68 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



SEPTEMBER 10. J 834. 



Frovi the Cultivator . 

 ON THE DAIRY HUSBANDRY OF HOLLAND. 



The Higlilaiifl Society of Scotlaiul, consideiiiifr 

 tlie advantagos tliat might be derived from an ac- 

 quaintance with the modes of managing dailies in 

 Holland, offered, in 1831, a piemiuni for the besi 

 report npon tliat suliject, founded on personal ob- 

 servation. The premium was subsequently award- 

 ed to John IMitchell, whose report was |)ublished 

 in JS33. We abstract fmm this report such facts 

 as are likely most to interest our dairy farmers, and 

 lead to their improvement. We will barely pre- 

 mise, that the products of the Dutch dairy, par- 

 ticularly the butter, are in higher demand than 

 those of any other country. Vast quantities of 

 butter are annually exported to Britain, the West 

 Indies, &c. 116,233 cwt. of butter, and 167,913 

 cwt. of cheese, were brought from Holland to Eng- 

 land in 1830. Were the same care taken in nian- 

 iifacturing our butter which is bestowed in Hol- 

 land, we slioidd find a brisk foreign demand fur 

 all our surplus stock. But at present our butter 

 is inferior, will not bear transportation to a warm 

 climate, and will not compete with that of Holland. 

 Pasture. The pastures in Holland have been 

 reclaimed from the ocean. They are flat, low and 

 moist, the water in the small canals or dykes al- 

 ways rising nearly to their surface. They are of 

 course permanent, or are seldom broken with llie 

 plough. They are top dressed every third year 

 with cow-house manure nii.xed with the scrapings 

 of the small canals, and the first year after dress- 

 ing, reserved generally, for bay. 



Supposing the whole growth 700, the Dutch 

 Farmers consiiler that there grows, for the con- 

 suuqitiou of the cow, from the beginning of spiing 

 till iMay, 135 parts ; in June, 20 ; July, 135 ; Au- 

 gust, 95 ; Sept. 55 ; October till winter, 80. 



Cows are p;irticularly selected for the dairy. 

 Theirprice is about 9 or 101. sterl. (40 to 45 dolls.) 

 Tbe^^ve generally fattened and turned oft' to the 

 butcher at 8 years old, and bulls at four or five. 

 Tlie cows are turned to pasture in March or April, 

 and are at first oovered with a very thick cloth ol 

 tow, covering the upper half of the body from the 

 shoulders to the tail, to prevent disease from cold. 

 They are pastured about 30 weeks. Hay is their 

 common food in winter, though rape cake and 

 brewers' grains are sometimes added. The byres 

 or eow-bouses are generally bifty, airy, paved with 

 large square bricks, and kept iierfectly clean. The 

 roof is about ten feet high. There are no racks 

 or mangers, but the food is ]ilaced in gutters, al- 

 ways clean, near their beads. — (Jnllers in their 

 rear serve to carry oft' the urine and dung, and 

 these gutters are also kept clean. 



Process of Manufacture. The cows are always 

 inilked by the men, and the butler and cheese 

 made by the women, generally of the family. 

 Ninety cows are numaged by nine men and two 

 women. There is generally one miui required to 

 ten cows ; while two women are considcMed 

 enough for a dairy. The farmer reckons that he 

 can make 100 guilders, about 40 dollars, i)er an- 

 num, by each cow. 



Bulltr. There are tlirce distinct kinds of butter 

 made in Holland : Grass butler, made when the 

 cows are at gross ; If'hey butler, from the whey of 

 Bweet nfdk cheese ; and Haj butter, made in win- 

 ter. 



Grass butler. The cows being carefully milked 

 to the last drop, the pitchers containing the milk. 



are put into the Koelbak, a description of which 

 will be found in the preceding article. Wben the 

 cream has been gathered and is soured, and if 

 there is a sufficient quantity from the niunber ot 

 cows, they clmrn every 24 hours, the chiu-n being 

 half filled with soured cream. A little boiled warm 

 water is added in winter, to give the whole the 

 proper degree of heat, and in very warm weather, 

 tlie milk is first cooled in the Koelbak or cooler. 

 In small dairies, the milk is sometimes churned, 

 when soured without separating the creajii. The 

 liutter, immediately after being taken out of the 

 churn, is put into a shallow tub, called a vloot, 

 and carelully washed with pure cold water. It is 

 then worked with a slight sprinkling of fine salt, 

 whether for immediate use or the barrel. Wiien 

 the cows have been three weeks at grass, the but- 

 ter is delicious, is made in fanciful shapes of lambs, 

 stuck with the flowers of the |)olyanthiis, pyraridds, 

 &c., and sells as high as 44 slivers, 60 or 70 ceius, 

 the 17 oz. or Dutch pound. If intended for bar- 

 relling the butter is worked up twice or thrice a 

 (lay, with soft fine salt, lor three days, in a flat 

 tub, there being about two pounds of this salt al- 

 lowed for fourteen pounds of butter ; the butter is 

 then bard packed by thin layers into casks, which 

 casks are previously carefully seasoned and clean- 

 ed. They are always of oak, well smoothed in- 

 side. Before being used, they are allowed to 

 stand three or four days, filled with sour whey, 

 and thereafter carefully washed out and dried. 

 Each cow, after being some time at grass yields 

 about one Dutch pound (17 1-2 oz.) butter per 

 day. 



We beg our dairy women to mark two points in 

 the ]ireceding process. 1. JVo salt is used bat 

 what is incorporated witli and dissolved in the butter, 

 and which is necessary to give it flavor ; and 2d, 

 the butter intended lor keeping is worked from six 

 to ten times, to incorporate the salt, and to separate 

 from it every particle of liquid, which, if left in it, 

 would induce rancidity. 



Hay Butter undergoes a like process. 



li'hey Butler. The whey is allowed to stand 

 three days or a week, after being separated from 

 the curd, when the cream is skinuned off', or the 

 whey itself put into the churn, and the butter is 

 formed in about •an hoiu'. By this process, in win- 

 ter one pound of butter is obtained I'rom each cow 

 in a week, and in smumer 1 1-2 pounds. The 

 relative prices are generally, grass butter 8 1-2 

 stivers, hay butter 7, and whey butter 6. 



Cheese. There are four kinds of sta[>le cheese 

 made in Holland — the Edam and Gouda, both 

 made from unskimmed milk ; and two kiiuls, call- 

 ed Kunier Cheese from milk once or twice skim- 

 med. 



Edam Cheese. The process of manufacture of 

 the Edam cheese is as follows: — The milk being 

 yearned as soon as taken from the cow, when co- 

 agulated, the hand, or a wooden bowl, is passed 

 gently two or three times through the curds, which 

 are then allowed to stand a few minutes ; the 

 bowl or finger is again passed through them, and 

 they stand a few minutes. The whey is then 

 taken oft" with the wooden bowl, and the curd is 

 then put into a wooden form, (of the proper size 

 and sliape of the cheese to be made.) This form 

 is cut out of tlie solid wood by a turner, and has 

 one hole in the bottom. If the cheese is of the 

 small size, (about 4 lbs.) it remains in this foru 

 about ten or twelve days; if the large sized, it re 



mains about fourteen days. It is turned daily, the 

 upper part during this time being kept sprinkled 

 with about two ounces of purified salt of ibe large 

 crystals. It is then removed into a second box or 

 form of the same size, with four holes in the bot- 

 tom, and |iut midcr a press of about 50 lbs. weight, 

 where it remains from two to three hours, if of 

 the small size, and from four to six if of the large 

 size. It is then taken out and jint on a dry airy 

 shelf in the cheese apartment, and daily turned for 

 about four weeks, when they are generally fit to. 

 be' taken to market. 



Alkniaar, in Worth Holland, is the great market 

 for Edam cheese. It is not uncommon, to see 

 800 farmers at the market, and 470,000 cheeses 

 for sale one day. The price there averages about 

 36s. per cwt. ($6 66.) 



Gondii Cheese. This cheese is also made from 

 the milk immediately on its being taken from the 

 cow. After gradually t.-iking ofl' the principal part 

 of the whey, a little warm water is put upon the 

 curd, vvliich is left standing for a quarter of an 

 hour. l!y increasing the heat and quantity of 

 water, the (;lieese is made harder and more dura- 

 ble. All the whey and water is then taken oflT, 

 and the cjrd is gradually packed bard into a form 

 cut out by the turner, flatter and broader than the 

 form of the Edam cheese. A wooden cover is 

 placed over it, and the press, with a weight of 

 about S lis. put upon it. It is here frequently 

 turned, and altogether remains under the press 

 about twenty-four hours. The cheese is then car- 

 ried to a cool cellar, put into a tub containing 

 pickle, the liquid covering the lower half of it. 

 The watei of tlie pickle is boiled, and about three 

 or four baidsful of salt melted in about thirty im- 

 |)erial pints of water. The cheese is not ])Ut ia 

 until the water is quite cold. After remaining 

 twenty-lour liours, or at most two days, in the 

 pickle tuf, where it is turned every six hours, the 

 cheese afer being rubbed over with salt, is placed 

 upon a board slightly hollowed, having a small 

 channel in the centre, to conduct the whey which 

 runs oft' into a tub at one end. This board is call- 

 ed the ZouUank, upon which several cheeses are 

 placed at a time. — About two or three ounces of 

 the large chrystalized salt, is jilaced ujion the up- 

 per side of tiie cheese, which is frequently turned, 

 the side upjjermost being always sprinkled with 

 salt. It remains on the zouttank about eight or 

 ten days, according to the wariiiness of the weath- 

 er ; the cheese is then waslied witli hot water, 

 rubbed ilry and laid upon planks, and turned daily 

 until periiictly dry and hard. 



The cheese bouse is generally shut during the 

 day, but must be open in the evening and early in 

 the morning. 



(jtouda is the principal market for this kind of 

 cheese, where it sells for about 35s. per cwt. 



Each cow at grass in Holland is calculated to 

 give about three or four pounds of sweet milk ■ 

 cheese per day. 



We omit the method of making the Kanter 

 Cheese, which is similar to our skim-milk cheese 

 — ;uid of the cheese utensils. 



The milk house is generally between the dwell- 

 ing and the cow house, in a squara apartment, in 

 the corner of which is the cooler ; it is airy, roomy, 

 and paved with square bricks — the upper part 

 serving for churning, making cheese, &c. and de- 

 scending a few steps, into a sort of cellar, is the 

 milk room, having two to four windows, which 

 are opened or shut acccrdiog to circumstances. 



