166 
Dairying  in  Denmark. 
like  the  cheese-room,  is  always  under  lock  and  key,  and 
receives  the  personal  supervision  of  the  head  dairymaid,  who 
is,  except  on  very  large  farms,  and  frequently  even  then,  the 
farmer’s  wife  or  daughter. 
6.  Skim-milk  Cheese. — The  exact  process  of  manufacture  of 
skim-milk  cheese  varies  on  nearly  every  farm  in  Denmark  that 
I visited,  so  far  at  least  as  regards  the  temperature  at  which  the 
rennet  is  added,  and  the  proportion  of  butter-milk  mixed  with 
the  skim-milk.  As  a general  rule,  however,  I inferred  that  the 
richer  the  skim-milk,  the  smaller  the  proportion  of  butter-milk 
added  to  it,  and  the  higher  the  temperature  at  which  the  rennet 
was  added.  But  this  statement  is  subject  to  many  exceptions. 
Still  it  may  be  sufficient  for  the  purposes  of  this  report  to  state 
that  in  a Swartz  dairy  about  7 per  cent,  of  butter-milk  would  be 
added  if  sour-cream  butter  is  made,  either  entirely  or  as  the  pro- 
duct of  a second  skimming  after  sweet-cream  butter  ; but  more 
sweet-cream  than  sour-cream  butter-milk  can  be  used.  In  a 
Holstein  or  a “ running-water  ” dairy,  where  the  skim-milk  is 
richer  in  cream,  not  more  than  from  3 to  6 per  cent,  of 
butter-milk  would  be  added  ; while,  where  centrifugal  separators 
are  used,  from  10  to  15  or  20  per  cent,  of  butter-milk  is  mixed 
with  the  exceptionally  poor  skim-milk  which  is  left  after  the 
extraction  of  the  cream  by  this  method.  This  addition  of 
butter-milk  to  skim-milk  is  one  of  the  peculiarities  in  the 
manufacture  of  Danish  skim-cheese,  and  the  variations  in  prac- 
tice just  indicated  show  that  the  true  principles  of  the  use  of 
butter-milk  for  this  purpose  have  not  yet  been  clearly  made  out. 
Rennet  is  added  at  temperatures  varying  from  22°  to  32°  R. 
(81£°  to  104°  F.),  according  to  the  time  of  the  year  and  the 
richness  of  the  skim-milk  ; the  richer  it  is  in  cream,  the  higher 
the  temperature  it  will  bear  without  becoming  hard.  About 
86°  F.  may  be  quoted  as  a very  usual  temperature.  After  the 
rennet  and  the  colouring  matter  are  added  and  well  mixed  with 
the  warm  mess,  it  is  covered  with  the  boarded  top  of  the  cheese- 
tub,  and  left  about  half  an  hour,  occasionally  not  more  than 
twenty  minutes. 
When  the  curd  is  fairly  formed,  it  is  carefully  and  slowly  cut 
vertically  with  a long  wooden  knife  into  strips  about  three  inches 
wide.  These  are  similarly  cut  across,  so  as  to  form  pillars  with 
a cubical  section.  Great  care  is  taken  not  to  break  the  curd 
during  his  operation,  but  to  keep  in  it  the  little  richness  that  it 
contains.  Afterwards,  a shovel-shaped  curd-breaker,  made  of 
wood  and  wicker-work,  is  used  ; at  first  very  gently  to  break 
the  pillars  of  curd  into  shorter  pieces,  then  by  bringing  some  of 
them  above  the  surface  of  the  whey  to  make  them  break  them- 
selves against  the  wicker-bars  by  the  force  of  gravity ; and 
