Manures
The Manures used in this country in the culture of the plants mentioned above are mostly such as are made on the farm, consisting chiefly of barn-yard composts of various kinds, with often a large admixture of peat-mud. There are few farms that do not contain substances which, if properly husbanded, would add very greatly to the amount of manure ordinarily made. The best of the concentrated manures, which it is sometimes necessary to use, for want of time and labor to prepare enough on the farm, is, unquestionably, Peruvian guano. The results of this, when properly applied, are well known and reliable, which can hardly be said of any other artificial manure offered for the farmer’s notice. The chief objection to depending on manures made off the farm is, in the first place, their great expense; and in the second, which is equally important, the fact that, though they may be made valuable, and produce at one time the best results, a want of care in the manufacture, or designed fraud, may make them almost worthless, with the impossibility of detecting the imposition, without a chemical analysis, till it becomes too late, and the crop is lost.
It is, therefore, safest to rely mainly upon the home manufacture of manure. The extra expense of soiling cattle, saving and applying the liquid manure, and thus bringing the land to a higher state of cultivation, when it will be capable of keeping more stock, and of furnishing more manure, would offer a surer road to success than a constant outlay for concentrated fertilizers.
The various articles used for top-dressing grass lands, and the management of grass and pasture lands, have been treated of in detail in the work already alluded to, on the Culture of Grasses and Forage Plants.
CHAPTER VII.
MILK.
Milk, as the first and natural food of man, has been used from the remotest antiquity of the human race. It is produced by the females of that class of animals known as the mammalia, and was designed by nature as the nourishment of their young; but the richest and most abundant secretions in common use are those of the cow, the camel, the mare, and the goat. The use of camel’s milk is confined chiefly to Africa and to China, that of mares to Tartary and Siberia, and that of goats to Italy and Spain. The milk of the cow is universally esteemed.
Milk is an opaque fluid, generally white in color, having a sweet and agreeable taste, and is composed of a fatty substance, which forms butter, a caseous substance, which forms cheese, and a watery residuum, known as serum, or whey, in cheese-making. The fatty or butyraceous matter in pure milk varies usually from two and a half to six and a half per cent.; the caseous or cheesy matter, from three to ten per cent.; and the serous matter, or whey, from eighty to ninety per cent.
To the naked eye milk appears to be of the same character and consistence throughout; but under the microscope a myriad of little globules of varied forms, but mostly round or ovoid, and of very unequal sizes, appear to float in the watery matter. On more minute examination, these butter-globules are seen to be enclosed in a thin film of caseous matter. They are so minute that they filter through the finest paper. Milk readily assimilates with water and other sweet and unfermented liquids, though it weighs four per cent. more than water. Cold condenses, heat liquefies it.
The elements of which it is composed, not being similar in character or specific gravity, undergo rapid changes when at rest. The oily particles, being lighter than the rest, soon begin to separate from them, and rise to the surface in the form of a yellowish semi-liquid cream, while the greater specific gravity of the serous matter, or whey, carries it to the bottom.
A high temperature very soon develops acidity, and hastens the separation of the cheesy matter, or curd, from the whey. And so the three principal elements are easily distinguished.
But the oily or butyraceous matter, in rising to the surface, brings up along with it many cheesy particles, which mechanically adhere to it, and give it more or less of a white instead of a yellow color; and many watery or serous particles, which make it thinner, or more liquid, than it otherwise would be. If it rose up free from the adhesion of the other elements, it would appear in the form of pure butter, and would not need to undergo the process of churning to separate it from other substances. The time may come when some means will be devised, either mechanical or chemical, to separate the butter particles from the rest instantaneously and completely, and thus avoid the often long and tedious process of churning.
The coagulation, or collecting together of the cheesy particles, by which the curd becomes separated from the whey, sometimes takes place so rapidly, from the effect of great heat, or sudden changes in the atmosphere, that there is not time for the butter particles to rise to the surface, and they remain mixed up with the curd.
Nor does the serous or watery matter remain distinct or free from the mixture of particles of the cheesy and buttery matters. It also holds in suspension some alkaline salts and sugar of milk, to the extent of from three to four per cent. of its weight.
We have, then,
| Milk. | - | Cream. | - | Butter. | - | Water. | ||||||
| Butter-milk. | ||||||||||||
| Skimmed milk. | - | Curd. | - | Buttery and cheesy residuum. | - | Pure water. | ||||||
| Sugar of milk. | ||||||||||||
| Whey. | Salts. | |||||||||||
It may be stated, in other words, that milk is composed chiefly of caseine, or curd, which gives it its strength, and from which cheese is made; a butyraceous or oily substance, which gives it its richness; a sugar of milk, to which it owes its sweetness, and a watery substance, which makes it refreshing as a beverage; together with traces of alkaline salts, from whence are derived its flavor and medicinal properties; and that these constituents appear in proportions which vary in different specimens, according to the breed of the animal, the food, the length of time after parturition, etc.
Milk becomes sour, on standing exposed to a warm atmosphere, by the change of its sugar of milk into an acid known as lactic acid; and it is owing to this sugar, and the chemical changes to which it gives rise, that milk is susceptible of undergoing all degrees of fermentation, and of being made into a fermented and palatable but intoxicating liquor, which, by distillation, produces pure alcohol. This liquor is extensively used in some countries. The arrack of the Arabs is sometimes made from camel’s milk.
The Tartars make most of their spirituous liquors from milk; and for this purpose they prefer mare’s milk, on account of its larger percentage of sugar, which causes a greater and more active fermentation. The liquor made from it is termed milk-wine, or khoumese. It resembles beer, and has intoxicating qualities. The process of manufacture is very simple. The milk, being allowed first to turn sour, is then heated to the proper temperature, when it begins to ferment; and in a day in summer, or two or three days in winter, the process is completed, and the liquor may be kept several weeks without losing its good qualities.
The admirable though complicated organization of the udder and teats of the cow has already been explained, in speaking of the manner of milking. But it may be said, in general, that the number of stomachs or powerful digestive organs of the ruminants is wonderfully adapted to promote the largest secretions of every kind.
The udder of the cow, the more immediate and important receptacle of milk, and in which other milk-vessels terminate, is divided into two sections, and each of these sections is subdivided into two others, making four divisions, each constituting in itself, to some extent, an organ of secretion. But it is well known that, as a general thing, the lateral section, comprising the two hind teats, usually secretes larger quantities of milk than the front section, and that its development, both external and internal, is usually the greatest.
Milk is exceedingly sensitive to numerous influences, many of which are not well understood. It is probably true that the milk of each of the divisions of the udder differs to some extent from that of the others in the same animal; and it is well known that the milk of different cows, fed on the same food, has marked differences in quality and composition. But food, no doubt, has a more powerful and immediate effect than anything else, as we should naturally suppose from the fact that it goes directly to supply all the secretions of the body. Feeding exclusively on dry food, for instance, produces a thicker, more buttery and cheesy milk, though less abundant in quantity, than feeding on moist and succulent food. The former will be more nutritive than the latter.
Cows in winter will usually give a milk much richer in butter and less cheesy than in summer, for the same reason; while in summer their milk is richer in cheese and less buttery than in winter. As already intimated, the frequency of milking has its effect on the quality. Milking but once a day would give a more condensed and buttery milk than milking twice or three times. The separation of the different constituents of milk begins, undoubtedly, before it leaves the udder; and hence we find that the milk first drawn from the cow at a milking is far more watery than that drawn later, the last drawn, commonly called the strippings, being the richest of all, and containing from six to twelve times as much butter as the first.
Many other influences affect the milk of cows, both in quantity and quality, as the length of time after calving, the age and health of the cow, the season of the year, etc. Milk is whiter in color in winter than in summer, even when the feeding is precisely the same. At certain seasons the milk of the same cow is bluer than at others. This is often observable in dog-days.
The specific gravity of milk is greater than that of water, that of the latter being one thousand, and that of the former one thousand and thirty-one on an average, though it varies greatly as it comes from different cows, and even at different times from the same cow. A feeding of salt given to the cow will, in a few hours, cause the specific gravity of her milk to vary from one to three per cent.
Milk will ordinarily produce from ten to fifteen per cent. of its own volume in cream; or, on an average, not far from twelve and a half per cent. Eight quarts of milk will, therefore, make about one quart of cream. But the milk of cows that are fed so as to produce the richest milk and butter will often very far exceed this, sometimes giving over twenty per cent. of cream, and in very rare instances twenty-five or twenty-six per cent. The product of milk in cream is more regular than the product of cream in butter. A very rich milk is lighter than milk of a poor quality, for the reason that cream is lighter than skim-milk.
Of the different constituents of milk, caseine is that which most resembles animal matter, and hence the intrinsic value of cheese as a nutritive article of food. Hence, also, the nutritive qualities of skimmed milk, or milk from which the cream only has been removed, while the milk is still sweet. The oily or fatty parts of milk furnish heat to the animal system; but this is easily supplied by other substances.
From the peculiar nature of milk, and its extreme sensitiveness to external influences, the importance of the utmost care in its management must be apparent; and this care must begin from the moment when it leaves the udder, especially if it is to be made into butter. In this case it would be better, if it were convenient, to keep the different kinds of milk of the same milking by itself—that which comes first from the udder, and that which is drawn last; and if the first third could be set by itself, and the second and the third parts by themselves, the time required to raise the cream of each part would doubtless be considerably less than it is where the different elements of the milk are so intimately mixed together in the process of milking, after being once partially separated, as they are before they leave the udder.
After milking, as little time as possible should elapse before the milk is brought to rest in the pan. The remarks of Dr. Anderson on the treatment of milk are pertinent in this connection. “If milk,” says he, “be put into a dish and allowed to stand until it throws up cream, the portion of cream rising first to the surface is richer in quality and equal in quantity to that which rises in a second equal space of time; and the cream which rises in a second interval of time is greater in quantity and richer in quality than that which rises in a third equal space of time. That of the third is greater than that of the fourth, and so of the rest; the cream that rises continuing progressively to decrease in quantity and quality, so long as any rises to the surface.
“Thick milk always throws up a much smaller proportion of the cream which it actually contains than milk that is thinner, but the cream is of a richer quality; and if water be added to that thick milk, it will afford a considerably greater quantity of cream, and consequently more butter, than it would have done if allowed to remain pure; but its quality at the same time is greatly deteriorated.
“Milk which is put into a bucket or other proper vessel, and carried in it to a considerable distance, so as to be much agitated and in part cooled before it be put into the milk-pans to settle for cream, never throws up so much or so rich a cream as if the same milk had been put into the milk-pans, without agitation, directly after it was milked.”
Milk as it comes from the cow is about blood-heat, or 98° Fah. It should be cooled off as little as possible before coming to rest. With this object in view, the pails may be rinsed with hot water before milking, and the distance from the place of milking to the milk-room should be as short as possible; but, even with all these precautions, the fall in temperature will be considerable.
From what has already been said with regard to the manner in which the cream or oily particles of the milk rise to the surface, and the difficulty of rising through a great space, on account of their intimate entanglement with the cheesy and other matters, the importance of using shallow pans must be sufficiently obvious.
To facilitate and hasten the rising of the butter or oily particles, the importance of keeping the milk-room at a uniform and pretty high temperature will be equally obvious. The greatest density of milk is at or near the temperature of 41° Fah.; and at this point the butter particles will, of course, rise with the greatest difficulty and slowness, and bring up a far greater amount of cheese particles than under more favorable circumstances. These caseous and watery matters, as has been already stated, cause the cream or the butter to look white, and to ferment and become rancid. To avoid this, the temperature is generally kept, in the best butter-dairies, as high as from 58° to 62°. Some recommend keeping the milk at over 70°, and from that to 80°, at which temperature the cream, they say, rises very rapidly, especially if the depth through which it has to rise is but slight. But that, in the opinion of most practical dairymen, is too high.
To obtain the greatest amount of cream from a given quantity of milk, the depth in the pan should, it seems to me, never exceed two inches. A high temperature and shallow depth, as they liquefy the milk and facilitate the rising of the particles, tend to secure a cream free from the cheesy matter, and such cream will make a quality of butter both more delicate to the taste, and less likely to become rancid, than any other.
It has already been intimated, in another connection, that neither the largest quantity nor the best quality of milk is given by the cow till after she has had two or three calves, or has arrived at the age of five or six years. It may also be said, what cannot fail to have attracted the attention of observing dairymen, that in very dry seasons the quantity of milk yielded will generally be less, though the quality will be richer, than in moist and mild seasons.
Hence it may be inferred that moist climates are much more favorable to the production of milk than dry ones; and this also has been frequently observed and admitted to be a well-known fact. From these facts it may be stated that dry and warm weather increases the quantity of butter, but it is also true that cooler weather produces a greater amount of cheese. A state of pregnancy, it is obvious, must reduce the quality of the milk, and cause it to yield less cream than before.
In the treatment of milk the utmost cleanliness is especially requisite. The pails, the strainers, the pans, the milk-room, and, in short, everything connected with the dairy, must be kept neat and clean to an extent which few but the very best dairy-women can appreciate. The smallest portion of old milk left to sour in the strainers or pans will be sure to taint them, and impart their bad flavor to the new milk put into them. Every one is familiar with the fact that an exceedingly small quantity of yeast causes an active fermentation. The process is a chemical one, and another familiar instance of it is in the distillation of liquors and the brewing of beer, where the malt creates a very active fermentation. In a similar manner the smallest particle of sour milk will taint a large quantity of sweet.
The milk-room should be removed from dampness, and all gases which might be injurious to the milk by infecting the atmosphere. If the state of the atmosphere and the temperature, as has been stated, affect it, all contact with foreign substances to which it is liable in careless and slovenly milking, and all air rendered impure by vegetables and innumerable other things kept in a house-cellar, will be much more liable to taint and injure it. Milk appears to absorb odors from objects near it, to such an extent that a piece of catnip lying near the pan has been known to impart its flavor to it.
Milk, as sold in most large cities, is often adulterated to a great extent, but most frequently with water. Not unfrequently, too, a part of the cream is first taken off, and water afterwards added; in which case the use of burnt sugar is very common for coloring the milk, the blueness of which would otherwise lead to detection. The adulteration of pure milk from the healthy cow by water, though dishonest, and objectionable in the highest degree, is far less iniquitous in its consequences than the nefarious traffic in “swill-milk,” or milk produced from cows fed entirely on “still-slops,” from which they soon become diseased, after which the milk contains a subtle poison, which is as difficult of detection by any known process of chemistry as the miasma of an atmosphere tainted with yellow fever or the cholera. The simple fact is sufficiently palpable, that no pure and healthy milk can be produced by an unhealthy and diseased animal; and that no animal can long remain healthy that is fed on an unnatural food, and treated in the manner too common around the distilleries of many large cities.
Fig. 71.
It is evident, from the well-known influence which “still-slops” and other exceedingly succulent food have in increasing the amount of water in the milk, that adulteration may be effected by means of the food, as well as by addition of water to the milk itself. It is evident, too, on a moment’s reflection, that the specific gravity of pure milk must vary exceedingly, as it comes from different cows, or from the same cow at different times. This variation reached to the extent of twenty-three degrees in the milk of forty-two different cows, or from one thousand and eight to one thousand and thirty-one; but so great a variation is very rare, and not to be expected.
No reliable conclusion, as to whether a particular specimen of milk has been adulterated or not, can therefore be drawn from the differences in specific gravity alone. A radical difficulty attending this test arises from the fact that the specific gravity both of water and cream is less than that of pure milk. If, therefore, the hydrometer sinks deeper into the fluid than would be expected in ordinary pure milk, how is it possible, unless the variation is very large, to tell whether it is due to the richness of the milk in cream, or to the water? I have, for instance, two instruments, each labelled “Lactometer,” but both of which are simple hydrometers ([Fig. 71]), or specific gravity testers, one of which is graduated with the water-mark 0 and that of pure milk 20°; the water-mark of the other being 0, like the first, and that of pure milk 100°. Both are the same in principle, the only difference being in the graduation. On the former, graduated for pure milk at 20°, it is difficult to tell with accuracy the small variations in the percentage of water or cream, the divisions on the scale are so minute, while the latter marks them so that they can be read off with greater ease and precision.
For the purpose of showing the difference in the specific gravity in different specimens of pure milk, taken from the cows in the morning, and allowed to cool down to about 60°, I used the latter instrument with the following results: The first pint drawn from a native cow stood at 101°, the scale being graduated at 100° for pure milk. The last pint of the same milking, being the strippings of the same cow, stood at 86°. The mixture of the two pints stood at about 931⁄2°. The milk of a pure-bred Jersey stood at 95°, that of an Ayrshire at 100°, that of a Hereford at 106°, that of a Devon at 111°, while a thin cream stood at 66°. All these specimens of milk were pure, and milked at the same time in the morning, carefully labelled in separate vessels, and set upon the same shelf to cool off; and yet the variations of specific gravity amounted to 25°, or, taking the average quality of the native cows’ milk at 931⁄2°, the variations amounted to 171⁄2°.
But, knowing the specific gravity, at the outset, of any specimen of milk, the hydrometer would show the amount of water added. This cheap and simple instrument is therefore of frequent service.
The lactometer is a very different instrument, and measures the comparative richness of different specimens of milk. It is of very great service both in the butter and cheese dairy, for testing the comparative value of different cows for the purposes for which they are kept. This instrument is very simple and cheap and the practical dairyman can tell by it what cows he can best part with without detriment to his business. No cow should be admitted to a herd kept for butter-making without knowing her qualities in this respect.
Many would find, on examination, that some of their cows, though giving a good quantity, were comparatively worthless to them. Such was the experience of John Holbert, of Chemung, New York, who, in his statement to the state agricultural society, says: “I find, by churning the milk of each cow separately, that one of my best cows will make as much butter as three of my poorest, giving the same quantity of milk. I have kept a dairy for twenty years, but I never until the past season knew that there was so much difference in cows.”
Fig. 72. Lactometer.
The simplest form of the lactometer is a series of graduated glass tubes ([Fig. 72]), or vials, of equal diameter; generally a third of an inch inside, and about eleven inches long. The tubes are filled to an equal height, each one with the milk of a different cow, and allowed to stand for the cream to rise. The difference in thickness of the column of cream will be very perceptible, and it will be greater than most people imagine. The effect of different kinds of food for the production of butter may be studied in the same way. This form of the lactometer was invented by Sir Joseph Banks.
Various means are used for the preservation of milk. One of these is by concentrating it by boiling. Where this is followed, as it is by some dairymen, as a regular business, the milk is poured, as it comes from the dairy, into long, shallow, copper pans, and heated to a temperature of a hundred and ten degrees, Fahrenheit. A little sugar is then mixed in, and the whole body of milk is kept in motion by stirring for some three or four hours. The water is evaporated, leaving the milk about one fourth of its original bulk. It is now put into tin cans, the covers of which are soldered on, when the cans are lowered into boiling water. After remaining a while, they are taken out and hermetically sealed, in which condition the milk will keep for months. Concentrated milk may thus be taken to sea or elsewhere. Another form is that of solidified milk, in which state it is easily and perfectly soluble in water; and when so dissolved with a proper proportion of water, it assumes its original form of milk, and may be made into butter. A statement by Dr. Dorémus, in the New York Medical Journal, explains the process, as follows:
“To one hundred and twelve pounds of milk twenty eight pounds of Stuart’s white sugar were added, and a trivial portion of bicarbonate of soda,—a teaspoonful,—merely enough to insure the neutralizing of any acidity, which, in the summer season, is exhibited even a few minutes after milking, although inappreciable to the organs of taste. The sweet milk was poured into evaporating pans of enamelled iron, imbedded in warm water heated by steam. A thermometer was immersed in each of these water-baths, that, by frequent inspection, the temperature might not rise above the point which years of experience have shown advisable. To facilitate the evaporation, by means of blowers and other ingenious apparatus a current of air is established between the covers of the pans and the solidifying milk. Connected with the steam-engine is an arrangement of stirrers, for agitating the milk slightly, while evaporating, and so gently as not to churn it. In about three hours the milk and sugar assumed a pasty consistency, and delighted the palates of all present. By constant manipulation and warming, it was reduced to a rich, creamy-looking powder, then exposed to the air to cool, weighed into parcels of a pound each, and by a press, with the force of a ton or two, made to assume the compact form of a tablet (the size of a small brick), in which shape, covered with tin-foil, it is presented to the public.
“Some of the solidified milk which had been grated and dissolved in water the previous evening was found covered with a rich cream; this, skimmed off, was soon converted into excellent butter. Another solution was speedily converted into wine-whey by a treatment precisely similar to that employed in using ordinary milk. It fully equalled the expectations of all; so that solidified milk will hereafter rank among the necessary appendages to the sick room. In fine, this article makes paps, custards, puddings, and cakes, equal to the best milk; and one may be sure it is an unadulterated article, obtained from well-pastured cattle, and not the produce of distillery slops; neither can it be watered. For our steamships, our packets, for those travelling by land or by sea, for hotel purposes, or use in private families, for young or old, we recommend it cordially as a substitute for fresh milk.”
A pound of this solidified milk, it is said, will make five pints when dissolved in water.
Another favorite form in which milk is used is that known as ice-cream, a cheap and healthy luxury during the summer months. It is frozen in a simple machine made for the purpose, in the best form of which the time of the operation is from six to ten minutes. The richest quality of ice-cream is made from cream, in the following manner: To one quart of cream use the yolks of three eggs. Put the cream over the fire till it boils, during which time the eggs are beaten up with half a pound of white sugar, powdered fine; and when the cream boils stir it upon the eggs and sugar, then let it stand till quite cold, then add the juice of three or four lemons. It is then ready to put into the freezer. The heat of the cream partially cooks the eggs, and the stirring must be continued to prevent their cooking too much.
A somewhat simpler receipt, given by the confectioners, is the following: To half a pound of powdered sugar add the juice of three lemons. Mix the sugar and lemon together, and then add one quart of cream. This is less rich and delicate than the preceding, but is quite rich enough for common use, and some trouble is saved.
The following receipt makes a very good ice-cream.
Two quarts of good rich milk; four fresh eggs; three quarters of a pound of white sugar; six teaspoons of Bermuda arrow-root. Rub the arrow-root smooth in a little cold milk, beat the eggs and sugar together, bring the milk to the boiling point, then stir in the arrow-root; remove it then from the fire, and immediately add the eggs and sugar, stirring briskly, to keep the eggs from cooking, then set aside to cool. If flavored with extracts, let it be done just before putting it in the freezer. If the vanilla bean is used, it must be boiled in the milk. The preparation must be thoroughly cooled before the freezing is proceeded with.
The ice-cream by this receipt may be produced at a cost not exceeding twenty-five cents a quart, calling the milk five cents a quart, and the eggs a cent apiece, and including the cost of labor. It is quite equal to that commonly furnished by the confectioners at seventy-five cents a quart. The arrow-root may be dispensed with. The freezer is a cheap and simple machine.
After the cream has frozen in the machine, it should stand an hour or two to harden before it is used.
To secure a more uniform flow and a richer quality of milk, cows are sometimes spayed, or castrated. The milk of spayed cows is pretty uniform in quantity, and this quantity will be, on an average, a little more than before the operation was performed. But few instances have come under my observation, and those few have resulted satisfactorily, the quality of the milk having been greatly improved, the yield becoming regular for some years, and varying only by the difference in the succulence of the food. The proper time for spaying is about five or six weeks after calving, or at the time when the largest quantity of milk is given. There seem to be some advantages in spaying for milk and butter dairies, where the raising of stock is not attended to. The cows are more quiet, never being liable to returns of seasons of heat, which always more or less affect the milk both in quantity and quality. They give milk nearly uniform in these respects, for several years, provided the food is uniformly succulent and nutritious. Their milk is influenced like that of other cows, though to less extent, by the quality and quantity of food; so that in winter, unless the animal is properly attended to, the yield will decrease somewhat, but will rise again as good feed returns. This uniformity for the milk-dairy is of immense advantage. Besides, the cow, when old, and inclined to dry up, takes on fat with greater rapidity, and produces a juicy and tender beef, superior, at the same age, to that of the ox. The operation of spaying is simple, and may be performed by any veterinary surgeon, without much risk of injury.
The milk of the cow has often been analyzed. It was found by Haidlen to consist of
| Water, | 873. |
| Butter, | 30. |
| Caseine, | 48.2 |
| Sugar of milk, | 43.9 |
| Phosphate of lime, | 2.31 |
| Magnesia, | .42 |
| Iron, | .47 |
| Chloride of Potassium, | 1.44 |
| Sodium and Soda, | .66 |
| 1000. |
But its composition, as already intimated, varies exceedingly with the food of the animal, and is influenced by an infinite variety of circumstances.
Skim-milk is much more watery than whole milk. It was found by one analysis to contain about 97 per cent. of water and 3 per cent. of caseine.
Swill-milk, or milk from cows fed on “still-slops,” in New York, was found by analysis to contain less than 1.5 per cent. of butter, some specimens having even less than one per cent.
The colostrum, or milk of the cow just after calving, contains a large proportion of cheesy matter. Its amount of caseine was found by careful analysis to be 15.1 per cent., of butter 2.6, mucous matter 2, and water 80.3, there being only a trace of sugar of milk.
The measures for milk in common use in this country are those used for wine and beer. The wine quart is about one fifth less than the beer quart, and is that most commonly used in England. It is to be regretted that no uniform standard has been adopted throughout the country.
CHAPTER VIII.
BUTTER AND THE BUTTER-DAIRY.
“Slow rolls the churn—its load of clogging cream
At once foregoes its quality and name.
From knotty particles first floating wide,
Congealing butter’s dashed from side to side.”
Butter, as we have seen, is the oily or fatty constituent of all good milk, mechanically united or held in suspension by the solution of caseine or cheesy matter in water. It is already formed in the udder of the cow, and the operations required after it leaves the udder, to produce it, effect merely the separation, more or less complete, of the butter from the cheese and the whey.
This being the case, it is natural to suppose that butter was known at an early date. The wandering tribes, accustomed to take on their journeys a supply of milk in skins, would find it formed by the agitation of travelling, and thus would be suggested the first rude and simple process of churning.
But it is not probable that the Jews possessed a knowledge of it; and it is pretty well settled, at the present time, that the passages in our English version of the Old Testament in which it is used are erroneously translated, and that wherever the word butter occurs the word milk, or sour, thick milk, or cream, should be substituted. And so in Isaiah, “Milk and honey shall he eat,” instead of “butter;” and in Job (29: 6), “When I washed my feet in milk,” instead of “butter.” And the expression in Prov. (30: 33), “Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter,” would be better translated, according to the best critics, “the pressing of the milker bringeth forth milk,” or the “pressing of milk bringeth forth cheese.”
In the oldest Greek writers milk and cheese are spoken of, but there is no evidence that butter was known to them. The Greeks obtained their knowledge of it from the Scythians or the Thracians, and the Romans obtained theirs from the Germans.
In the time of Christ it was used chiefly as an ointment in the baths, and as a medicine. In warm latitudes, as in the southern part of Europe, even at the present day, its use is comparatively limited, the delicious oil of the olive supplying its place.
I have already stated that all good milk of the cow contained butter enclosed in little round globules held in suspension, or floating in the other substances. As soon as the milk comes to rest after leaving the udder, these round particles, being lighter than the mass of cheesy and watery materials by which they are surrounded, begin to rise and work their way to the surface. The largest globules, being comparatively the lightest, rise first, and form the first layer of cream, which is the best, since it is less filled with caseine. The next smaller, rising a little slower, are more entangled with other substances, and bring more of them to the surface; and the smallest rise the slowest and the last, and come up loaded with foreign substances, and produce an inferior quality of cream and butter. The most delicate cream, as well as the sweetest and most fragrant butter, is that obtained by a first skimming, only a few hours after the milk is set. Of three skimmings, at six, twelve, and eighteen hours after the milk is strained into the pan, that first obtained will make more and richer butter than the second, and that next obtained richer than the third, and so on.
The last quart of milk drawn at a milking, for reasons already stated, will make a more delicious and savory butter than the first; and if the last quart or two of a milking is set by itself, and the first cream that rises taken from it after standing only five or six hours, it will produce the richest and highest-flavored butter the cow is capable of giving, under like circumstances as to season and feed.
The separation of the butter particles from the others is slower and more difficult in proportion to the thickness and richness of the milk. Hence in winter, on dry feeding, the milk being richer and more buttery, the cream or particles of butter are slower and longer in rising. But, as heat liquefies milk, the difficulty is overcome in part by elevating the temperature. The same effect is produced by mixing a little water into the milk when it is set. It aids the separation, and consequently more cream will rise in the same space of time, from the same amount of rich milk, with a little water in it, than without. Water slightly warm, if in cold weather, will produce the most perceptible effect. The quantity of butter will be greater from milk treated in this way; the quality, slightly deteriorated.
It must be apparent, from what has been said, that butter may be produced by agitating the whole body of the milk, and thus breaking up the filmy coatings of the globules, as well as by letting it stand for the cream to rise. This course is preferred by many practical dairymen, and is the general practice in some of the countries most celebrated for superior butter.
The general treatment of milk and the management of cream have been already alluded to in a former chapter. It has been seen that the first requisites to successful dairy husbandry are good cows, and abundant and good feeding, adapted to the special object of the dairy, whether it be milk, butter, or cheese; and that, with both these conditions, an absolute cleanliness in every process, from the milking of the cow to bringing the butter upon the table, is indispensably necessary.
Cleanliness may, indeed, with propriety be regarded as the chief requisite in the manufacture of good butter; for the least suspicion of a want of it turns the appetite at once, while both milk and cream are so exceedingly sensitive to the slightest taint in the air, in everything with which they come in contact, as to impart the unmistakable evidence of any negligence, in the taste and flavor of the butter.
It is safe to say, therefore, that good butter depends more upon the manufacture than upon any other one thing, and perhaps than all others put together. So important is this point, that a judicious writer remarks that “in every district where good butter is made it is universally attributed to the richness of the pastures, though it is a well-known fact that, take a skilful dairymaid from that district into another, where good butter is not usually made, and where, of course, the pastures are deemed very unfavorable, she will make butter as good as she used to do. And bring one from this last district into the other, and she will find that she cannot make better butter there than she did before, unless she takes lessons from the servants, or others whom she finds there;” and a French writer very justly observes that “the particular nature of Bretagne butter, whose color, flavor, and consistence, are so much prized, depends neither on the pasture nor on the particular species of cow, but on the mode of making;” and this will hold, to a considerable extent, in every country where butter is made.
Many things, indeed, concur to produce the best results, and it would be useless to underrate the importance of any; but, with the best of cows to impart the proper color and consistency to butter, the sweetest feed and the purest water to secure a delicate flavor, the utmost care must still be bestowed by the dairymaid upon every process of manufacture, or else the best of milk and cream will be spoiled, or produce an article which will bring only a low price in the market, when, with greater skill, it might have obtained the highest.
From what has been said of the care requisite to preserve the milk from taint, it may be inferred that attention to the milk and dairy room is of no small importance. In very large butter-dairies, a building is devoted exclusively to this department. This should be at a short distance from the yard, or place of milking, but no further than is necessary to be removed from all impurities in the air arising from it, and from all low, damp places, subject to disagreeable exhalations. This is of the utmost importance. It should be well ventilated, and kept constantly clean and sweet, by the use of pure water; and especially, if milk is spilled, it should be washed up immediately, with fresh water. No matter if it is but a single drop; if allowed to soak into the floor and sour, it cannot easily be removed, and it is sufficient to taint the air and the milk in the room, though it may not be perceptible to the senses.
In smaller dairies, economy dictates the use of a room in the house; and this, in warm climates, should be on the north side, and used exclusively for this purpose. I have known many to use a room in the cellar as a milk-room; but very few cellars are at all suitable. Most are filled with a great variety of articles which never fail to infect the air.
But, if a house-cellar is so built as to make it a suitable place to set the milk, as where a large dry and airy room, sufficiently isolated from the rest, can be used, a greater uniformity of temperature can usually be secured than on the floor above. The room, in this case, should have a gravel or loamy bottom, uncemented, but dry and porous. The soil is a powerful absorbent of the noxious gases which are apt to infect the atmosphere near the bottom of the cellar.
Milk should never be set on the bottom of a cellar, if the object is to raise the cream. The cream will rise in time, but rarely or never so quickly or so completely as on shelves from five to eight feet from the bottom, around which a free circulation of pure air can be had from the latticed windows. It is, perhaps, safe to say that as great an amount of better cream will rise from the same milk in twelve hours on suitable shelves, six feet from the bottom, as would be obtained directly on the bottom of the same cellar in twenty-four hours.
Fig. 73. Milk-stand.
One of the most convenient forms for shelves in a dairy-room designed for butter-making is represented in [Fig. 73], made of light and seasoned wood, in an octagonal form, and capable of holding one hundred and seventy-six pans of the ordinary form and size. It is so simple and easily constructed, and so economizes space, that it may readily be adapted to other and smaller rooms for a similar purpose. If the dairy-house is near a spring of pure and running water, a small stream can be led in by one channel and taken out by another, and thus keep a constant circulation under the milk-stand, which may be so constructed as to turn easily on the central post, so as often to save many footsteps.
The pans designed for milk are generally made of tin. That is found, after long experience, to be, on the whole, the best and most economical, and subject to fewer objections than most other materials. Glazed earthen ware is often used, the chief objection to it being its liability to break, and its weight. It is easily kept clean, however, and is next in value to tin, if not, indeed, equal to it. A tin skimmer is commonly used, somewhat in the form of the bowl of a spoon, and pierced with holes, to remove the cream. In some sections of the country, a large white clam-shell is very commonly used instead of a skimmer made for the purpose, the chief objection to it being that the cream is not quite so carefully separated from the milk.
A mode of avoiding the necessity of skimming has long been used to some extent in England, by which the milk is drawn off through a hole in the bottom of the pan. This plan is recommended by Unwerth, a German agriculturist, who proposes a pan represented in [Fig. 74], made of block tin, oblong in shape, and having the inside corners carefully rounded. The pan is only two inches in depth, and is made large enough to hold six or eight quarts of milk at the depth of one and a half inches. This shallowness greatly facilitates the rapid separation of the cream, especially at a temperature somewhat elevated. A strainer is shown in [Fig. 75], pierced with holes, the centre half an inch lower than the rim, to which hooks are fixed to hold it to the top of the pan. On this a coarse linen cloth is laid, the milk being strained through both the cloth and the strainer, thus serving to separate all foreign substances in a thorough manner.
Fig. 74. Milk-pan.
Fig. 75.
Fig. 76.
Fig. 77.
In the bottom of the milk-pan, near one end, is an opening, a, through which the milk is drawn, after the cream is all risen or separated from it, by raising a brass pin, b. The opening is lined with brass, and is three fourths of an inch in diameter. [Fig. 76] represents the tin cylinder magnified. This is pierced, to the height of an inch, with many small holes, diminishing in size towards the top. The cream is all risen in twenty-four hours. The pin is then drawn from the cylinder, and the milk flows out, leaving the thick cream, which is prevented from flowing out by the smallness of the holes in the cylinder.
With the form of pans in most common use in this country, which are circular, three or four inches deep, this shallow depth of milk causes a little more trouble in skimming; but, if the principle is correct, the form and depth of the pan will be easily adapted to it.
After the cream is removed, it is put into stone or earthen jars, and kept in a cool place till a sufficient quantity is accumulated to make it convenient to churn. If a sufficient number of cows is kept, it is far better to churn every day; but in ordinary circumstances that may be oftener than is practicable. The more frequently the better; and the advantages of frequent churning are so great that cream should never be kept longer than three or four days, where it is possible to churn so often.
The mode of churning in one of the many good dairies in Pennsylvania,—that of Mr. J. Comfort, of Montgomery county,—is as follows: He uses a large barrel-shaped churn, of the size of about two hogsheads, hung on journals supported by a framework in an adjoining building. It is worked by machinery in a rotatory motion, by a horse travelling around in a circle. The churning commences about four o’clock in the morning in summer, the cream being poured into the churn and the horse started. When the butter has come, a part of the butter-milk is removed by a vent-hole in the churn. Then, without beating the mass together, as is usual, a portion of the butter and its butter-milk is taken out by the spatula and placed in the bottom of a tub covered with fine salt, and spread out equally to a proper depth; then the surface of this butter is covered with salt, and another portion of butter and butter-milk taken from the churn and spread over the salted surface in the same manner, and salted as before, thus making a succession of layers, till the tub is full. The whole is then covered with a white cloth, and allowed to stand a while. A part of this butter, say eight or ten pounds, is then taken from the tub and laid on a marble table ([Fig. 80]), grooved around the edges, and slightly inclined, with a place in the groove for the buttermilk and whey to escape. It is then worked by a butter-worker or brake, turning on a swivel-joint, which perfectly and completely removes the butter-milk, and flattens out the butter into a thin mass; then the surface is wiped by a cloth laid over it, and the working and wiping repeated till the cloth adheres to the butter, which indicates that the butter is dry enough, when it is separated into pound lumps, weighed and stamped, ready for market. The rest of the butter in the tub is treated in the same way.
It will be seen that this method avoids the ordinary washing with water, not a drop of water being used, from beginning to the end. It avoids also the working by hand, which in warm weather has a tendency to soften the butter. In the space of about an hour a hundred pounds are thus made, and its beautiful color and fragrance preserved. If it happens to come from the churn soft, it hardens by standing a little longer in the brine.
The most common form of the churn in small dairies is the upright or dash-churn, [Fig. 77]; but many other forms are in extensive use, each possessing, doubtless, more or less merit peculiar to itself. The cylinder churn, [Fig. 78], is very simply constructed, and capable of being easily cleaned. Some prefer the thermometer churn, [Fig. 79], having an attachment for indicating the temperature of the cream.
Fig. 78.
Fig. 79.
As already stated, there are two modes of practice with regard to the process of churning, each of which has its advantages. The milk itself may be churned, or it may be set in the milk-room for the cream to rise, which is to be churned by itself. The former is the practice of a successful dairyman of New York, who, in his statement, says: “I take care to have my cellar thoroughly cleansed and whitewashed early every spring. I keep milk in one cellar, and butter in another. Too much care cannot be taken by dairymen to observe the time of churning. I usually churn from one hour to one hour and a half, putting from one to two pails of cold water in each churn. When the butter has come, I take it out, wash it through one water, set it in the cellar and salt it, then work it from three to five times before packing. Butter should not be made quite salt enough until the last working. Then add a little salt, which makes a brine that keeps the butter sweet. One ounce of salt to a pound of butter is about the quantity I use. I pack the first day, if the weather is cool; if warm, the second. If the milk is too warm when churned, the quantity of butter will be less, and the quality and flavor not so good as when it is at a a proper temperature, which, for churning milk, is from 60° to 65°.”
But, whichever course it is thought best to adopt, whether the milk or cream is churned, it is the concussion, rather than the motion, which serves to bring the butter. This may be produced in the simple square box as well as by the dasher churn; and it is the opinion of a scientific gentleman with whom I have conversed on the subject, that the perfect square is the best form of the churn ever invented. The cream or milk in this churn has a peculiar compound motion, and the concussion on the corners and right-angled sides is very great, and causes the butter to come as rapidly as it is judicious to have it. This churn consists of a simple square box, which any one who can handle a saw and plane can make, hung on axles turned by a crank somewhat like the barrel churn. No dasher is required. If any one is inclined to doubt the superiority of this form over all others, he can easily try it and satisfy himself. It costs but little.
In some sections the milk is churned soon after milking; in others, the night’s and morning’s milk are mixed together, and churned at noon; in others, the cream is allowed to rise, when the milk is curdled, and cream, curd, and whey, are all churned together.
A successful instance of churning only the cream is found in the statement of Mr. Lincoln, who received the first dairy premium of the Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture. He says: “The cream, as it is skimmed, is poured into stone pots, which in warm weather are kept in a refrigerator, and during the winter stand in the milk-room. The times of churning depend upon the quantity of cream.
“The time usually occupied in churning is from fifty minutes upwards. This is deemed a matter of importance. We consider it much better to bring the cream to the degree of temperature necessary to the formation of butter by a steady, moderate agitation, than to use artificial heat to take it to that point before commencing to churn. By such moderate, long-continued agitations, we think the butter has a firmer, more waxy consistence than it can have by more rapid churning. The churn used is ‘Galt’s.’ Numerous trials have been made with many of the other kinds of churns in comparison with this, and the result has been uniformly favorable to this patent.
“When the butter has come, the butter-milk is drawn off, and the butter, after being thoroughly worked, is salted with from one half to three fourths ounces of salt to the pound. It is now set away for twenty-four hours, when it is again worked over thoroughly, and made into pound lumps with wooden ‘spatters.’ After standing another twenty-four hours, it is sent into market. In ‘working’ butter we use a table over which a fluted roller is made to pass ([Fig. 80]), rolling out the butter into a thin sheet, and completely and entirely depriving it of butter-milk.
“From many years’ experience, the observation is warranted, that by no other process of manufacture can the butter-milk be so completely extracted. I am aware of the truth of the objection made that the shrinkage occasioned by its use is too great; yet there is, in fact, a difference in the worth of the butter made upon it, over that manufactured in the ordinary way, quite equal to the loss in weight occasioned by it.”
The high reputation of Philadelphia butter being so well known, I was desirous of ascertaining the opinions of practical men as to what this was due,—whether to any peculiar richness of the pasturage, or to the careful mode of manufacture. In reply to my inquiries, I have received satisfactory statements from several sources, and among them the following communication from one of the most successful of the butter-makers who supply that market. “The high reputation of Philadelphia butter,” he says, “is owing to the manner of its manufacture, though I would not say that the sweet-scented vernal and other natural grasses do not add to the fine quality of well-made butter.
“In proof of what I say, I would refer to the experience of my brother, who is the owner of two farms. His tenant, an excellent butter-maker, lived on one farm, and made a very fine article, which brought the highest prices. He moved to the other farm, where the former tenant had never made good butter, and had ascribed his want of success to the spring-house. On this farm he succeeded in establishing a higher reputation than he ever had before. The tenant who followed him on the first farm never succeeded in gaining a reputation for good butter, his inability arising from his ignorance of the proper mode of manufacture, and his unwillingness to improve by the experience of others.
“Only a part of the information as to the best mode of manufacture can be given, so much depends on the judgment and experience of the operator. The first thing required is to provide a suitable place. This should be, for the summer months, a well-ventilated house, over a good spring of water. The second requisite will be proper vessels to hold the milk and cream, and for churning. A table is needed which shall not be used for any other purpose than for working and printing the butter on. I have always used a lever in connection with the table ([Fig. 80]). A large sponge, with a linen cloth to cover it, with which the milk can be removed from the butter, is another important article; and then a skimmer, either of wood or tin, or both, as may be necessary in the different states of the milk; a thermometer, and a boiler convenient for heating water for cleansing the vessels. No person can expect to make good butter without the greatest attention to the cleanliness of the vessels used for the milk and cream, and care in exposing them to the sun and air.
“After the milk has been brought from the yard or stable, strain it immediately into the pans, in which has been put a little sour milk from which the cream has been removed, the quantity varying from a tablespoonful to half a common teacupful, according to the state of the weather. In very warm weather the smaller quantity is sufficient. But the rule for warm weather will not always hold good; for, from the electrical state of the atmosphere, the milk may sour either too slow or too fast.
“The pans containing the milk should then be set into the water, if the weather be hot: and here is a point where the operator should exercise his or her judgment; for even in warm weather it may be necessary to draw off the water from the milk, if the spring be cold. The milk should remain there, under no circumstances, longer than the fourth meal, or forty-eight hours; but thirty-six hours is much to be preferred, if the milk has become thick, or the cream sufficiently raised, when it should be taken off carefully, so as not to take any sour milk with it, and put in the cream-pot. When the cream-pot is full, sprinkle a small handful of fine salt over the top of the cream, and let it remain. Our custom has been, when making butter but once a week, to pour the cream into a clean vessel at the end of three days, keeping back any milk that might have been taken up with the cream, which is found at the bottom of the jar.
“I would mention that it is essential, in making a fine article, to keep the cream clear of milk. The next operation will he preparatory to churning, by straining the cream, and reducing the temperature of the churn by the use of the cold spring-water. The operation of churning should neither be protracted nor hastened too much. After the butter has made its appearance of the size of a small pea, draw off the milk, and throw in a small amount of cold water, and gather it. After the butter has been taken from the churn, it is placed upon the table, worked over by the lever, and salted; then worked again with the lever, in connection with the sponge and cloth, a pan of cold water being at hand, with a piece of ice in it in summer, into which you throw the cloth and sponge frequently, and wring out dry before again using it. These, as well as every other article which will come into contact with the butter, must be scalded, and afterward, as well as the hands, placed in cold water. I would here add that the use of the sponge is one of the important points in making butter to keep well; for by it you can remove almost every particle of butter-milk, which is the great agent in the destruction of its sweetness and solidity. For the winter dairy a room in which is placed a stove should be provided, which can be made warm, and also well ventilated. I prefer the use of coal, on account of keeping the fire through the night. My dairy-room is adjoining the spring-house, and connects with it, which I consider important. This room should be used for no other purpose, as cream and butter are the greatest absorbents of effluvia with which I am acquainted. I have known good butter to be spoiled by being placed over night in a close closet.
“The thermometer should always accompany the winter dairy. There is one thing very important in the winter dairy, which, perhaps, I should have placed first, and that is the food of the cows; for, without something else than hay, you will not make very fine butter. Mill-feed and corn-meal I consider about the best for yield and quality, although there are many other articles of food which will be useful, and contribute to the appetite and health of the cattle.
“The process for the winter dairy is similar to that of the summer, with the exception of the regulation as to the temperature of room, etc., which is as follows:
“Particular care should be taken not to let the milk get cold before placing it in the dairy-room; for, should it be completely chilled, the cream will not rise well. Add about a gill of warm water to the sour milk for each pan, before straining into it, which will greatly facilitate the rising of the cream. Keep the temperature of the room as near fifty-eight degrees, Fahrenheit, as possible, and guard against the air being dry by having a small vessel of water upon the stove, or else a dry coat will form on the surface of the cream. The cream should be kept in a colder place than the dairy-room until the night before churning, when it might be placed in the warm room, so that its temperature shall be about 58°.
“The churn may be prepared by scalding it, and then reduced to the same temperature as the cream by cold water, using the thermometer as a test.
“This regulation of temperature is of the greatest importance: for, should it be too low, you will be a long time churning, and have poor, tasteless butter; if too high, the butter will be soft and white.”
What is especially noticeable in the above statement is the use of the sponge, and the thorough and complete removal of all the butter-milk. Here is probably the secret of success, after all. I have given the statement in full, notwithstanding its length, on account of the well-known excellence of the butter produced by the process, as well as for the suggestions with regard to the dairy-rooms, and not because I can recommend all its details for the imitation of others. The use of sour milk in the pans is based, I suppose, on the idea that the cream does not begin to rise till acidity commences in the milk,—an idea which was once pretty generally entertained; but the process of souring undoubtedly commences, though imperceptible to the senses, very soon after the milk comes to rest in the pan. At any rate, there is no doubt that the separation of the butter from the other substances commences at once, and without the addition of any foreign substance to the milk.
Nor do I believe there is any necessity for the milk to stand over twenty-four hours in any case; for I have no doubt that all the best of the cream rises within the first twelve hours, under favorable circumstances, and I am inclined to think that whatever is added to the quantity of cream after twenty-four hours, detracts from the quality of the butter to an extent which more than counterbalances the whole of the quantity.
Many good dairy-women make an exceedingly fine article, in spite of the defects of some parts of the process of manufacture. This does not show that they would not make still better butter if they remedied these defects.
The more we can retard the development of acidity in the milk, within certain limits, the more cream may we expect to get; and hence some use artificial means for this purpose, mixing in the milk a little crystallized soda, dissolved in twice its volume of water, which corrects the acidity as soon as it forms. It is a perfectly harmless addition, and increases the product of the butter, and improves its quality. But under ordinarily favorable circumstances, from twelve to eighteen hours will be sufficient to raise all the cream in summer, and from twenty to thirty hours in winter.
Fig. 80. Butter-worker.
The butter-worker, [Fig. 80], with its marble top, used by the writer of the statement above, is an important addition to the implements of the dairy. It effects the complete removal of the butter-milk, without the necessity of bringing the hands in contact with it. Another form of the lever butter-worker is seen in [Fig. 81].
Fig. 81.
To keep the cream properly after it is placed away in pots or jars, it should stand in a cool place, and whenever additions of fresh cream are made, they should be stirred in. Many keep the cream, as well as the butter, in the well, in hot weather. This is the practice of Mr. Horsfall, whose experiments have been [alluded to]. Finding his butter inclined to be soft, he lowered a thermometer twenty-eight feet into the well, and found it indicated 43°, the temperature of the surface being 70°. He then let down the butter, and found it somewhat improved; and soon after began to lower down the cream, by means of a movable windlass and a rope, the cream-jar being placed in a basket hung on the rope. The cream was let down on the evening previous to churning, and drawn up in the morning and immediately churned. The time of churning the cream at this temperature would be as long as in winter, and the butter was found to have the same consistency.
The same object is effected in this country by the use of ice in many sections; but, if the butter remains too long on ice, or in an ice-house, it is apt to become bleached, and lose its natural and delicate straw-color.
The time of churning is by no means an unimportant matter. Various contrivances have been made to shorten this operation; but the opinions of the best and most successful dairymen concur that it cannot be too much hastened without injuring the fine quality and consistency of the butter. The time required depends much on the temperature of the cream; and this can be regulated at convenience, as indicated above.
The temperature of the dairy-room should be as uniform as possible. The practice of the best and most successful dairymen differs in respect to the degree to which it should be kept; but the range is from 52° to 62° Fahr., and I am inclined to think from 58° to 60° the best. At 60°, with a current of fresh, pure air passing over it, the cream will rise very rapidly and abundantly.
The greatest density of milk is at about 41°, and cream rises with great difficulty and slowness as the temperature falls below 50° towards that point.
A practical butter dealer of New York gives the following as the best mode of packing butter, or putting it up for a distant market. The greatest care, he says, should be taken to free the butter entirely from milk, by working it and washing it after churning at a temperature so low as to prevent it from losing its granular character and becoming greasy. The character of the product depends in a great measure on the temperature of churning and working, which should be between sixty and seventy degrees Fahr. If free from milk, eight ounces of Ashton salt is sufficient for ten pounds. Western salt should never be used, as it injures the flavor. While packing, the contents of the firkin should be kept from the air by being covered with saturated brine. No undissolved salt should be put in the bottom of the firkin.
Goshen butter is reputed best, though much is put up in imitation of it, and sold at the same price. Great care should be taken to have the firkins neat and clean. They should be of white oak, with hickory hoops, and should hold about eighty pounds. Wood excludes air better than stone, and consequently keeps butter better. Tubs are better than pots.
Western butter comes in coarse, ugly packages; even flour and pork barrels are sometimes used. Much of it must be worked over and re-packed here before it will sell. It generally contains a good deal of milk, and if not re-worked soon becomes rancid. Improper packing, in kegs too large and soiled on the outside, makes at least three cents a pound difference. Whatever the size of the firkin, it must be perfectly tight and quite full of butter, so that when opened the brine, though present, will not be found on the top.
Until the middle of May, dairymen should pack in quarter firkins or tubs, with white oak covers, and send directly to market as fresh butter. From this time until the fall frost there is but little change in color and flavor with the same dairy, and it may be packed in whole firkins, and kept in a cool place. The fall butter should also be packed separately in tubs.
To prepare new butter-boxes for use in the shortest time, dissolve common, or bicarbonate of soda in boiling water, as much as the water will dissolve, and water enough to fill the boxes; about a pound of soda will be required to be put into a thirty-two pound box, and the water should be poured upon it. Let it stand over night, and the box may be safely used next day. This mode is cheap and expeditious, and, if adopted, would often save great losses. Potash has a like effect.
As already seen, in the statements of practical dairymen, the greatest care is required in the salting or seasoning. Over-salted butter is not only less palatable to the taste, but less healthy than fresh, sweet butter. The same degree of care is needed with respect to the box in which it is packed. I have often seen the best and richest-flavored butter spoilt by sending it to the exhibition or to market in new and improper boxes. A new pine-wood box should always be avoided.
Butter that has been thoroughly worked, and perfectly freed from butter-milk, is of a firm and waxy consistence, so as scarcely to dim the polish of the blade of a knife thrust into it, leaving upon it only a slight dew as it is withdrawn. If it is soft in texture, and leaves greasy streaks of butter-milk upon the knife that cuts it, or upon the cut surface after the blade is withdrawn, it shows an imperfect and defective process of manufacture, and is of poor quality, and will be liable to become rancid.
An exceedingly delicate and fine-flavored butter may be made by wrapping the cream in a napkin or clean cloth, and burying it, a foot deep or more, in the earth, from twelve to twenty hours. This experiment I have repeatedly tried with complete success, and have never tasted butter superior to that produced by this method. It requires to be salted to the taste as much as butter made by any other process. A tenacious subsoil loam would seem to be best. After putting the cream into a clean cloth, the whole should be surrounded by a coarse towel. The butter thus produced is white instead of yellow or straw-color.
Butter has been analyzed by Prof. Way, with the following result:
| Pure fat, or oil, | 82.70 | |
| Caseine, or curd, | 2.45 | |
| Water, with a little salt, | 14.85 | = 100 |
The fat or oil peculiar to butter is in winter more solid than in summer, and known as margarine fat, while that of summer is known as liquid or oleine fat. The proportions in which these are found in ordinary butter have been stated by Prof. Thomson, as follows:
| Summer. | Winter. | |
|---|---|---|
| Solid or margarine fat, | 40 | 65 |
| Liquid or oleine fat, | 60 | 35 |
| 100 | 100 |
Winter butter appears to be rich and fine in proportion as the oleine fat increases. The proportion is undoubtedly dependent on the food.
A more general attention to the details of butter-making, and to the best modes of preserving its good qualities, would add many thousands of dollars to the aggregate profits of our American dairies.
In the management of the dairy, an ice-house and a good quantity of ice for summer use are not only very convenient for regulating the temperature of the dairy-room, and for keeping butter at the proper consistence, and preserving it, but are also profitable in other respects. And now, when ice-houses are so easily constructed, and ice is so readily procured, no well-ordered dairy should be without a liberal supply of it. It is housed at a time when other farm-work is not pressing, and ponds are so distributed over the country that it may be generally procured without difficulty; but where ponds or streams are at too great a distance from the dairy-house, an artificial pond can be easily made, by damming up the outlet of some spring in the neighborhood. Where this is done, the utmost care should be taken to keep the water perfectly clean when the ice is forming. The ice-house should be above ground, and in a dry, airy place. The top of a dry knoll is better than a low, damp shade. The ice may be packed in tan, sawdust, shavings, or other non-conductors, and when wanted for use it should be taken off the top.
CHAPTER IX.
THE CHEESE-DAIRY.
“Streams of new milk through flowing coolers stray,
And snow-white curds abound, and wholesome whey.”
Milk, if allowed to become sour, will eventually curdle, when the whey is easily separated; and this simple mode was probably the universal method of making cheese in ancient times. Cheese, as already explained, is made from caseine, an ingredient of milk held in solution by means of an alkali, which it requires the presence of an acid to neutralize. This, in modern manufacture, is artificially added to form the curd; but the acidity of milk, after standing, acts in the same manner to produce coägulation. This is due to the change of the milk-sugar into lactic acid.
Cheese has been made and used as an article of food from a very early date. It was well known to the early Jewish patriarchs, and is frequently mentioned in the earliest Hebrew records. “Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?” says Job; and David was sent to “carry ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand in the camp.” Most of the ancient nations, indeed, barbarous as well as civilized, made it a prominent article of food. But cheese, as made by the ancients, was found to be hard and brittle, and not well flavored, and means were devised to produce the same effect while the milk still remained sweet. It was observed that acids of various kinds would answer, and vinegar was used; and cream of tartar, muriatic acid, and sour milk, added to sweet, produced a rapid coägulation. In Sweden, Norway, and other countries, a handful of the plant known as butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris) is sometimes mixed with the food of the cow, to cause the milk to coägulate readily. A few hours after milking, the curd is formed without the addition of an acid. Milk taken into the stomach of the calf was found to curdle rapidly, even while sweet; and hence the use of rennet, which is simply the stomach of the calf, prepared by washing, salting, and drying, for preservation. This acts the most surely, and, if properly prepared and preserved, is the least objectionable, of any article now known; and is, in fact, the natural mode of curdling the milk as it enters the stomach, preparatory to the process of digestion. Besides this, it is generally the cheapest and most available for the farmer.
The richness of cheese depends very much upon the amount of butter or oily matter it contains. It may be made entirely of cream, or from whole or unskimmed milk, to which the cream of other milk is added, or from milk from which a part of its cream has been taken, or from ordinary skim-milk, or from milk that has been skimmed three or four times, so as to remove nearly every particle of cream, or from butter-milk. The acid used in curdling milk acts upon the caseine alone, and not upon the butter particles, which are imbedded in the curd as it hardens, and thus increase its richness and flavor without adding to its consistency, which is due to the caseine.
It is evident, therefore, that cheese made entirely of cream cannot have the firmness and consistence of ordinary cheese. It is only made for immediate use, and cannot be long kept. It is, in fact, little more than thick, dried, sweet cream, from which all the milk has been pressed. On the other hand, skim-milk cheese has the opposite fault of being too hard and tough, and destitute of flavor and richness. The best quality of cheese is made from full milk, or from milk to which some extra cream is added, as in the English Stilton renowned for its richness and flavor. The Gloucester, Cheshire, Cheddar, Dunlop, and the Dutch Gouda, are made of whole milk, as are the best qualities made in this country.
The process of making cheese is both chemical and mechanical. The heating of the milk at the time of adding the acid or rennet hastens the chemical action, and facilitates the separation of the whey; at the same time great nicety is required, for, if over-heated, the oily particles will run off with the whey. On the complete separation of the whey from the curd, and the amount of butter particles retained in the latter, the taste or flavor and keeping qualities of the cheese depend. If properly made, the taste improves by keeping, but the chemical changes effected by age are not very well understood.
The practical process of manufacture most common in the best dairies of this country will appear in the following statements of successful competitors at agricultural exhibitions. The first was made, by request, to the New York State Agricultural Society, and appeared in its transactions, by A. L. Fish, of Herkimer county, one of the finest dairy regions of that state. The value of his statement is enhanced by the fact that his cows averaged seven hundred pounds of the first quality of cheese each in 1844, and seven hundred and seventy-five pounds each in 1845. In his mode of manufacture, the evening’s and morning’s milk is commonly used to make one cheese. The evening’s is strained into a tub or pans, and cooled to prevent souring. The proper mode of cooling is to strain the milk into the tin tub set in a wooden vat, [described] in the dairy-house, and cool by filling the wooden vat with ice-water from the ice-house, or ice in small lumps, and water from the pump. The little cream that rises over night is taken off in the morning, and kept till the morning and evening milk are put together, and the cream is warmed to receive the rennet. It is mixed with about twice its quantity of new milk, and warm water added to raise its temperature to ninety-eight degrees: stir it till perfectly limpid, put in rennet enough to curdle the milk in forty minutes, and mix it with the mass of milk by thorough stirring; the milk having been previously raised to eighty-eight or ninety degrees, by passing steam from the steam generator to the water in the wooden vat. In case no double vat is to be had, the milk may be safely heated to the right temperature, by setting a tin pail of hot water into the milk in the tubs. It may be cooled in like manner by filling the pail with ice-water, or cold spring-water where ice is not to be had. It is not safe to heat milk in a kettle exposed directly to the fire, as a slight scorching will communicate its taint to the whole cheese and spoil it. If milk is curdled below eighty-four degrees, the cream is more liable to work off with the whey. An extreme of heat will have a like effect.
The curdling heat is varied with the temperature of the air, or the liability of the milk to cool after adding rennet. The thermometer is the only safe guide in determining the temperature; for, if the dairyman depends upon the sensation of the hand, a great liability to error will render the operation uncertain. If, for instance, the hands have previously been immersed in cold water, the milk will feel warmer than it really is; if, on the contrary, they have recently been in warm water, the milk will feel colder than it really is. To satisfy the reader how much this circumstance alone will affect the sensation of the hand, let him immerse one hand in warm water, and at the same time keep the other in a vessel of cold water, for a few moments; then pour the water in the two dishes together, and immerse both hands in the mixture. The hand that was previously in the warm water will feel cold, and the other quite warm, showing that the sense of feeling is not a test of temperature worthy of being relied upon. A fine cloth spread over the tub while the milk is curdling will prevent the surface from being cooled by circulation of air. No jarring of the milk, by walking upon a springy floor, or otherwise, should be allowed while it is curdling, as it will prevent a perfect cohesion of the particles.
“When milk is curdled so as to appear like a solid, it is divided into small particles to aid the separation of the whey from the curd. This is often too speedily done to facilitate the work, but at a sacrifice of quality and quantity.”
To effect the fine division of the curd for the easy separation of the whey, Mr. Fish uses a wire network, made to fit into the tub, the meshes of fine wire being about a half-inch square, and the outer rim of coarse and stronger material. A cheese-knife is also used, about half as long as the diameter of the tub, and firmly fastened to the lower end of a long screw which passes through one end of the blade as it lies horizontally, leaving the blade at right angles with the screw, which has a coarse thread, and passes through a piece of wood on the top of the tub, held firm by notches at the ends laid on the edges of the tub. By turning a crank, the knife passes down through the curd in revolutions, cutting it into layers of the thickness of the threads of the screw.
The following is the statement of Mrs. Williams, of Windsor, Massachusetts, who received the first premium at the Franklin County Fair, in 1857, for exceedingly rich, fine, and delicately-flavored cheeses of seventy-five pounds each. Her method, which is the result of her own experience and observation, corresponds almost exactly, as the committee remark, with the English mode of making the famous Cheddar cheese, which is much the same as the Cheshire. Mrs. Williams says: “My cheese is made from one day’s milk of twenty-nine cows. I strain the night’s milk into a tub, skim it in the morning, and melt the cream in the morning’s milk: I warm the night’s milk, so that with the morning’s milk, when mixed together, it will be at the temperature of ninety-six degrees; then add rennet sufficient to turn it in thirty minutes. Let it stand about half or three quarters of an hour; then cross it off and let it stand about thirty minutes, working upon it very carefully with a skimmer. When the curd begins to settle, dip off the whey, and heat it up and pour it on again at the temperature of one hundred and two degrees. After draining off and cutting up, add a teacup of salt to fourteen pounds.
“The process of making sage cheese is the same as the other, except adding the juice of the sage in a small quantity of milk.”
Another successful competitor in the same state says: “We usually make but one curd in a day. The night’s milk is strained into pans till morning, when the cream that will have risen is taken off, and the milk warmed to blood heat, when the cream is again returned to the milk and thoroughly mixed. This prevents the melting of the cream that would otherwise run off with the whey. The whole is then immediately laded into a tub with the morning’s milk, and set for the cheese, with rennet sufficient to form the curd in about thirty minutes; and here much care is thought to be necessary in cutting and crossing the curd, and much moderation in dipping and draining the whey from it, that the white whey (so called) may not exude from it.
“When sufficiently drained, it is taken and cut with a sharp knife to about the size and form of dice, when it is salted with about one pound of fine salt to twenty-five of curd. It is then subjected to a moderate pressure at first, gradually increasing it for two days, in the mean time turning it twice a day, and substituting dry cloths. It is then taken from the press and dressed all over with hot melted butter, and covered with thin cotton cloth, and this saturated with the melted butter. It is then placed upon the shelf, and turned and rubbed daily with the dressing until ripe for use.”
One of the most important processes in the manufacture of good cheese is the preparation of the rennet. This is made of the inner lining or mucous membrane of the stomach of the young sucking calf, sometimes called the bag or maw; and the use of it was undoubtedly suggested, originally, by observing the complete and rapid coägulation or curdling of milk in the stomach of a calf newly killed. “Coägulation is the first process of digestion in the fourth stomach of the calf. There are numerous glands scattered in and about the stomach that secrete a fluid which readily and almost immediately accomplishes this coägulation. They are always full of it; even after the animal is dead they remain filled with it; and if the stomach is preserved from putrefaction, this fluid retains its coägulating quality for a considerable period; therefore dairy-women usually take care of the maw or stomach of the calf; and preserve it by salting it, and then, by steeping it, or portions of it, in warm water, they prepare what they call a rennet. After the maw has been salted a certain time, it may be taken out and dried, and then it will retain the same property for an indefinite period. A small piece of the maw thus dried is steeped over night in a few teaspoonfuls of warm water, and this water will turn the milk of three or four cows.”
It is important that rennet enough should be prepared at once for the whole season, in order to secure as great a uniformity in strength as possible. The object should be to produce a prompt, complete, and firm or compact coägulation of all the cheesy matter.
Mr. Aiton, in his admirable treatise on the Dairy Husbandry of Scotland, gives the simple method of preparing the rennet in the dairy districts, as follows: “When the stomach or bag—usually termed the yirning—is taken from the calf’s body, its contents are examined, and if any straw or other food is found among the curdled milk, such impurity is carefully removed; but all the curdled milk found in the bag is carefully preserved, and no part of the chyle is washed out. A considerable quantity of salt—at least two handfuls—is put into and outside the bag, which is then rolled up and hung near a fire to dry. It is always allowed to hang until it is well dried, and is understood to be improved by hanging a year or longer before being infused.
“When rennet is wanted, the yirning with its contents is cut small, and put into a jar with a handful or two of salt; and a quantity of soft water that has been boiled and cooled to sixty-five degrees, or of new whey taken off the curd, is poured into it. The quantity of water or whey necessary is more or less, according to the quality of the yirning: if it is that of a new-dropped calf, a Scotch chop pin, or at most three English pints, will be enough; but if the calf has been fed four or five weeks, two quarts or more may be used; the yirning of a calf four weeks old yields more rennet than that of one twice that age. When the infusion has remained in the jar from one to three days, the liquid is drawn off and strained, after which it is bottled for use; and if a dram-glass of any ardent spirit is put into each bottle, the infusion may either be used immediately, or kept as long as may be convenient.”
The mode of preparing rennet in the dairy districts of this country is various; but that adopted by Mr. Fish, of Herkimer, New York, already quoted, is simple and easy of application. He says: “Various opinions exist as to the best mode of saving rennet, and that is generally adopted which, it is supposed, will curdle the most milk. I have no objection to any mode that will preserve its strength and flavor so that it will be smelled and tasted with good relish when put into the milk. Any composition not thus kept I deem unfit for use, as the coägulator is an essential agent in cheesing the curd, and sure to impart its own flavor.
“The rennet never should be taken from the calf till the excrement shows the animal to be in perfect health. It should be emptied of its contents, salted, and dried, without any scraping or rinsing, and kept dry for one year, when it will be fit for use. It should not be allowed to gather dampness, or its strength will evaporate. To prepare it for use, into ten gallons of water, blood warm, put ten rennets; churn or rub them often for twenty-four hours; then rub and press them to get the strength; stretch, salt, and dry them, as before. They will gain strength for a second use. Make the liquor as salt as it can be made, strain and settle it, separate it from the sediment, if any, and it is fit for use. Six lemons, two ounces of cloves, two ounces of cinnamon, and two ounces of common sage, are sometimes added to the liquor, to preserve its flavor and quicken its action. If kept cool in a stone jar, it will keep sweet any length of time desired, and a uniform strength is secured while it lasts. Stir it before dipping off. To set milk, take of it enough to curdle milk firm in forty minutes; squeeze or rub through a rag annatto enough to make the curd a cream color, and stir it in with the rennet.” It will be seen that he adopts the practice of removing the contents of the stomach. This, it appears to me, is the best calculated to promote cleanliness and purity, so important in making a good-flavored cheese.
But in Cheshire, so celebrated for its superior cheese, the contents of the stomach are frequently salted by themselves, and after being a short time exposed to the air are fit for use; while the well-known and highly-esteemed Limburg cheese is mostly made with rennet prepared as in Ayrshire, the curd being left in the stomach, and both dried together. The general opinion is that rennet, as usually prepared, is not fit to use till nearly a year old.
Perhaps the plan of making a liquid rennet from new and fresh stomachs, and keeping it in bottles corked tight till wanted for use, would tend still further to secure this end.
The use of annatto to color the cheese artificially is somewhat common in this country, though probably not so much so as in many other countries. Annatto, or annotto, is made from the red pulp of the seeds of an evergreen tree of the same name, found in the West Indies and in Brazil, by bruising and obtaining a precipitate. A variety is made in Cayenne, which comes into the market in cakes of two or three pounds. It is bright yellow, rather soft to the touch, but of considerable solidity. The quantity used is rarely more than an ounce to one hundred pounds, and the effect is simply to give the high coloring so common to the Gloucester and Cheshire cheeses, and to many made in this country. This artificial coloring is continued from an idle prejudice, somewhat troublesome to the dairyman, expensive to the consumer, and adding nothing to the taste or flavor of the article. The annatto itself is so universally and so largely adulterated, often by poisonous substances, such as lead and mercury, that the practice of using it by the cheese-maker, and of requiring the high coloring by the consumer, might well be discontinued. The common mode of application is to dissolve it in hot milk, and add at the time of putting in the rennet, or to put it upon the outside, in the manner of paint.
Fig. 82. Cheese-press.
The cheese-presses in most common use are very different in construction, and each possesses, doubtless, some peculiar merits. The self-acting press, [Fig. 82], is the favorite of some. Another form of this is seen in [Fig. 83].
Fig. 83. Self-acting cheese-press.
One of the most extensive and experienced dealers in cheese, in one of the largest dairy districts of New York,—Mr. Harry Burrill, of Little Falls,—has placed in my hands the following simple directions for cheese-making.
The cheese-tub should be so graduated that it may be correctly known what quantity of milk is used. This is requisite, in order that the proper proportions, both of coloring matter and rennet, may be used. The temperature should be ascertained by the thermometer. Experience proves that when the dairy has been at seventy degrees the best temperature at which to run the milk will be eighty-four degrees; but, as the temperature of the dairy at different times of the year will be found to vary above or below seventy degrees, the temperature of the milk must be proportionally regulated by the simple addition of cold water, to lower it; but, to increase the temperature, heat the milk in the usual manner, although it is absolutely necessary to avoid heating it beyond one hundred and twenty degrees.
After having brought the milk to the required temperature, and added the coloring, for every quarter hundred weight of cheese mix one pint of new sour whey with the requisite proportion of rennet; and, having arrived at the formation of a good curd, which will be the invariable result of a strict adhesion to the foregoing rules, let it be carefully cut up with three-bladed knives, as fine as possible; then dip off half the whey, and heat a portion of it to the temperature of ninety-five degrees, and return it to the whey and curds; then, after stirring it for five minutes, allow the curd to sink, and as quickly as possible dip off the whey. Having done this, press the curd by placing on it a board weighted with from three to five fifty-pound weights, which will gradually and effectually press the remainder of the whey out.
When the whey is dipped off, put the curd into white twig basket-vats, made the shape and size of a turned vat, which would contain the sixth of a hundred weight (about three inches deep, and two feet in diameter). It will be necessary to have boards about one inch thick, and two feet four inches in diameter, to go between each of these twig vats, to prevent the whey running from one vat into the other. When it has been pressed, return it again into the cheese-tub, cut it into small pieces, put it into the vats again in dry cloths, press it and return it to the tub again, cutting it into small pieces, and to every hundred weight of curd add one and one quarter pounds of salt; grind it twice, and stir it so that it shall be properly mixed with the salt; then put it into well-perforated turned vats, taking care to press it thoroughly whilst the vats are filling, to prevent the accumulation of air, to the presence of which is to be attributed the honeycomb appearance so often observed in cheese when cut.
When the cheese is put into the press let the pressure gradually upon it. After it has been in press one and a half hours, take it out and examine it, and, should there be any curd pressed over, cut it round and put it into the middle of the cheese, carefully breaking it up in the middle. Wash the ends of the cloths out in a bowl of warm water, squeeze them, and cover the cheese up, and, if there should be any not sufficiently full, it will be necessary either to put a follower upon it, or to put it into a smaller vat; in the evening let them be dry clothed. The following morning salt them all over and dry cloth them, and repeat this three successive mornings; after which, put them in vats, placed one on the other, and allow them to stand, if possible, a fortnight, occasionally wiping them. The cheese will get matured much sooner by these means, and the tendency to cracking and bulging be prevented.
The way to get a fine coat upon cheese, after the first coat has been washed and scraped off, is to put the cheese on shelves, nail thick sheeting to the ceiling from one of the shelves to the other, and let it drop closely to the floor. If put over the floor, cover them over with thick sheeting, or rugs.
The varieties of cheese are almost infinite in number, and are often dependent on very minute details of practice. The general principles involved are the same in all; but it would be next to impossible to find any one variety of cheese possessing uniformity throughout, in point of texture, consistency, taste, flavor, and keeping qualities; and it is rare, with the present guess-work in many of the operations of cheese-making, to find a lot of cheese made in the same dairy, from the same cows, on the same pastures and by the same hands, which can be considered a fair sample of what is generally produced. These great differences are due to feeding and treatment of the cows in part, but especially to the temperature of the milk at the time of curding, which is again in part dependent on the quality and strength of the rennet employed.
Nothing is more susceptible to external influences, as has been remarked elsewhere, than milk and cream, both of which are liable to taint from the food of the cows, from impurities derived from careless milking, from exposure to foul or impure air in the cellar or milk-room, and from sudden changes in the atmosphere. The most scrupulous cleanliness is, therefore, required to produce a first quality of cheese, even under favorable circumstances. And when it is considered that it is necessary to observe minutely the temperature of the milk, and that slight differences at the time of forming the curd may make the difference of mellowness or toughness in the ripened cheese, and that the proper temperature is affected by the time taken to bring the curd, which depends on the strength and quality of the rennet, some of which will act in fifteen or twenty minutes, while the same quantity of others requires even two or three hours to produce the same effect, the infinite variety in the qualities of cheese will scarcely be a matter of surprise.
A brief statement of the mode of making some of the more important and well-known varieties will be sufficient in this connection. The details of cheese-making in some of the best of the dairies of New England and New York correspond in a remarkable degree with the mode of making Cheddar and Cheshire cheese, both celebrated for their richness and popularity in the market. Of the latter there are made, it is said, over twelve thousand tons annually; Cheshire taking the lead in cheese-making, and keeping about forty thousand cows.