were awarded for butter and cheese. The report 
. particularizes the deviations from ordinary practice 
of the successful competitors ; and without affirming 
that these deviations were really instrumental in se¬ 
curing success, they deem them entitled to particular 
notice. We shall notice such of these details as seem 
most likely to be serviceable to our readers; and it 
will be remembered that they come from the success¬ 
ful competitors. 
CHEESE MAKING. 
Mr. Harvie keeps his cheese-house at the regular 
temperature of 78° Fahrenheit, throughout the whole 
season of cheese making, and executes the different 
processes of manufacture without delay. He thinks 
it impossible to produce cheese of fine quality and 
taste, without the use of the thermometer. 
Mr. Harvie thus describes his modes of making 
double Gloucester, Stilton and Wiltshire cheese. 
“ Double Gloucester cheese is made from milk as taken 
from the cow, carefully put through a scarce [strainer,] 
into a tub of sufficient size for the cheese to be made. 
In the extreme of summer heat, the milk from the cow 
may be found too warm. It will be so if above 94°, 
but the temperature may be easily brought down by 
the addition of cold skimmed milk. The rennet is then 
applied, and, if good, the curd may be expected to coagu¬ 
late in 20 or 25 minutes. The whey is taken away with 
a skimming dish, and the curd pressed with the hand 
till it becomes firm. The curd is then broken down with 
a double cheese knife, and put into a drainer with a 
gentle pressure above it. The curd is improved by 
washing with boiling water instantly drained off. The 
curd is then broken down as small as possible, salted, 
wrapped in a cloth, put into the cheese vat, [cheese 
hoop] and sent to the press. The cloth is regularly 
changed until it remains dry under the press, which is 
the only criterion to shew when the curd is sufficiently 
pressed. With the most expert cheese-makers, it may 
happen, that whey remains in the centre of the curd, 
which, if not quickly observed and removed, will crack 
and deform the cheese. An experienced person can de¬ 
tect this fault at an early stage, and by applying, for a 
short time, the cheese over the steam of a boiler, the 
whey will ooze out, and by the immediate application of 
the press, it may be all squeezed out. After the press¬ 
ing is over, the cheese should be laid on a dry shelf, 
with a little fog or meadow hay under it to expedite the 
extraction of damp. The cheese should be turned daily, 
and well rubbed with a dry cloth, but after getting firm, 
once a week will be sufficient. It will be found a great 
conveniency to have a spare press, and cast iron presses 
are far preferable to others, as the pressure can be re¬ 
gulated in them at pleasure. 
“Stilton cheese is made by mixing the evening’s cream 
with the morning’s milk, in the proportion of one gallon 
of cream to three gallons of sweet milk, and treated as 
above. 
“Wiltshire cheese is made with new milk and cream, 
in the proportion of one quart of cream to two gallons 
of new milk, and treated as above.” 
Mr, Mackay, who received the first premium for 
his skimmed milk cheese, thus details his process— 
“The cheeses were made from skimmed milk, one- 
half of which had stood 24, and the other half 12 hours, 
when both were carefully creamed, and one-half heated 
to a degree that will make the whole the requisite tem¬ 
perature. The milk, when thus prepared, receives the 
steep or rennet. A gill of rennet, made from a calf’s 
stomach, will be sufficient for a quantity of milk that 
will make a cheese of forty pounds. After the rennet is 
put in, the milk must stand until it be all properly curd¬ 
led. The curd is then broken very small with a skim¬ 
ming dish, and allowed to settle down till all the whey 
be taken off; it must then be cut with a knife in a drain¬ 
er, and allowed to remain in it till properly cooled.— 
The curd must then be put into a vessel, and cut very 
small with a curd-knife, and a small quantity of salt 
used; it is again put into the drainer a second time, and 
allowed to remain there for the space of an hour. It is 
again taken out of the drainer, put into a vessel, well 
washed, and the requisite quantity of salt added. It is 
then put into a cloth, then in the cheese vat, and lastly 
in the press, and the cloth removed thrice a day, until 
the curd is properly pressed into a cheese.” 
Mr. Dickey heats his night’s milk, for full milk 
cheese, to a temperature equal to that coming from 
the cow in the morning, before he adds the rennet. 
Mrs. Lumsden sets her milk, i. e. puts in her rennet, 
when the milk is at a temperature of 85°. 
BUTTER. 
Mrs. Macinnis, who received a premium, describes 
her mode of making and curing butter, as follows :— 
“Earthenware vessels are used for keeping the milk, 
and placed in the dairy on cool stone shelves. The 
milk allowed to stand twelve hours, after which the 
cream is taken off and put into earthen jars, and made 
into butter the following day. The butter, when made, 
clean washed with spring water, and half an ounce of 
fine salt given to every pound of 16 ounces. It is then 
kept wound up with a cloth, as it accumulates for four 
or five days, when it is all worked together, and another 
half ounce of salt added to every pound, and packed in¬ 
to the vessel that is to contain it, with a wooden mallet 
made for the purpose. A little salt is sprinkled over 
the top, which is covered closely up, so as to exclude the 
air as much as possible.” 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Mr. M’Kenzie’s milk vessels are all made of oak; 
the dairy-house stands in an airy situation, into which 
no one is allowed to enter but the dairy-maid. The 
milk vessels are always scalded in hot water, or 
steamed, before they are used. 
“Joseph Leisk makes butter from cream and milk, 
because he considers it only practicable in large dairies 
to make butter from cream alone. The milk is put into 
large vessels, and left undisturbed for four or five days, 
until churned. It is necessary that the milk be actually 
soured, not thickened, otherwise it will not part with all 
the butyraceous matter; but it should be soured by na¬ 
tural, and not by artificial means, by letting it stand a 
sufficient time. Two or more milkings may be churned 
together, provided they are not mixed but in the churn. 
It is necessary to add warm water, to raise the tempe¬ 
rature to 90°, otherwise the butter will not all be ex¬ 
tracted from it. The butter is first packed in stone dish¬ 
es, and afterwards in wooden kegs. The second pack¬ 
ing gives an uniform color and taste to the butter.” 
William Merriless begins to churn his cream at a 
temperature of 56°, when churning rises it to 60°. 
He does not wash his butter; but it is beaten with 
the hand till it is completely cleaned of the milk.— 
The quantity of milk produced from cows fed on ar¬ 
tificial grasses is much greater than that from cows 
fed on the hill; but the quality of the latter is much 
superior to that of the former, and yields much more 
cream. One pound of fine salt is allowed to one stone 
of 14 lbs. of butter. The butter is laid aside for two 
days, when it is again broken down, and beaten with 
the hand, and packed into small jars for family use. 
A Hint to Housewives. 
As greatly as we commend scrubbing, as promo¬ 
tive of cleanliness and health—and loth as we are to 
check any tendency to tidiness in our wives and daugh¬ 
ters, we do believe that scrubbing our floors with wa¬ 
ter is sometimes carried to a prejudicial length. Ven¬ 
tilation, or pure air, is the first requisite to health and 
comfort; and dry heat, though it be uncomfortable, 
is seldom unhealthy. But moist heat is the bane of 
health. When, therefore, the floors, or even the 
hearths, of our apartments, are subjected to a weekly 
or daily drenching, in order that they may look neat 
and cleanly, they must be unhealthy. Now a por¬ 
tion of this water is converted into vapor, in propor¬ 
tion to the temperature of the room ; and unless ven¬ 
tilation be given to a dry external atmosphere, the in¬ 
mates of the dwelling must suffer, in a measure, the 
evils that result from a marshy residence. One of 
the most eminent surgeons of London, the late Dr. 
Taunton, has declared, that many an illness had been 
caused, and frequently death ensued, from sleeping 
in a bed room that had been scoured, and had not 
been thoroughly dried, before its occupant retired to 
rest. The preventive of the evil, consists in scrub¬ 
bing during the prevalence of a brisk dry atmosphere, 
when the windows of the rooms can be freely open¬ 
ed ; or in using clean dry , or hot sand, instead of water 
—a practice which is coming into use with high pros¬ 
pects of usefulness. Combe has furnished us with a 
good illustration of the advantages of using sand, in¬ 
stead of water, for purifying inner apartments, in a 
letter which he has published from Capt. Murray, R. 
N. That gentleman commanded a ship of war, on 
the West-India station. While five other ships in 
company, lost from sixteen to fifty men each, not one 
of Capt. Murray’s crew, consisting of 150 officers and 
men, and although moored in the midst of the squad¬ 
ron, and having daily intercourse with the other ships 
—not one of Capt. Murray’s crew died or was sick. 
He ascribed this happy exemption to the circum¬ 
stance of keeping his ship clean and dry. “ Every 
morning the lower deck, cock-fit and store-rooms were 
scrubbed with dry holystones and hot sand, until quite 
white — the sand being carefully swept up and thrown 
overboard.” 
The admonition which this fact affords, may prove 
useful to the master, as well as to the mistress, and 
should instruct him to keep the grounds about his 
house and out buildings free from filth and stagnant 
water, and to avoid building in marshy situations, if 
he would avoid sickness himself, and prevent it in his 
family. 
Forcing Rhubarb. 
Mr. Knight has left directions for having this ex¬ 
cellent plant in use for winter. He gives the follow¬ 
ing rationale of the principles on which his practice is 
founded. “ The root of every perennial plant con¬ 
tains within itself, during winter, all the organizable 
matter, which it expends in the spring, in the forma¬ 
tion of its first foliage and flower-stems, and it re¬ 
quires neither food nor light to enable it to protrude 
these, but simple heat and water; and if the root be 
removed entire, as soon as the leaf becomes lifeless, 
it will be found to vegetate, after being replanted, as 
strongly as it would have done if it had retained its 
first position.” His mode of proceding was literally 
to fill some large deep pots with the roots taken from 
the garden, in autumn. Some fine sand loam was 
169 
then washed in, to fill entirely the interstices be¬ 
tween the roots, the tops of which were so placed as 
to be level with each other, and about one inch be¬ 
low the surface of the mould in the pots, which were 
covered with other pots of the same size inverted upon 
them: being then placed in a vinery, where there 
was no light, and copiously supplied with water, the 
plants vegetated rapidly and strongly, and from each 
pot he obtained three successive crops, the leaf- 
stocks being crowded so closely as nearly to touch 
each other, over the whole surface of the pots. The 
heat of a hot-bed, kitchen, and, on the approach 
of spring, a cellar, will afford a sufficient high tem¬ 
perature. Tubs or other wooden vessels may be sub¬ 
stituted for earthen pots. Plants which have grown 
one year in a rich soil, either from cuttings or seeds, 
will answer to force. 
“ Serious Suggestions Addressed to the Interests 
and Honor of Farmers.” 
Such is the caption of a very able article, address¬ 
ed to the farmers of Kentucky, by the editor of the 
Franklin Farmer. Its objeet is to demonstrate the 
propriety of a more liberal state policy for the im¬ 
provement of its agriculture, particularly by the es¬ 
tablishment of schools of practical and scientific in¬ 
struction. The certain tendency and sure effect of 
such a policy, it is contended, will be, to enlarge and 
elevate the science, i. e. the principles and practice 
of husbandry ; to promote vast improvement in the 
modes of tillage, and all the departments of husband¬ 
ry ; to contribute the most effctual aids, physical and 
intellectual, to this great branch of industry, and to 
elevate the dignity and standing, in every sense, of 
the tillers of the soil. Commerce and manufactures, 
which, he adds, are subordinate interests, have re¬ 
ceived ample—we do not say unmerited—encourage¬ 
ment, while agriculture has been wholly neglected. 
And why, he asks, is this 1 It has been owing, he 
intimates, to the listlessness and indifference of the 
farmers themselves. He closes with the following ap¬ 
peal to their interests and patriotism : 
“ Now we ask the farmers of Kentucky, each and all; 
have you done your duty to yourselves, to your sons 
and to your country, in regard to the great measures in 
which you are most deeply interested? Have you done 
enough for the promotion of agricultural education— 
have you felt and acted as if you felt, that your pursuits 
are the most important and dignified of all that engage 
the labors of mankind ? Have you been willing, or at 
least, inactive spectators, of the course of legislation, 
which has passed by the interests of agriculture, unno¬ 
ticed? Have you stood by and witnessed acts of favor 
extended to every other pursuit, and your own neglected 
as if unworthy of attention? Have you ever, as a free¬ 
man of this republic, and having the right to instruct 
your representatives, urged them to support measures 
of legislation in favor of agriculture ; or rebuked or re¬ 
primanded them for their disobedience? Have you done 
nothing for the encouragement of agricultural education ? 
Have you never felt, that in your pursuits as a farmer, 
in your actions as a citizen of the country, in your dis¬ 
cipline as a father;—that you owe a great moral debt to 
your contemporaries, to your country and to your chil¬ 
dren, wh^ich cannot be dischargedbut by engaging heartily 
and earnestly, with all your ability and energy, in the 
labors which we have suggested? If you return a nega¬ 
tive response to these inquiries, you have failed to sus¬ 
tain the high dignity and character of your position in 
community. You have met, as meets a coward, the no¬ 
ble responsibilities imposed on you by your existence in 
the nineteenth century, in this age of onward and up¬ 
ward march to the highest point of prosperity and im¬ 
provement in all that relates to the happiness and well 
being of your fellows. You have, in short, sunk below 
the standard which the age has excited for the measure 
of your standing in community. But notwithstanding 
this dark picture, there is a day of brightness dawning, 
whose light will allure to press you onwai-d in the paths 
of national and individual prosperity and honor. You 
cannot longer remain in the rear. Your post is in advance; 
and you must occupy it. The age expects you to trans¬ 
mit to your sons, such an amount of useful, practical 
knowledge, and withal, such a spirit of pride in your 
pursuits, as will testify that you appreciate the value of 
one to the success of the other; and such as will render 
your sons honorable and useful members of community. 
You are to demonstrate, in shoit, by every means and in 
every action, that your character and pursuits are the 
most exalted and dignified, and that you know it, and ap¬ 
preciate your position rightly. With these remarks we 
leave you for the present to the responsiblity you owe 
yourselves, your children, your country and your God.” 
The example of Massachusetts, in encouraging the 
improvement of agriculture, we hope at least will ar¬ 
rest the inquiry of all Legislators, as to its tendency 
upon the interests of the State, if it does not induce 
them to imitate it. The state agricultural society of 
that state has offered premiums to exceed $2000, 
and six of her county societies give each over $600. 
These premiums have been awarded for several years 
principally through the wisdom and liberality of her 
legislature; and no one murmurs—all classes are' 
pleased, because all classes, either directly or indi¬ 
rectly, participate in its benefits'. 
