No. 149.] 375 



possible ; but the buttermilk must be every drop got out by work- 

 ing it with the wooden skimmer or dish. It must be washed, 

 but that too as little as possible for much washing weakens its 

 body, injures its aroma and color. We recommend the first wash- 

 ing it in clean fresh made pickle, of a pint of salt to three gallons 

 •of water. Wash a second time with a pickle made of Jour pints 

 of salt and one ounce of saltpetre to three gallons of water and 

 expressed again.. 



Salting. — The finest rock salt should be used. The saltpetre 

 should be pounded very fine and mixed with the salt. To a fir- 

 kin of sixty eight pounds, give two and a half pints of salt and 

 one ounce of saltpetre. It is not advisable to use any coloring 

 whatever. After the butter is salted leave it in the tub to drain, 

 for the drier it is, the more waxy it will cut 



<aiEESE, Vol. 12, 



It has sometimes been a matter of dispute amongst Englishmen 

 which county or district is most famous for the making of 

 cheese. If quantity as well as quality be considered, the decis- 

 ion must be in favor of Cheshire, in which, on a moderate com- 

 putation, there cannot be made annually, less tlian 12,000 tcnsj 

 a considerable portion of it, excellent. The fame of this Chesliire 

 cheese is as old at least as the reign of Henry the first, A. D., 

 1100. The Countess Constance of Chester, though wife of Hugh 

 Lupus, the king's first cousin kept a herd of/cine and made good 

 cheese, three of which she presented to the Arcllbi^hop of Can- 

 terbury. The old British did not know how to make good cheese 

 until the Romans taught tliem. 



It is scarcely necessary to premise that milk from which cheese 

 is made consists of three distinct parts : cream, curd and wliey, 

 into which, by repose, it spontaneously separates ; but this sepa- 

 ration can be accelerated by infusing a small quantity of a simple 

 acid extracted from curd and dried maw skins (rennet) wliich 

 have been previously steeped in warm water. The art of cheese 

 making consists in the complete extraction of the whey and in 

 the proper compacting and curing the curd. The riclmess of the 

 cheese depends on the quality of the milk, or in other words, on 



