166 
British Dairy Farming. 
to the perfection of the growth of the parasite, and that where 
the flesh of the cheese is to any extent free from the fungus, the 
parts most distant from it are not converted into perfect cheese 
until they have been reached by the influence of the fungus. 
A large percentage of Gorgonzolas are spoiled by over-ripening, 
chiefly due to apartments of too high a temperture. In many 
other cases the curd becomes too yellow as it is converted into 
cheese, and this happens long before the green mould has 
appeared. These cheeses are imperfect, and are sold at greatly 
reduced prices. Signor Pessina has introduced a white Gor- 
gonzola to suit a class of Italian customers, who, as he explained 
to me, object to eat the real article on account of the fre- 
quent introduction of drugs which are used for giving an 
imitation of the green mould. I tasted several of these cheeses, 
which had nothing specially tempting about them. They are 
ripened in an apartment where fresh air is excluded as much 
as possible, and where the air is dry. Instead of an aromatic 
flavour and salvy pate, they are quite sweet and somewhat waxy. 
In the ordinary way, 10 gallons of milk make from 13 lbs. to 
15 lbs. of cheese, according to the stage at which it is sold ; but 
now that it can be purchased in England at a price which is 
greatly reduced, the industry is not so profitable to the Italians 
as formerly. At the same time it is sufficiently profitable to 
make it well worth the while of English dairy-farmers, who would 
reap a decidedly better price per cwt. than for either Cheshire, 
Cheddar, or any other leading variety of hard cheese. The 
apartments necessary in a first-rate Gorgonzola factory are the 
milk-setting-room, the salting-room, the first ripening-room, 
and the cellar. In some cases, however, the second and third 
apartments are combined. I may quote one instance which will 
fully exemplify the great trouble which is taken by large 
numbers of straccldjio-rmkeTS to produce a perfect article. 
When last in Italy, I received an invitation from Signor An- 
tonio Zazzera, of Codogno, to visit his factory, which is very 
important from the point of view of butter as well as of cheese. 
This gentleman manufactures his Gorgonzolas at Codogno, 
but he refines them nearly 100 miles away on the banks of 
the Lake of Como, where he has constructed his caves on the 
side of a mountain, introducing air-holes which are in direct 
communication with a distant cascade, by means of which he is 
enabled to pass a cold humid air directly across his cheeses. 
The raw curd cheese is sent daily from the factory, and Signor 
Zazzera is perfectly independent of the heat of summer, the 
cheese taking the mould with great rapidity. The following 
analyses show the composition of Gorgonzola, the second 
analysis being by Soxhlet : — 
