British Dairy Farming. 
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while the former should be a quick curd, coming in 4 hours, the 
latter should be a slow curd, taking 18 to 24 hours. A quick 
curd will cause a hard cheese, which is objectionable, and this 
may also be brought about bj allowing the curd to remain too 
long before it is put into the moulds. Practice alone can dictate 
when this work should take place. If too young, the fat of the 
curd will drain off in the whey and spoil the quality ; if too old, 
i.e., too firm and too elastic, the pate will not be unctuous. Drain- 
age of the whey will not be sufficiently perfect below 56 degrees 
Fahr., consequently the dairy must be heated in cold weather; 
but the French prefer animal heat to stoves or pipes, and con- 
nect their cheese-rooms with their cow-houses in order to obtain 
it, objectionable as it may seem. Let us fully understand the 
principles of obtaining curd in cheese-making. We have to 
consider the quality and volume of the milk, the temperature 
of the milk and of the atmosphere, the strength of the ren- 
net, and the time in which it is necessary to bring the curd. 
First, as to temperature. Curd is obtained more rapidly in 
warm than in cold weather, hence the necessity of employing a 
larger quantity of rennet in one season than in another. Skim- 
milk requires less rennet to coagulate it in a given time than 
whole-milk, and thus it will be seen that the richer the milk the 
greater the quantity of rennet required ; so that the same number 
of cubic centimetres employed in forming a curd in four hours 
from Shorthorn milk would not prove satisfactory in the case of 
Jersey milk. The time employed in the coagulation of milk is in 
an inverse ratio to the quantity of rennet used. Thus the more 
rennet employed, the shorter the time taken in the formation of 
the curd. Again, the same fact holds good with regard to 
temperature — for the temperature of the milk is in an inverse 
ratio to the quantity of rennet employed. Thus, if it is required 
to bring a Brie cheese-curd in four hours, it would be necessary 
to use less rennet at a temperature of 85 than at a temperature of 
80 degrees. In making a soft cheese we desire a tender curd, which 
can be converted into an unctuous cheese. To obtain this a small 
quantity of rennet is necessary, and, ordinarily, a low tempera- 
ture. These are two cardinal points in soft-cheese making, 
therefore it is an axiom that a large quantity of rennet not only 
spoils the cheese by bringing the curd too quickly, but by 
causing a loss of quality through the drainage of the fat-globules 
with the whey. The opposite error, however, must not be fallen 
into ; for if the curd is too tender, the whey will be found diffi- 
cult to drain. 
Some details with regard to the employment of rennet in 
dairy science will probably be found useful. Calculations are 
generally formulated upon the basis of a rennet of a strength of 
