Coniposltion of Cheese. 
49 
before it is separated from the milk. The remedies arc? ob\ ious. 
It is only with respect to the latter point, — that of milk gettinj? 
sour, that I would oftbr a few observations. If the situation of 
a dairy is bad, and a new dairy cannot be erected, we should 
employ all possible means to prevent the milk from gettin<j 
vvarjn. We should keep it in shallow tins or leads, or, better 
still, as I have seen in some parts of Somersetshire, in shallow 
tin vessels with a double bottom, through which cold water may 
be run during the warm part of the season. By this means we 
can keep the milk at a considerably lower temperature than we 
should otherwise be able to do. Having seen nitre and salt used 
with great advantage to prevent cream turning sour, I would 
further suggest that they might probably be found serviceable in 
the same manner for the keeping of milk if used in moderate 
quantities. Some people, however, maintain that milk requires 
to become sour to a certain extent before it can be properly made 
into cheese. A great deal has been said and written with 
respect to the great utility to the dairyman of an instrument 
by means of which the amount of acid in sour milk might be 
accurately and readily determined. A careful study of the 
action of rennet on milk, however, has led me to the conclu- 
sion that the more carefully milk is prevented from getting sour, 
and, consequently, the less opportunity there is for the use of an 
acidometer, the more likely the cheese is to turn out good. In- 
deed, the acidometer appears to me a useless instrument, — a 
scientific toy which can never be turned to any practical account. 
If by accident the milk has become sour, the fact soon manifests 
itself I sufficiently to the taste. An experienced dairymaid will 
even form a tolerably good opinion of the relative proportions of 
acid in the milk on different days and arrange her proceedings 
accordingly. Moreover, the knowledge of the precise amount of 
acid in the milk does not help us much. When milk has turned 
sour, the best thing to do is to hasten on the process of cheese- 
making as much as possible. 
II. — Practical Faults committed during the making 
OF Cheese. 
1. Under the second head I would observe, first, that suffi- 
cient care is not bestowed upon noticing the temperature at which 
the milk is " set," or " run," as it is called in Gloucestershire. 
Thermometers, indeed, are seldom in use. Even where they are 
hung up in the dairy, they are more frequently regarded as 
curious but useless ornaments than trustworthy guides, and 
therefore are seldom put into requisition. In fact, most dairy- 
maids are guided entirely by their own feelings ; and as these are 
VOL. XXII. B 
