36 
THE OX. 
THE DAIRY. 
peratures, and more readily when assisted by heat. Even alcohol, gum, sugar, and soluble neutral salts, produce the formation 
of curd. Certain vegetable principles, as tannin, and the juices of numerous plants, likewise coagulate milk, as an infusion of the 
stems or leaves of sorrel, of butterwort, of ladies’ bedstraw, of the flowers of the artichoke, and of the roots of the marsh-marigold. 
But the substance the most approved of for producing coagulation is runnet, which is prepared by macerating the stomach of a 
sucking animal in water, so as to extract the gastric juice, of which a very minute quantity contained in the infusion suffices to coagu¬ 
late a large quantity of milk. As acids promote the coagulation of milk, so the alkalis prevent it, by rendering the caseous matter 
soluble. When therefore soda, potassa, or ammonia, exists in milk, coagulation will not take place until the alkalis are neutralized 
by the addition of acids, or by their spontaneous formation in the milk. 
After the curd has been formed, either by the slow formation of acids in the milk, or by the addition of coagulating media, 
the curd is broken, and the liquid which it envelopes is separated by pressure. The expressed liquid is Whey; and whey, there¬ 
fore, is merely milk deprived of its cheesy matter. Whey accordingly contains butter, in so far as the cream has not been separated, 
and butter therefore may be derived from whey. It contains likewise the sugar of milk, which may be obtained separately, in the 
crystalline form, by evaporation; and in certain parts of Europe the sugar of milk is prepared on the large scale, and forms the 
subject of commerce. Whey is sometimes used as human food, but more generally for feeding the animals of the farm. It quickly 
becomes acid and yields vinegar; it passes likewise through the vinous fermentation, in which state it has an intoxicating effect. 
Cheese, as formed by the common methods, is a mixture of caseum with the oily matter of milk, to which it owes its rich¬ 
ness. When the cream, therefore, is separated from the milk before coagulation, the cheese contains less of oil, and is of inferior 
estimation. When newly made, cheese is soft, gelatinous, and mild, but after a time it undergoes a chemical change, and becomes 
strong-scented and stimulating. It produces certain fungi termed mould, and becomes the abode of innumerable larvee, derived 
from the eggs of two insects, the one a species of bug, the other a kind of fly. It is when in a state of decomposition, and inha¬ 
bited by these disgusting creatures, that it is the most valued as a stimulant to the appetite. 
Milk then, it is seen, may be separated by easy means into four parts : ls£, into Butter, which is obtained by simple agita¬ 
tion, either of the entire milk, or of the cream separated from the milk ; 2 d, into Buttermilk, which is obtained by separating the 
butter ; 3d, into Cheese, which is produced by coagulation either of the whole milk, or of the milk after separation of the cream; 
and, ith, into the liquid residue, or Whey. The means of obtaining these several products are so easy, that it is not surprising that 
they should have been known from the earliest times, and practised by the rudest people. In the more advanced stages of rural 
economy the art of the dairy is reduced to principles, and merits the highest attention as a branch of public industry and domestic 
economy., 
The Cow goes with young about nine months, but with great inequality of time beyond this period, dependent on temperament, 
food, and treatment. The lacteal secretion is observed previous to the birth, but only takes place in quantity when the young is born, 
though in a few rare instances, heifers, without contact with the male, have been known to produce milk; and the same curious anomaly 
has been observed in the case of young mares. For a few days after the birth, the milk, then termed Colostrum, is viscid, and of a 
deep yellow colour, and tends more readily than other milk to undergo decomposition, and yields butter with difficulty. The colostrum 
should not therefore be mixed with the other milk of the dairy, but be given to the new-born calf. The milk, in a few days after 
the birth, assumes its usual properties, and for about ninety days is yielded abundantly, and with an increase of richness in cream. 
The produce after a time continues to diminish, and in about forty days before the birth the milk becomes alkaline and incapable 
of coagulation, and ceases to be saccharine. The further milking of the animal should then cease. Cows are usually milked twice 
in the day throughout the year, in the morning and evening, but they may be milked three times in the day when very full in milk. 
The operation should be performed with gentleness and care, and the milk withdrawn to the last portion. The first drawn milk is 
always comparatively serous, while every succeeding quantity improves in richness and abundance of cream, so that the last portion 
contains many times the proportion of cream contained in the first. 
The domestic dairy is directed indifferently to the procuring of milk for food, to the preparation of butter, and sometimes to 
the production of cheese. But the larger dairies designed for the sale of milk and its products, are devoted more exclusively to 
one or other of these productions. The first class of dairies consists of those directed to the disposal of milk in the fresh state 
as human food. Of this kind generally are the dairies in and around towns. These are the dairies in which the largest return 
is obtained from the produce of the Cow. The second class consists of those in which the milk is chiefly employed for the pro¬ 
duction of butter to be disposed of in the fresh state. These are the next in profitable return to those in which the milk itself is dis¬ 
posed of; and they are generally limited to the vicinity of the markets of consumption, or to places having easy access to them. 
Where the market is remote, or the access to it difficult, the butter, in place of being used in the fresh state, is salted foi presei- 
vation. The third kind of dairy is chiefly employed in the preparation of cheese; but for the most part in the practice of the dairy 
