268 
THE CULTIVATOR 
Sept. 
sequence is, the mass has been preserved for an immense 
period of time. 
Animal matter may also be easily preserved out of 
contact with air. The finest salmon of Scotland, the 
most excellent soups, game, fowls, and fish of all kinds, 
are now packed in air-tight tin cases, and can thus be 
sent to all parts of the world. The travellers across the 
desert of Suez, in their journey to the East Indies, often 
enjoy the luxury of fresh Scotch salmon. 
Oxygen, then, is one of the most important elements 
that we know; everything else yields to it in import¬ 
ance; it is found to pervade all nature; it is necessary 
for the existence of animal life, and is an essential of 
vegetable growth; and in order that you may be able 
to trace its effects for practical purposes, in the economy 
of the farm, I have endeavored to explain its proper¬ 
ties and action, not only on vegetables and animals, but 
also on many elementary bodies not directly connected 
with vegetation. 
CHEESE-MAKING-. 
At the present time, it is an object of considerable 
sonsequence to the manufacturers of cheese in this 
country, to produce that which would be approved and 
meet with a ready sale in the English markets, whither 
a large quantity of that article is now being sent. One 
of the most esteemed varieties of English cheese, is that 
made in Cheshire; and, having had frequent inquiries 
in regard to the process of manufacturing this kind, 
from those who are desirous of imitating it, we give 
from the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, a 
brief sketch of a prize essay, by Mr. White, on Cheese- 
Making in Cheshire. 
The number of cows belonging to a cheese-dairy, is 
stated to be seldom less than 8 or 10, or more than 70 
or 80. From 18 cows, a cheese from 36 to 54 lbs. 
weight, is made daily for four or five months in the 
summer. The annual produce, however, varies with 
the cow r s and mode of keeping, and it is observed that 
great loss is known to have been sustained by not feed¬ 
ing the animals well in winter. 
The milking is performed in cow-houses all the year, 
and it is usual to have a milker to every six or seven 
cow's. The milk of newly calved cows is not mixed 
with that of other cows till four or five days after 
calving. 
The evening’s milk is seldom made into cheese till 
the following morning, and in small dairies, sometimes 
not till the second morning. A cool milk-house is 
necessary, and hence it is commonly placed on the side 
of the house (or other building) least exposed to the 
sun. Most milk-rooms have lattice or wire-window's 
for the circulation of air, and an inclination is given to 
the floors for the free escape of the cold water which is 
daily applied to them in summer. Precautions of this 
kind are necessary to prevent the milk from becoming 
sour. A temperature of fifty degrees Fahrenheit is 
thought the best throughout the year. 
The dairy is generally near the milk-house, and fit¬ 
ted with two boilers; one for scalding whey, and ano¬ 
ther of less size for heating water. The salting and 
drying house should adjoin the dairy. Here the cheeses 
are placed on stone or wooden benches, salted exter¬ 
nally, and dried, before removal to the cheese room. 
Some dairy-maids dispense with external salting. Some¬ 
times the cheese-room is over the dairy, and at others 
it is over the kitchen, or other apartment in which a 
fire is kept. Light and air are alw'ays excluded from it 
by curtains or shutters; and one reason assigned for the 
practice, is its tendency to prevent the hurtful effects 
of the fly. Some ot the larger cheese-rooms are 
warmed by stoves or hot-air, and in rare instances, 
from ordinary fire-places built in them. 
Process of Cheese-Making. —The extraction of 
the whey, and salting, occupy from five to seven hours, 
and it is therefore convenient to commence working in; 
the morning. In this case, the evening’s milk is kept 
over night, and in the morning the cream is skimmed off, 
and a portion of the milk warmed. The warming 
is effected by means of a brass or tin pan, about twenty 
inches in diameter, and eight inches deep, in which the 
milk is floated in the boiler, the water in which has 
been heated for the purpose. In the early months of 
the season, so much as half the evening’s milk may be 
heated to a temperature of 100 degrees, a heat seldom 
exceeded, except with a view of saving trouble in the 
after process. The cold milk is now poured into the 
cheese-tub, and the warm added to it. The tempera¬ 
ture of the mixture may be about 75 degrees, but in 
warm weather 70 will be enough. It is, however, 
becoming the general practice, in summer, not to warm 
the evening’s milk; and in very warm weather, even the 
temperature of the morning’s milk is sometimes reduced. 
The cream, diluted in about double its quantity of 
warm or new milk, is next put in. If a small portion 
ol the cream is to be retained for butter, it is thought 
best to skim it off the whole surface of the cr&am before 
diluting, in order to remove froth and bubbles, which 
are considered prejudicial to the cheese. This leads to 
the conclusion, that fixed air in the curd is detrimental, 
and suggests the inquiry whether it might not be bet¬ 
ter to heat the whole of the evening’s milk to the re¬ 
quired temperature, than to raise the temperature of a 
part of it to 100 degrees. The next step is to add the 
new or morning’s milk, which is done by passing it 
through a seive placed on the cheese-ladder over the 
cheese-tub. Bubbles seen floating on the surface are 
skimmed off, and passed through the seive to break 
them. 
An important point now demanding attention, is the 
proper temperature of the milk when the rennet is put 
in. Little is known among farmers and dairy-maids as 
to the precise heat which is best; and it is seldom that 
the temperature is tested otherwise than by hand. In 
some dairies in which observations were made, the 
lowest heat was 77 degrees. Even where what is called 
cold-cheese, which has a tendency to green-mould, is 
made, it is not supposed that a temperature is adopted at 
any season of the year, much under 74° or 75 Q . The eve¬ 
ning’s milk being about 75, and the morning’s milk from 
90 to 95 degrees, the temperature of the whole is found to 
be from 80 to 85 degrees. The exact heat at which 
milk ought to be coagulated is a matter of essential im¬ 
portance in cheese-making, and it can only be ascer¬ 
tained by a series of careful and judicious experiments, 
made by scientific and practical parties. 
The rennet or steep is now to be added.* To fix the 
quantity necessary for coagulating a given quantity of 
milk is difficult, as maw-skins vary much in quality. 
In using them two skins are often cut at once. Three 
square inches taken from the bottom, or strongest part of 
the one, and one or two inches from the top or weakest 
part of the other, are generally sufficient for sixty gal¬ 
lons of milk. These pieces are put into a cup contain¬ 
ing about half a pint of luke-warm water, with a tea¬ 
spoonful of salt, the day before the infusion is required. 
The water thus impregnated with the maw-skin is 
passed through a seive into the milk; but the skin itself 
is usually kept out; the rennet cup is well scalded be¬ 
fore being used again. The coloring matter and rennet 
having been put in, the milk is well stirred and left to 
coagulate, and the tub is covered up. [It is remarked 
in a note, that the coloring matter used is Annatto, 
which gives the cheese an amber or cream-like appear¬ 
ance. It’ is said to be seldom used when the cheese is 
intended for the consumption of Cheshire families, as it 
is known not only that it does not improve the flavor, 
but that if the quality of the drug, is inferior, or, if 
there is too much of it used, there is a hazard of the 
flavor being much deteriorated. One pound of it to a 
* The following is given as a good recipe for curing maw-skins. 
Procure fresh skins the year before they are wanted ; free them from 
chyle and every impurity ; turn them inside out and salt them; 
lay them one upon another, with salt between, in a deep earthen¬ 
ware vessel; cover the whole over with salt, and lay a lid on the 
top. About a month before using them, take them out and drain 
the brine from them ; then spread them on a table, and powder 
them on each side with fine salt. In this state they are to be 
rolled with a paste '•oiler, distended with splints, of wood, and 
hung up to dry. 
