ISABELLA GHAPE. 
309 
ers. Most of the milk-rooms have lattice or wire win- 
lows for the circulation of air, and the floors are laid 
in a sloping form for the free escape of the cold water 
with which they are daily swilled throughout the 
summer months. If precautions of this nature be not 
attended to, there is a risk of the evening’s milk be¬ 
coming sour; in which case, whatever quantity of 
new milk be added to it in the morning, the cheese 
will be sour also. I am led to believe that a tempera¬ 
ture of as near 50° Fahrenheit as could be maintain¬ 
ed, would be the best for a milk-house throughout the 
year. The dairy is generally situate near the milk- 
house, and fitted up with two set-pans or boilers —a 
large one for scalding the whey, ami a smaller one for 
heating water. The “ cheese-presses ” and “ screw ” 
are kept within this room, and the operation of cheese- 
making is here carried on. 
Lever Pressing. —Poles, weights, and screws are 
now superseded by a new lever press. The advanta¬ 
ges of this over the screw are, that it sinks by its own 
action vjith the curd—any degree of pressure required 
can be applied and gradually increased , and less atten¬ 
tion is necessary; whereas the pressure from the 
screw is sudden and uncertain, and having no self-ac¬ 
tion, requires the dairy-maid’s assistance every five or 
ten minutes to render it effectual. 
Quantity of Salt Required, and Temperature of the 
Milk.—A farmer in South Cheshire, well known for 
his introduction of improvements in agriculture, has 
commenced the system cf weighing his curd previous 
to salting it, and he says he uses salt in the proportion 
of 1 lb. to 42 lbs. of curd. He also informs me he 
sets his milk together by a thermometer, and at a tem¬ 
perature of 76° or 77°. 
Quantity of Cheese Milk will Give. —It has general¬ 
ly been considered that a gallon of milk (supposing 
little or no cream has been taken from it) will pro¬ 
duce upon an average of the season 1 lb. of saleable 
cheese ; that is, when the cheese is four or five 
months old. In autumn there is always more curd 
from the same quantity of milk than at any other part 
of the season. 
The Curd-mill. —This is of recent introduction, and 
it is only in a few dairies that it is met with ; some 
dairy-maids highly approving, others objecting to it. 
I think it will soon be more generally adopted, as it 
effects a saving in time, and breaks the curd more re¬ 
gularly than it can be done by hand. 
A Recipe for Curing the Maw-Skins (Stomach ).— 
Procure the skins from the butcher the year previous 
to their being wanted ; clean out the chyly matter, and 
every other apparent impurity ; the inside is then turn¬ 
ed outward on a table, and salted ; the skins are then 
laid one upon another, with a layer of salt between 
each, in a deep earthenware vessel similar to a cream- 
mug ; they are then covered over with salt^ and have a 
lid of slate or flag placed on the top. They are taken 
out as wanted, about a month previous to being used, 
and the brine drained from them. They are then spread 
on a table, and fine salt is powdered on each side. In 
this state they are rolled with a paste roller, distended 
with a splint of wood, and hung up to dry. 
Mode of Making Rennet from Maw-Skins.— The 
rennet , or steep as it is commonly called, is next add¬ 
ed. 1 have already stated in the introduction,'that 
this is an infusion made from the preserved stomach 
or maw of sucking calves, thence called maw-skins or 
bag-skins. To define the quantity of rennet sufficient 
for coagulating a given quantity of milk is a very dif¬ 
ficult matter, as the maw-skins vary so much in quali¬ 
ty. When the farmer is laying in a stock for the year, 
he generally calculates upon a dozen of skins to a 
ton of cheese, but the skins vary in size (the price 
when cured is from 65. to 9s. per dozen). In using 
them, it is the practice often to cut two skins at once. 
Three square inches taken from the bottom (or strong¬ 
est part) of one, and one or two inches from the top 
(or weakest part) of the other, is generally found suf¬ 
ficient for sixty gallons of milk. These tw r o pieces of 
skin are put into a cup containing about half a pint of 
luke-warm water, with the addition of a tea-spoonful 
of salt, some part of the day previous to being used. 
The water thus impregnated with the maw-skin is 
passed through the sieve into the milk, but the skin 
itself is generally, though not always, kept out. The 
rennet cup is well scalded before being used again. I 
have been told that some farmers make a sufficient¬ 
ly large quantity of rennet to last for several weeks, 
and find it to answer better than making a small quan¬ 
tity daily. The question is, will it keep sweet ? 
ISABELLiT GRAPE. 
In the June number of the Agriculturist, page 179, 
your correspondent, D’Jay Browne,gives the history 
of the Isabella grape, as he received it from General 
Swift. I regret not having seen this article sooner, 
as I had the pleasure of spending an evening with the 
General in this neighborhood, a short time since, and 
would have been glad to have had a talk with him 
on the subject. This account is, I presume, correct 
as far as it goes ; but as I have a history of this iden¬ 
tical grape, at a date far earlier than 1817,1 give it to 
you. 
For some years previous, and subsequent to 1800, a 
gentleman named Vernet lived in Norwich, Ct. He was 
either a Frenchman or a West Indian, as I have under¬ 
stood. He had a beautiful residence near the Yantic 
river, which he built, and while living there planted 
a vine which, a dozen years ago, was still standing on 
the premises then, and perhaps now, occupied by the 
family of the late Capt. Benjamin Lee. This vine has 
been multiplied into many gardens at Norwich, and 
is now to be found in great perfection there, and in 
its vicinity. Mr. Yernet died some years previous to 
the war of 1812. The vine was sujjposed to be 
brought by Mr. Vernet from either France or the 
West Indies, on one of the islands of which he was 
extensively engaged in commercial pursuits. I made, 
several years ago, minute inquiries about the particu¬ 
lar history of the grape, but these general facts are all 
I could obtain in reference to it. 
A cutting, or layer from this vine was transplanted 
into the garden of a Mr. Brown, the father-in-law of 
Mr. Yernet, previous to the last war, where it flour¬ 
ished in great perfection, and was still in existence in 
1838. This latter place has been for upwards of 
twenty years occupied by Bela Peck, Esq., who mul¬ 
tiplied this grape extensively in his gardens, and ad¬ 
jacent grounds. The old vine grew a distance of 30 
or 40 feet from its root, and bore large quantities of 
delicious fruit. That this is the true Isabella, I have 
no question. I planted cuttings from it fifteen years 
ago side by side with Isabella roots from the Long 
Island Nurseries, and the fruit of each was alike: so 
too were the vines in wood, leaf, and vigor of growth, 
it is evident, therefore, that the Isabella graj e existed 
