Take some linseed oil, rendered drying by boiling it with 2 ozs. of sugar of lead and 3 ozs. of litharge for every pint of oil till they are dissolved, which may be in half an hour. Then put 1 lb. of birdlime and half a pint of the drying oil into an iron or copper vessel, whose capacity should equal about a gallon, and let it boil very gently over a slow charcoal fire, till the birdlime ceases to crackle, which will be in about half or three-quarters of an hour; then pour upon it 2-1/2 pints more of the drying oil, and let it boil about an hour longer, stirring it frequently with an iron or wooden spatula. As the varnish, whilst boiling, and especially when nearly ready, swells very much, care should be taken to remove, in those cases, the pot from the fire, and to replace it when the varnish subsides; otherwise, it will boil over. Whilst the stuff is boiling, the operator should occasionally examine whether it has boiled enough , which may be known by observing whether, when rubbed between two knives, which are then to be separated from one another, the varnish forms threads between them, as it must then be removed from the fire. When nearly cool, add about an equal quantity of oil of turpentine. In using the varnish, the stuff must be stretched, and the varnish applied lukewarm. In 24 hours it will dry. As the elastic resin, known by the name of Indian rubber, has been much extolled for a varnish for balloons, the following method of making it, as practiced by M. Blanchard, may not prove unacceptable: dissolve elastic resin cut small in five times its weight of rectified essential oil of turpentine, by keeping them some days together. Then pour 1 oz. of this solution in 8 ozs. of drying linseed oil for a few minutes; strain the solution, and use it warm.
544. TO PREPARE RENNET TO TURN MILK
Take out the stomach of a calf as soon as killed, and scour it inside and out with salt; after it is cleared of the curd always found in it, let it drain a few hours, then sew it up with two good handsful of salt in it, or stretch it well salted on a stick, or keep it in the salt wet; and when wanted soak it a little in fresh water, and repeat the same when again required.
545. TO MAKE CHEESE
Put the milk into a large tub, warming a part till it is of a degree of heat quite equal to new; if too hot the cheese will be tough. Put in as much rennet as will turn it, and cover it over; let it stand till completely turned, then strike the curd down several times with the skimming-dish, and let it separate, still covering it. There are two modes of breaking the curd, and there will be a difference in the taste of the cheese according as either is observed: one is, to gather it with the hands very gently towards the side of the tub, letting the whey pass through the fingers till it is cleared, and ladling it off as it collects; the other is, to get the whey from it by early breaking the curd; the last method deprives it of many of its oily particles, and is therefore less proper. Put the vat on a ladder over the tub, and fill it with curd by the skimmer; press the curd close with your hand, and add more as it sinks, and it must be finally left two inches above the edge. Before the vat is filled, the cheese-cloth must be laid at the bottom, and when full, draw smoothly over on all sides. These are two modes of salting cheese; one by mixing it in the curd while in the tub, after the whey is out, and the other by putting it into the vat and crumbling the curd all to pieces with it, after the first squeezing with the hands has dried it. The first method appears best on some accounts, but not on all, and therefore the custom of the country must direct. Put a board under and over the vat, and place it in the press; in two hours turn it out and put a fresh cheese-cloth; press it again for eight or ten hours; then salt it all over, and turn it again in the vat, and let it stand in the press fourteen or sixteen hours, observing to put the cheese last made undermost. Before putting them the last time into the vat, pare the edges if they do not look smooth. The vat should have holes at the sides and at bottom, to let all the whey pass through; put on clean boards, and change and scald them.
546. TO PRESERVE CHEESE SOUND
Wash in a warm whey, when you have any, wipe it once a month, and keep it on a rack. If you want to ripen it, a damp cellar will bring it forward. When a whole cheese is cut, the larger quantity should be spread with butter inside, and the outside wiped to preserve it. To keep those in daily use moist, let a clean cloth be wrung out from cold water, and wrapt round them when carried from the table.
547. TO MAKE CREAM CHEESE
Put 5 quarts of strippings, that is, the last of the milking, into a pan, with 2 spoonsful of rennet. When the curd is come, strike it down two or three times with the skimming-dish, just to break it; let it stand two hours, then spread a cheese-cloth on a sieve, put the curd on it, and let the whey drain; break the curd a little with your hand, and put it into a vat with a 2 lb weight upon it; let it stand twelve hours, take it out, and bind a fillet round; turn every day till dry, from one board to another, cover them with nettles or clean dock leaves, and put between two pewter-plates to ripen. If the weather be warm, it will be ready in three weeks.
548. ELEGANT AND INGENIOUS ARTS, &c.