a 

 perfectly clean cloth for an hour. By thnt time the heat will be 

 reduced twenty or twenty-five degrees, and a fine curd will be 

 formed. Then use the hand or the curd cutter to stir the curd well. 

 The whey now separates from the curd. Put the whey into the 

 cauldron kettle, heat it to 96 or 100. The object of tliis fs to scald 

 the curd by pouring this hot whey on it. The whey is often sepa- 

 rate<l from the curd by injudicious methods. One has been to lead 

 it off by a pipe to a piggery not more than fifteen feet distant, thus 

 giving the stye flavor to the cheese! The stye ought never to be 

 nearer than one hundred feet. The curd is then put into a tight box 

 some four feet long by two and a half feet wide, and about nine or 

 ten inches deep,, we call it a sink. A large strainer is then placed 

 in this sink, supported properly by lattice work. Into this strainer 

 put the curd, and then the whey runs ofT through a hole made for 

 that purpose in the bottom of the sink. Then work the curd, break 

 it up as fine as possible, stirring it well, then it is ready for the salt. 

 If the curd is very dry, add from three to four pounds of salt, for a 

 sixty pound cheese. If it is moist, add from four to four and a half 



