172 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
June 
kept in temperature not exceeding seventy-five degrees, 
did not huff, cured slow, was soft and mild flavor, shrunk 
nine per cent in ninety days. 
April 26th, doubled rennet; put cheese No. 3 by side 
of cheese No. 1; No 3 huffed in three days, in twenty 
days run oil, tainted and spoiled. No. 4 put with No. 
2; huffed, cured quick, and was light, porous and 
sharp. Doubling the amount of salt would control 
rennet, and keep cheese from huffing; but did not pre¬ 
vent them from souring, becoming hard and unmer¬ 
chantable. The time of curing was in proportion to 
the amount of heat and rennet used. Some of the high 
salted cheeses in a hot room, were bitter; but none in 
the cool room had that flavor, were long curing, shrunk 
less, and were of better quality. The sanSe course 
was taken in August, by dividing several days’ curd, 
each day into three equal parts, pressed alike, and ex¬ 
posed to different temperatures in curing. The result 
was in favor of a medium rate of salt and heat, high 
salting and heat, making hard smart cheese; low salt¬ 
ing and heat, soft, mild, and tasteless; low salting and 
high heat, porous, soft and sharp. 
In 1845, the experiments alluded to, with sixty dai¬ 
ries, being got up expressly for shipment, a selection 
was made from the largest and most experienced dai¬ 
rymen in thirteen towns. A vigorous effort was made 
to reduce the whole practice to one general rule, con¬ 
sisting in strict cleanliness in every department , an 
equilibrium of heat in milk to set, not exceeding 90 Q 
with pure rennet to curdle milk in forty minutes; curd 
thoroughly worked by hand till as fine, when scalded, 
as wheat or corn ; curd scalded in whey,with heat not ex¬ 
ceeding one hundred degrees, and that heat held until the 
curd appeared shrunk, and would squeak when pressed 
between the front teeth. The whey to be drained off, 
and the curd salted while warm, with 2 h lbs. of refined 
salt to 100 lbs. of cheese, cooled and pressed forty- 
eight hours. Cheese half as high as wide. 
These leading points, strictly adhered to, were found 
adequate to produce the article required, where curing 
rooms were constructed so as to preserve a uniform mode¬ 
rate temperature. The cheese, not affected by extreme 
changes of climate, fermented slowly and uniform, rind 
firm and smooth with little grease; texture firm and 
solid, yet malleable like butter; the flavor mild and 
pleasant. The weather being cool till June, a great 
uniformity was manifest in shape and texture. A sud¬ 
den change of weather to 88 degrees, lasting several 
days, produced a contrast in different dairies, equal to 
the extreme in temperature, which was found in many 
dairy rooms to exceed the common atmosphere from 8 
to 10 degrees. With little or no ventilation in these, 
cheese were much swollen, and could be kept in shape 
only by using less rennet and more salt. The huffed 
cheese remaining in same rooms become tainted, or 
generated a sharp, unpleasant flavor; those removed to 
a temperature suited to their constitution cured quick, 
and were well adapted to early home markets. Those 
salted high enough to stand the excess of heat, were 
hard, dry, crumbly and smart. A dry room was found 
best for a wet cheese, and a damp room best for a dry 
cheese; but in no case was a high temperature, (ex¬ 
ceeding 75°) found necessary. 
These and like experiments, too numerous to detail, 
confirm my conviction that much of the bad flavor com¬ 
plained of in the American cheese, may be prevented 
with proper attention to curing. In addition to the ex¬ 
treme changes of weather in our climate, which are 
more than sufficient to destroy the constitution of a 
well manufactured cheese, the practice too generally 
prevails, of placing cheese in some loft or upper room, 
least needed for other uses, and often next to a roof 
where heat concentrates, and cheese becomes literally 
baked. I deem such rooms best as are calculated to 
preserve an equilibrium of low temperature. A tight, 
spacious, studded and plastered lower room, well ven¬ 
tilated, with northern exposure, where heat may be in¬ 
creased, and air dried by fire and ventilation, or cooled 
and dampened if required, by air from an underground 
or adjoining room, where ice may be kept, is best adapt¬ 
ed to this climate. 
Having previously written at considerable length 
upon general treatment , adaptation of food, I shall 
not here go into a lengthy detail, but a few hints may 
not be inappropriate. The success of dairy-men de¬ 
pends much upon adapting their practice to the provi¬ 
sions of nature. Cows should be in a condition to yield 
the greatest flow of milk, upon the cheapest and most 
spontaneons productions from the earth. Maize, man- 
glewurtzel, cabbage, carrots, and ruta bagas (of the cul¬ 
tivated crops) yield the largest product per acre, and 
from the various periods at which they arrive at matu¬ 
rity, are well calculated to protract the flowing of 
milk till late in the season. Those most perishable to 
be used first. It is proved by experiments that a cow 
will give the most milk from the same amount of food, 
during the first sixty days after having calved. My 
cows yielded 45 lbs. milk per day the first of March, 
on 25 lbs. of good hay and 4 quarts of provender in 
slops. The first of June they diminished in quantity, 
and the first of November on same feed, they gave only 
20 lbs per day. Other cows of equal quality coming 
in from the middle of April to the first of May, gave, 
on the first of June, 55 lbs. of milk on grass only, and 
held a good flow of milk through the season. On the 
first of December they gave 20 lbs. of milk each, while 
those in milk the first of March were nearly dry, upon 
the same feed, proving conclusively, that cows in gene¬ 
ral, will yield more and better milk from the first of 
May to January, than from first of March to January. 
The months of March and April require much more la¬ 
bor and grain feed, that would otherwise turn to money. 
Nature provides in spring time, a principle of general 
progressiveness in the animal and vegetable kingdom. 
The thriftiest growth of spontaneous products is in 
May and June, and cows should then be in a condition 
to receive its aid. 
If seed of a spring crop is sown too early, the crop will 
be stinted; so with cows that calve in February and 
March. Nature having made its master effort in the 
animal economy, it cannot be revived again in spring¬ 
time of vegetation, and in the fall, vrhen farmers have 
more or less of coarse perishable food, like pumpkins, 
apples, etc., they are not in as good condition to yield 
milk, as when they are started late, and their milk is 
kept up by sowed corn, or other succulent food. 
I realized the greatest nett product of cheese in my 
dairy in 1844 and 1845. Commencing April 20th with 
half my cows in milk, average yield in 1844, 700 lbs. 
per cow, market weight. In 1845, average yield 775 
lbs. per cow, weighed daily from the press, averaging 
five lbs. per cow per day during the first five months. 
No one kind of grass or other food is found to pro¬ 
duce as much or as good milk, as good pasturage upon 
soil yielding a great variety of grasses, each maturing 
at different periods, and furnishing in their turn the 
flower of feed, from which the finest flavor of butter 
and cheese is derived. Such soils are prevalent in this 
county, where the land is elevated and not over worn 
with tillage. Low, marshy grounds, and those having 
a northern or northwestern descent are exceptions. 
A difference of from five to ten per cent is frequent¬ 
ly shown by the lactometer in the quality of milk from 
neighboring dairies, the proof being in favor of those 
best fed and cared for. The practice is prevalent 
among dairymen of pasturing the low, wet and shady 
portions of their farms, (if they have such,) and using 
for meadows the more aired portions. In some loca- 
