SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
311 
In the dairy districts of this State, the stomach is emptied 
of it^ contents without scraping or rinsing, salted and 
dried and kept for one year. Then it is soaked for 24 
hours in tepid water — a gallon of water to each rennet 
They should be frequently rubbed and pressed to get out 
all the strength. The liquor containing the soluble rennet 
is then saturated with salt, allowed to settle and strained 
to separate the sediment and all impurities. It is then fit 
for use. It should be kept in the stone jar, and in a cool 
place. As much of the liquor is used each morning as 
will set the cheese firm in 40 minutes. We have visited 
many excellent English dairies where the same syatem is 
adopted. It is, in our opinion, better than placing the 
rennet itself in the milk. The stomach may again be salt- 
ed, stretched and exposed to the air for some months, 
when it can never be used over — a fresh portion of the 
membrane having been decomposed by the air and ren- 
dered soluble. This fact, and others that might be men- 
tioned, sufficiently prove that it is not the gastric juice of 
the stomach that is the active ingredient in rennet in co- 
agulating milk. 
TEMPERATURE OF THE MILK, SCALDING, &C. 
As eheese making is a fermenting process, it is influ- 
enced materially by heat proceeding within certain limits, 
faster or slower, as the temperature is raised or lowered. 
In England, the milk is generally raised to a temperature 
of 85 degrees Fahrenheit before adding the rennet. In this 
country it is set cooler, and raised to a higher tempera- 
ture after the milk is coagulated. This is called “scald- 
ing.’^ The word is a bad one — calculated to mislead. 
To “scald the curd” would be to spoil the cheese ; but all 
that is meant by the phrase is raising the temperature of 
the whey and curd to about 100 degrees Fahi'enheit. This 
“scalding” process has many advantages; among others, 
the cheese requires less pressure, and the milk can be set 
at a much lower temperature— say 80 degrees Fahrenheit. 
Scalding should be done with care and nicety. For- 
merly it was done by heating a portion of the whey and 
pouring it into the cheese; but there is danger of injuring 
a portion of the cheese by over heating it. A much bet- 
ter method is now generally adopted by the dairymen in 
the northern counties of New York and it is one of the 
greatest modern improvements in the art of cheese mak- 
ing What our English friends call the “cheese tub,” is 
made of tin, and is placed in a wooden frame, so fixed 
that it can be surrounded by hot or cold water, as desired. 
The evening’s milk is strained into this tin, as it is brought 
in warm from the cows ; and is kept cool by allowing cold 
water to run round it. The morning’s milk is added to 
the cooled evening’s milk and if not then sufficiently warm 
water is poured round the tin till the proper temperature 
is attained. There is some difference of opinion on this 
point; we know good dairymen who add the rennet to 
the milk of 80 degrees, and others not till it is as high as 
90 degrees. The curd should come in about 40 minutes. 
Shortly afterwards, the curd is cut up with a “cheese 
breaker,” and then the temperature is gradually raised by 
pouring warm water round the tin. Many err by raising 
the temperature too fast. It should not be increased more 
than a degree in five minutes. In many dairies, a steam- 
er is employed for heating the water surrounding the tin, 
containing the milk or whey and cured, as also for sup- 
ply hot water for washing utensils, &c. 
SEPARATING THE CURD FROM THE WHEY. 
They English method of separating the whey from the 
curd by allowing it to settle, and dipping off the whey, is 
too slow for a go-a-head American. In some of the dair 
ies we have visited in the northern districts of this State, 
a lattice fame work, on which a large cloth is spre.id, is 
fitted into a sink, connected by a pipe with the receptacle 
for the whey, or pig cistern. The whey and curd are 
dipped on to this cloth, they whey running through in a 
few minutes, leaving the curd on the cloth. A little cold 
water is then poured on the curd to keep it from packing. 
Some, however, prefer to cool whey and curd together, 
by putting cold \vater round the tin. When the whey 
has all drained away, the curd is broken up fine and salt- 
ed. It is then placed in a cheese hoop and pressed for 24 
hours. 
There are a number of excellent cheese presses, but 
probubly none superior to that invented by Mr. I>ick. 
The Self Acting Press, so called because the weight of the 
cheese is the power which creates the pressure is frequent- 
ly used in small dairies. In the dairy districts of this 
State, Kendall’s Cheese Press would appear to be the most 
popular, being cheaper than Dick’s and more efficient than 
the Self-Acting Press. A weight of 20 lbs. at the end of 
the lever gives a pressure of 10 tons. In all presses it is 
very desirable that the pressure should faithfully follow 
the cheese as it shrinks. 
THE ENGLISH PRESS THEIR CHEESE MORE THAN WE DO. 
The English dairymen, as a general thing, do not scald 
their curd, and hence much more care is needed, in salt- 
ing and pressing than in the process generally adopted 
by intelligent cheese makers in this country. In Cheshire 
after the curd is separated from the whey, it is put under 
a hand press for an hour or two, and as much of the whey 
expressed from it as possible previous to salting. Whet 
taken from under the hand press, it is broken quite fine 
by hand and salted. It is then put in the cheese hoop, 
and pressed slightly for six or eight hours. It is then taken 
from under the press, pierced with a wooden skewer it 
order to open channels for the exudation of the whey, 
covered with a clean cloth, and put under a heavy pres- 
sure till next morning, when a clean cloth is again put 
round it, and a heavy pressure applied till it will no long- 
er wet the cloth. Cheeses are frequently left under the 
press three or four days. “Scalding” expels the whey 
from the curd more effectually than can be done by the 
most powerful and long continued pressure, but it is a 
question whether at the same time it does not destroy some 
of the desired flavor of the cheese. If our dairymen should 
“scald” less, and press more, their cheese would be more 
highly prized, at least in the English market — Genessee 
Farvier. 
EMASCULATION OF COLTS, MULES, BULLS, &c. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — Why did “Enquirer,* 
of Cave Spring, Ga., write all the way to the Cidlivator 
and then wait 2 or 3 months for some of your correspond- 
ents to inform him of the “most approved method of cas- 
trating mules and horses V' when Asa lives withia 
10 miles of his door. Asa never failed to do the work 
“jam up,” but once, and then “he was not there,” and, of 
course he was not responsible for what followed on that 
occasion I, therefore, refer K — , or “Enquire” to 
Asa for information. But for fear he may not see Asa in 
time to save his next mule, I will give Asa’s method. He 
performs the operation with the horse upon his feet, and 
sears with a red hot iron, then app'ies table salt to the 
wound. Bathe the parts night and morning with greasy 
dish-water, feed lightly and keep the bowels opea. 
Ninety nine cases out of one hundred, treated as above, 
will be well in a few days. But if inflammation should 
take place (which is almost invariably the result of neg- 
lect) bleed freely from the neck vein, and keep the wound 
clean and open; and in addition to all the above, keep 
the horse or mule to itself— no horses near to annoy. 
E>o this. Mr. X- , and I will pay for all the mulee 
and horses you will lose from castration for the next tO 
years. Yours, &c., Morr Light 
Utica, Miss... 1856. 
