166 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
presses it closely together with the hand in filling them.]| 
In making the double Gloucester cheese, particular caret! 
is taken to press any remaining whey from the curd as J 
the vats are being filled, and they are filled as compactly I 
as can be done with the hand, being rounded up in the 
midtile, but just so much so as that the whole can be 
pressed into the vats. Cheese cloths are then spread over 
the vats, anti a little hot water is thrown over the cheese 
cloths, which tends to harden the outside of the cheese 
and prevent it from cracking. The curd is now turned 
cut of the vats into the cloths, and the vats being dipped 
in the whey to wash away any crumbs of curd that may 
cling to them, the curd inverted, and with the cloth 
around it, is again put into them. The cloths are then 
folded over and tucked in, and the vats, as they are filled, 
and put into the press one upon another. The bottoms 
of the vats are smooth and a little rounded so as to answer 
the purpose of cheese boards, which, therefore, are only 
wanted for the uppermost vats, or when the other vats 
are not quite full. The vats are allowed to remain under 
the press about two hours, when they are taken out anti 
dry cloths are applied, which with double Gloucester 
cheeses, should be repeated some time in the day. 
Salting, and Salting Presses. —The va:s, when the clean 
cloths are given, as just mentioned, are changed from the 
single press to the one next to it, and placed in it, one 
upon another, as before. They remain in this press till 
the cheeses are salted, when those made in the evening, 
take the place in the press of those made in the morning, 
and those made in the evening, are in their turn displa¬ 
ce.! by those made the following morning; the cheeses 
of the last making, being always placed lowest in the 
press, anti those of the other makings, rising in it ac¬ 
cording to the priority of making.* The same order is 
observed in the other two presses, the las;, or newest 
making in each, being lowest, and each making have 
next above it that which was made last before it. The 
cheeses pass through the three presses in this order, ad¬ 
vancing a step in their progress at each e meal’ or ma¬ 
king, till, at last, in four or five days, they come out of 
the presses and are put on the'shelves. They are gene¬ 
rally salted at the end of twenty-four hours after they are 
made, though this is done by some at the end of twelve 
hours. The salting should never be begun, till the skin 
is all closed, for if there be any crack in the skin of the 
cheese at the time of salting, it will never close after¬ 
wards. The salting is performed by rubbing with the 
hand both the sides and the edge of the cheese with fine¬ 
ly powdered salt. The cheese, after this, is returned to 
the vats and put under the press, care being always taken 
according to what has been said, to put the newest cheese 
lowest in the press, and the oldest uppermost. The salt¬ 
ing is repeated three times with the single, and four 
times with the double Gloucester, twenty-four hours be¬ 
ing allowed to intervene between each salting. After the 
second salting, the cheeses are returned to the vals with¬ 
out the cloths, that the marks of the cloth may be effa¬ 
ced, and the cheese may get a smoothness of surface and 
( keenness of edge,’ which is a peculiarity of Gloucester¬ 
shire cheese. The double Gloucester remain in the 
presses five days, and the single, four; but in damp 
weather, they should remain longer. The quantity of 
salt generally used, is about three pounds and a half, to a 
hundred weight of cheese. The size of the double Glou¬ 
cester cheeses is commonly about five to the hundred,, or 
twenty pounds each, and that of the single, about eight to 
the hundred, or twelve and a half pounds each. 
The Cheese room. —When the cheeses are taken from 
the salting presses, they are put on the shelf in the dairy 
for a day or two, where they are turned once in twelve 
hours. They are then taken to the cheese loft to make 
way for the new ones. In the cheese room, either on 
the floor or on the ( cheese rack,’ they are turned once 
every day; and in general, in a month from the time they 
were taken out of the vat, they are ready for cleaning, 
which is done by scraping them with a common knife. 
The cheese, if intended for the London market, as is ge¬ 
nerally the case, is rubbed, after being cleaned, with a 
*• From this, we infer that a beam press is used, into which 
several cheeses may be put at once, the older ones which re¬ 
quire the greatest pressure being put nearest the fulcrum. 
paint of Indian red or Spanish brown, or a mixture of 
both and small beer. It is rubbed on with a woollen 
cloth. After being painted, it is turned over twice a 
week, and oftener if the weather is damp; and as soon as 
the state of the paint will permit, the edge of the cheese, 
and about an inch of each side, is rubbed hard with a 
cloth, at least once a week. 
Characteristics of the true Gloucester. —The marks of 
true Gloucester cheeses, are e the blue coat’ which arises 
through the paint on their sides, and which is a sure 
sign of their richness and sweetness; the yellow, golden 
hue of their edges, a smooth, close and wax-like texture; 
a very mild and rich flavor; not crumbling when cut in¬ 
to thin slices, nor parting when toasted, with the oily 
matter they contain, but softening, without burning. If 
cheese has been soured in the making, either from being 
too long in hand, or from want of attention in scalding 
the utensils, nothing will cause it to assume the blue coat. 
If the curd is salted when ground down before being put 
into the vats, the salt has the effect of giving a skin to 
each of the particles of curd it comes in contact with, 
which prevents them from intimately uniting; and al¬ 
though the curd may be pressed together and make good 
cheese, yet it never becomes a smooth, close, solid mass, 
like that which is salted after it is made; but is of a loose 
texture, and crumbles when cut; and although it may be 
equally fat, yet in toasting, the fat melts out of it, and the 
cheesy part burns. The skin of the cheese, too, is not 
tough and solid, but hard and brittle, and when examin 
ed, seems to be formed of many irregular portions. 
PRESERVING EGGS. 
At one of the Farmers’ Meetings in Boston last win¬ 
ter, Col. Thayer gave his mode of preserving eggs, as 
follows: Take a quart of salt and three quarts of lime, 
and add water till the whole, stirred up and dissolved, is 
of the consistency of cream; then put in the eggs. 
The Mass. Plowman gives the following from a Sher¬ 
burne correspondent: 
To one peck of lime put one pound of alum, and make 
a solution as for white washing. Put the tip end of the 
egg down to prevent the yolk adhering to the side, then 
fill up the vessel that contains the eggs with the solution 
to cover them completely. In a few days the lime will 
become dry, then fill the cask with sea water, or brine 
of the same strength, to be kept moist. 
A correspondent of the Prairie Farmer, says a lady ot 
his acquaintance colors wool ami woolen goods, blue, 
with 'purslane, a common garden weed—that the lady 
assured him it was equal in every respect to the best in- 
diao blue. 
HARD MILKERS. 
It is well known that some cows milk so hard that the 
labor is so severe as to exceed the value of the milk 
when obtained. We have seen several notices of late, 
on this subject, in the papers, from different writers, and 
different methods recommended of obviating the evil 
One has proposed the introduction of a keen narrow bla 
ded knife, to enlarge the opening of the teat, and says 
the practice has been entirely successful. Another says 
he made some pine plugs and crowded into the teat holes, 
and let them remain about two weeks, except when milk¬ 
ing, and afterwards had no trouble with the cow. An¬ 
other recommends the insertion of a small quill, for the 
double purpose of enlarging the opening and drawing off 
the milk without using the hand; the quill to be with¬ 
drawn at each milking. 
Now we should fear the result of this tampering with 
the teat, the more so as a few years since we knew a val 
liable cow, not a hard milker, that lost her bag from an 
inflammation caused by the introduction of a quill for the 
purpose of drawing off the milk, by an ease-loving boy 
milker. The operation was repeated but a few times, 
yet the result was fatal to the udder. Using a knife we 
should apprehend, would allow the milk in most cases to 
flow out as fast as collected; and should expect from the 
‘ pine plug’ either a similar result, or an inflammation.. 
