/ 
very thoroughly mixed with a proper propor- 
tion of salt, and is then put into the cheese-vat, 
with a piece of thin canvass around it, and sub- 
jected to very heavy or stringent compression. 
After being compressed for about three hours, 
and again at every interval of about twelve hours 
till the cheese is completely made, it is turned 
out, freed from its damp enwrapping cloth, 
wrapped in a dry cloth, and placed again under 
heavy pressure. In some dairies, the cheese, 
when beginning to cohere, or when taken the 
second time from under compression, is put for 
half an hour into a bath of hot water, as warm 
as the hand of the operator can endure, and is 
then well dried, wrapped in a cloth, and sub- 
jected to a continuance of the compression. The 
bath is designed to draw out the whey, and ac- 
celerate the thorough cohesion of the cheese; 
but it has been thought by some dairy-farmers 
to over-soften the cheese at the time, and to ren- 
der it tough afterwards, and it has nowhere 
come into general use. 
A compression of about 48 hours, in all ordi- 
nary circumstances as to the degree of the pres- 
sure and the size of the cheese, is sufficient for 
both the exclusion of the whey and the thorough 
cohesion of the curd; but this, in any circum- 
stances, can, without injury, be somewhat pro- 
longed. When the cheeses are taken from the 
press, they are, for three or four days, exposed 
to the heat of the kitchen or any similar place, 
and are twice or thrice a-day turned upside 
down or downside up; and then they are removed 
to the store-room, there to be turned on every 
second or third day. In many small dairies, the 
cheeses are stored on boards along the floor of a 
garret, or of an attic story, or of a waste room, 
or of the barn; but in all properly constructed 
dairies, they are placed on wooden shelves, or on 
cheese-racks, in store-rooms expressly construct- 
ed for the purpose, with shelter from sunshine, 
with moderate ventilation, and neither damp 
nor very dry. In Cheshire and Holland, the 
salting is effected, not as in Scotland by inter- 
mixing salt with the curd before going to press, 
but by means of brine, or by rubbing the cheeses 
with dry salt after they are taken from press. 
In many, perhaps most English dairies, under 
the mistaken notion of enriching or refining the 
flavour, cheeses, on being removed from pressure, 
are, in technical phrase, “sweated,” or are heated 
till they exude a portion of their butyraceous 
matter. Scotch cheeses are never made of the 
spherical form of the Dutch ones; but are round- 
ed on the edges, and flat on the sides ; and most 
of them have a weight of from 15 to 50 pounds. 
In 1824, and again in the following year, the 
Highland Society offered premiums for the best 
specimens of Scottish imitations of double Glou- 
cester cheese; and, in pronouncing judgment 
upon the numerous competing cheeses submitted 
to them, they were aided by several gentlemen of 
long and extensive practice in the cheese trade. 
On a careful examination of the cheeses of the 
second of these years, the judges declared, that 
“the quality of the prize imitation double Glou- 
cester is fully equal to the real cheeses of that 
variety, and would compete with them in any 
market ;” and they awarded a first premium, ' 
both for these cheeses and for imitation Wilt- 
shires, to Mr. Sanderson of Blackcastle, whose 
account of his mode of making them differs sur- 
prisingly little from that which we have given of 
the prevalent method of making Dunlop cheese. 
“Not having a sufficient number of cows for 
making a cheese at one milking,” says Mr. San- 
derson, “the evening milk, after being skimmed 
in the morning, and heated to about 104° Fah- 
renheit, is mixed with the morning milk hot 
from the cows, and the cream which had been 
taken off the evening milk also added, the heat | 
of the whole being then 98°. The rennet and 
colouring are next added, the time of coming be- 
ing from three quarters of an hour to an hour. 
When sufficiently firm, the curd is gently broken 
with a scoop, and left for a few minutes to sub- 
side ; the whey is then taken off, and the curd 
cut in all directions with a knife. When quite 
freed from the whey, the curd is cut into square 
pieces, and put into a drainer, with a cover to 
fit into the inside. This cover is placed upon 
the curd, and a 14 lb. weight put on it. Every 
half hour, it is cut into small pieces, and some 
additional weight put on. This operation is con- 
tinued for three hours, when the curd is put into 
a tub, and cut into very minute pieces, with a 
knife for the purpose, in shape like the letter S. 
At this time, the salt is added. The curd is next 
put into the cheeser or mould, a pretty heavy 
weight put on it, placed near the fire, and then 
put into the screw-press. 
about nine, and the cheese put to press about 
six; and, while it remains there, a little fine salt 
is rubbed upon it every time it is turned. The 
cheeseling, when finally removed from the press, | 
is again rubbed over with salt, which is repeated _ 
for ten successive days, during which it ought | 
not to be exposed to much drought. It is next 
rubbed over with a little fresh butter, and placed 
in the store-room, where it is turned three times 
a-week, and rubbed with a coarse towel. The 
cheeses made in imitation of North Wiltshire, | 
are made exactly as above, only in smaller chees- 
ers. The pine-shaped are put into a cloth, made 
in the shape of a filtering-bag, when the curd is — 
quite green, and hung, with the point down, for 
twenty-four hours. They are then put into a 
net, with a cloth over it, and again suspended 
the reverse way.” 
The method of making true double Gloucester 
cheese, as exemplified in one of the largest and 
best dairy-farms of Gloucestershire, considerably 
differs from Mr. Sanderson’s method. ‘The curd, 
after being cautiously, carefully, and well freed 
from the great body of the whey, is pressed with 
the hand into vats, covered with fine canvass 
The cows are milked | 
SSS SS 
CHEESE. 
