Cheese Factories in Dcrhyshire. 
57 
is wanting to give the movement a fair and unbiassed trial. 
The results have exceeded the most sanguine expectations, and 
attained a complete success. It is not too much to say that the 
cheese made at Longford is considerably superior to that made 
at Derby. The independent and unanimous testimony of gen- 
tlemen of high standing, from widely different localities, pro- 
nounces some of the Longford make equal to that of the very 
best Cheddar, entirely free from the peculiar flavour inseparable 
from all American made cheese. Some have expressed a doubt 
as to the possibility of testing the quality of the milk contributed 
by the different patrons to a factory, and the detection of fraud 
by skimming or by adulterating with skim-milk or water. 
With ordinary care and attention it is quite within the power of 
the manager to detect any attempt of the kind. The cream-gauge 
is a true and unerring test as to the quantity of cream, and the 
lactometer, by showing the specific gravity of the skim-milk, would 
indicate an excess of water. On looking over the factories, Mr. 
H. M. Jenkins recommended the use of graduated glass tubes as 
tests of the caseine or cheesy matter contained indifferent samples 
of milk. These tubes are filled with milk to a fixed point, and a 
small quantity of rennet is added ; the curd, when formed, is cut 
with a wire, and the tubes dipped into hot water to raise the tem- 
perature sufficiently to cause the separation of the whey ; the curd 
settles to the bottom, and the graduated scale on the tube shows 
at a glance the proportion of curd. The quantity might be more 
correctly ascertained by removing and pressing the curd, and 
then weighing it ; but to do this correctly would require the use 
of delicate machinery, and an amount of education and intelli- 
gence scarcely to be expected amongst ordinary cheesemakers at 
the present time. The state of health and condition of the cow 
exercises a marked effect both on the quantity and quality of the 
produce. It is vain to expect milk rich either in butter or in 
cheese from a cow vvhen very lean, even though her present food 
may be rich and liberal in allowance. When proper materials 
are furnished the animal economy has the first claim, and the 
renovation of tissues prevents the secretion of milk. As is well- 
known, in the case of turnips and some acrid weeds, the flavour 
of the milk becomes tainted by the food, and this is much more 
the case when the cow is deprived of the use of clean water, and 
can only slake her thirst from some stagnant pool, which is often 
replenished by the urine from the cowshed, or by the drainage 
from the dunghill. Unlike the solid food the liquid is absorbed, 
and at once enters into the circulation, carrying with it, and 
commmgling with the secretions, the germs of corruption. To the 
water alone may be attributed, in great part, the inferior cheese 
produced in most of the Dutch dairies. 
