THE CULTIVATOR. 
July. 
calving in the months of March and April; and so soon 
as the calves are fed or diposed of, the cheese-making 
commences, and continues to nearly the end of the year. 
In January and February the quantity of milk obtained 
is often so small that the farmer prefers selling it in 
the neighboring towns or making it into butter. There 
are however instances, in large dailies (of 70 or 80 
cows), of cheese being made throughout the year. 
Milking. —The operation commences about five o'clock 
in the morning, and five or six in the evening. In 
this county it is the practice for most of the servants, 
both men and maids, to assist, and for the cows to be 
milked in the cow-houses (called here “shippons”) 
all the year round. When, as is usual, there is one 
milker for every six or seven cows, the milking seldom 
exceeds an hour and a quarter. 
The milk of new-calved cows is not mixed with the 
other until about four or five days after calving. 
Offices and Utensils. —As the evening's milk is sel¬ 
dom made into cheese until the following morning, and 
sometimes in small dairies (where four ‘ ( meals ” are 
used) not until the second morning, a cool “milk- 
house ” is necessary; on which account it usually occu¬ 
pies that side of the farm-house least exposed to the 
sun. The utensils in which the milk is kept are usu¬ 
ally portable shallow earthenware vessels called “ pan- 
mugs,” and in some dairies leaden or zinc coolers. Most 
of the milk-rooms have lattice or wire windows 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 becoming 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 temperature of as near 50° Fahrenheit 
as could be maintained, would be 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, and a 
smaller one for heating water. The “ cheese-presses ” 
and “screw” are kept within this room, and the ope¬ 
ration of cheese-making is here carried on. Some farm¬ 
houses are not provided with a dairy, and the cheese 
is then made in the kitchen —this is commonly the 
case on small farms. The “ salting and drying house ” 
(often one and the same room), if conveniently situa¬ 
ted, adjoins the dairy. The cheese is placed here on 
stone or wooden benches, salted externally, and is af¬ 
terwards left so as to dry gradually before being re¬ 
moved to the cheese-room. By some dairy-maids, this 
external salting is dispensed with, and the room is then 
of course only used for drying. These offices are all 
on the ground-floor. In some eases the cheese room 
is over the dairy, in others over the kitchen, or some 
other room wherein a fire is usually kept, and some¬ 
times, though rarely, over the cowhouses or stables. 
Light and air are invariably excluded, either by a cur¬ 
tain or shutters. The floor is either of plaster (gyp¬ 
sum) or boards, but more commonly the latter; some 
of the larger cheese-rooms are warmed by stoves, or 
hotair, and occasionally, though rarely, by fire-places 
in the room itself. The small cheese-rooms are seldom 
supplied with artificial heat, except what is gained from 
the rooms below. Some cheese-rooms are occasionally 
found to be in the summer time too warm, in which 
case the cheese has to be removed for a time to a 
cooler part of the house. This is more generally ne¬ 
cessary where the building is slated, and exposed to the 
noon-day sun; but is seldom or never experienced where 
the roof is of thatch. The size of these offices is of 
course regulated by the extent of the farm; where 30 
cows are kept I find them nearly as follows:— 
Yds. Yds. Square Yds. 
Milk*-house,. 6 by 3 or about 18 
Dairy,. 6 by 5 tc 30 
Salting and drying-house,. 4 by 5 “ 20 
Cheese-room over dairy and dry¬ 
ing-house, .. 10 by 5 (or 8 by 6) 50 
The utensils, excepting those I have described, will 
be noticed hereafter. 
Process of Cheese-making. —As the first process— 
namely, that of extracting the whey and salting—occu¬ 
pies, according to circumstances, from five to seven 
hours, it is found most convenient to commence it in 
the morning. This being the case, the evening's milk 
has to be kept all night in the milk-house. In the 
morning, the cream having been skirr.med off, a portion 
of the milk is warmed. This is done in a circular flat- 
bottomed brass or tin pan, floated in the boiler, the wa¬ 
ter of which has been previously heated for that pur¬ 
pose; the size of this pan is about 20 inches in diame¬ 
ter and 8 inches deep. The quantity to be warmed de¬ 
pends upon the state of the weather; for the first two 
or three months of the season (say March, April and 
May) it is not unusual to heat as much as half the 
evening’s milk to a temperature of 100° Fahrenheit, 
and this heat is rarely exceeded, excepting by those 
dairymaids who wish to save themselves trouble in the 
after process. The “ cheese-tub,” which is similar to 
a brewing-tub, having been placed in readiness in the 
dairy, the cold milk is now put in and the warm added. 
Supposing the temperature of the cold milk to be about 
50^, and the warm 100°, and they were in equal pro¬ 
portions, the heat after mixing would be 75°, or some¬ 
thing less; but in warm weather it will be sufficient if 
it reaches 70°. I have known instances of good cheese 
being made in summer without warming any portion of 
the evening's milk; indeed such now is becoming the 
general practice. In very warm weather some dairy¬ 
maids think it necessary to reduce even the tempe¬ 
rature of the morning s milk. The cream, which is 
diluted either in about double its quantity of warm 
or new milk, or by being exposed to the heat of the 
boiler in the same way as the milk, is next put in. I 
have before stated that it is customary to retain a 
small part of the cream for butter; when this is the 
case, it is considered best to skim it off the whole 
surface of the cream before diluting, as by that means 
the froth and bubbles, which are supposed to be preju¬ 
dicial to the cheese, will, for the most part, be taken 
off. This leads me to the conclusion, that fixed air , 
if it gets mixed in the curd, has been found to be 
detrimental. Since warming of fluids has a tendency 
to dispel this fixed air, it is perhaps worthy of conside¬ 
ration whether it would not be better to warm the 
whole of the evening's milk lo the required tempera¬ 
ture, rather than heating a part of it so high as 1G0°. 
The process adopted with the evening's milk, as above 
described, is generally finished previous to the time of 
milking in the morning; but if not, the dairy-maid 
stops and completes it before the new milk is brought 
in from the cows. This new or morning’s milk is then 
added by passing it through a sieve placed upon the 
“ cheese-ladder ” over the cheese-tub. When the 
whole is thus collected, some few bubbles are invaria¬ 
bly found floating on the surface; these are skimmed 
off and passed through the sieve to break them. 
One of the most important points now to be attended 
to is the heat of the milk preparatory to coagulation, 
as the milk, if at a proper temperature, should now be 
ready to “ set together,” that is, to receive the rennet. 
This heat is rarely tested by any other thermometer 
than that of the dairymaid's hand; some may, and I 
have do doubt do, determine it pretty correctly, but 
cannot always. 
In consequence of the changes in the weather it is 
difficult even for an experienced dairymaid to know at 
all times, what proportion of the evening’s milk should 
be warmed; she is therefore cautious not to warm too 
much, until the morning's milk is added and the con¬ 
sequent heat ascertained. If it be deemed too cool, 
a little of the evening’s milk which has been reserved 
is then warmed, so as to produce the heat required; 
but when none has been reserved, the necessary quan¬ 
tity taken from the tub after the admixture of the two 
milkings is warmed for that purpose. Little is known 
amongst the farmers or dairy-maids as to the precise 
heat which is best. I have seldom heard the subject 
named, except by a vague comparison, that such and 
and such dairies were made colder or warmer than 
others. I am acquainted with some farmers whos 
