Milk, either in its natural state, or in the form of butter and cheese, is an article of diet so wholesome and so palatable, that the health and comfort of our people, especially such of them as dwell in cities, depend much upon their having a pure and plentiful supply of it at all seasons. Dairy Management, which includes everything about the production and treatment of milk, is consequently a very important branch of husbandry, and one in which everybody feels interested. The physical conditions of the different countries of the world have determined in each case the particular milk-yielding animal most suitable to be there used for dairy purposes. The Laplander obtains his supplies of milk from his rein-deer, the roving Tartar from his mares, and the Bedouin of the desert from his camels. In the temperate regions of the earth many pastoral tribes subsist mainly upon the milk of their sheep. In some rocky regions the goat is invaluable for this purpose; and the buffalo is equally so amid the swamps and jungles of tropical climates. The milking of ewes was once a common practice in Great Britain; but it has fallen into disuse because of its hurtful effects upon the flock. A few milk asses and goats are here and there kept for the benefit of infants or invalids; but with these exceptions the Cow is the only animal now used for dairy purposes in this country.
Cows of every variety are used for the dairy; but there are several of our native breeds of cattle which possess such peculiar merit in this respect that they are called par excellence "the dairy breeds." As an account of these has already been given in this work (see article Agriculture, vol. ii., p. 312), it may here suffice to say, that for the production of butter or cheese from pasturage of medium quality the Ayrshire cow is the best that can be found. For the city dairy, where an animal is wanted that in return for very generous feeding will give a large quantity of milk for a long time, and be easily fattened when the daily yield at length falls below a remunerative measure, or in districts where the business of the grazier is conjoined to that of the dairyman, the short-born breed is undoubtedly the most profitable. Wherever, as in private families, the quality of the dairy produce is more regarded than its quantity, the preference is deservedly given to cows of the Channel Island breed. But whatever the breed, the quality is much influenced, 1st, by the age of the cow, and, 2d, by the way in which she is fed. So clearly is it ascertained that the milk of cows not exceeding four years of age yields a larger proportion of curd and of a richer quality than can be obtained from the milk of the same animals when kept beyond that age, that it is customary in those parts of England where cheese-making is chiefly carried on, to draft off the cows to the grazier after they have borne two or at most three calves each. Cows that show unusual excellence for the dairy, or that are prized for their pedigree, are of course kept for longer periods. Taking into account the superior quality of the produce of three and four year-old cows, and their higher value for grazing purposes at that age, as compared with what it is at six years old and upwards, the practice of drafting at the earlier age is well worthy of being more generally adopted.
The influence which the food of the cow exerts upon the amount and qualities of her milk has always been recognised. At one time, provided that a large yield of milk, free from any unpleasant taste, was obtained, little regard was paid to its other qualities. It has accordingly been the practice in new-milk dairies to feed the cows chiefly with soft sloppy food, such as boiled turnips, brewers' grains, and distillery wash. The milk produced from such food contains an undue proportion of serum, and is deficient in butter, caseine, sugar, and phosphates—the very elements which give to milk its value as an article of food, and in particular which fit it so peculiarly for building up the frame of young animals. When these elements are wanting in the food which is given to the cow, they are to a certain extent imparted to her milk by being withdrawn from her own system. And hence it is well known that cows which give a very large quantity of milk generally lose the fat and flesh which they had accumulated before calving. In order, therefore, to maintain the condition of the cow, and enable her to give milk of the best quality, it is necessary that her food contain an adequate supply of these elements which are required in good milk. Her food, in short, must be substantially the same as that which is found to be most efficacious in promoting the increase of flesh and fat in cattle which are preparing for the butcher. It is now pretty well ascertained that the fattening process is accomplished most economically by giving a moderate allowance of linseed or rape cake, and of the meal of beans and other grains in addition to the pasturage, green forage, roots, and fodder, which constitute the bulk of the food of such animals. The following dietary for milch cows we have gleaned from an anonymous contribution entitled "Rape Cake for Feeding" in the Agricultural Gazette of 30th Sept. and 7th Oct. 1854, in which the topics now under discussion are handled more satisfactorily than in any other work we have met with. This writer states that the daily fare of his fattening cattle consists of—
| Item | Quantity | |-------------------------------------------|----------| | Chopped oat-straw, shells of oats and bean-straw | 18 lbs. | | Rape cake 4 lbs., bran 2 lbs. | | | Swedish turnip (if mangold, 30 lbs.) | |
The rape-cake, bran, and 16 lbs. of the chopped straw, after being intimately mixed, are cooked by steaming, and so given to the cattle. The Swedes or mangold are given raw, and the other 2 lbs. of the chopped straw are given as dry fodder. On such rations he finds his cattle to make good progress; so much so, that heifers of from 7 to 9 cwt. each increase at the rate of 14 lbs. per week, and larger cattle at the rate of from 14 to 18 lbs. per week, over the whole period of fattening, which (according to the condition of the animals at starting) ranges from 16 to 24 weeks. From October to May he gives his milch cows the same cooked mess as has been described for the fattening of stock, with 12 lbs. of meadow hay and 30 lbs. of roots. For the first half of the period the roots consist of kohl-rabi, and of mangold for the remainder of it. From May to October the cows are turned out to pasture during the day, and are
house at night. The same cooked mess continues to be given daily in two equal portions at morning and evening; but its quantity is somewhat diminished during the height of summer, when the pasturage is at its best. They receive also in the house a morning and evening feed of green forage. On this fare the cows yield a very abundant flow of rich well-flavoured milk; and they besides maintain their condition at the height of their milking, and gain flesh as it diminishes. It is from a regard to the flavour of the milk, that roots are given to them more sparingly than to fattening stock; and that kohlrabi and mangold are used in preference to turnips or cabbages. Gorse, bruised and chopped, has been found to be a peculiarly suitable kind of green winter forage for milch cows.
The best pasturage for cows is that obtained from good old grass land, in sheltered inclosures of moderate size, and in which there is a constant supply of pure water. To have dairy produce of the best quality, the grass must never be allowed to get too rank, and must therefore be so stocked as to have it always fresh grown and sweet. This is most easily secured by frequently changing the cows from one field to another; and hence the advantage of having small inclosures, one of which can be rested, while another is keeping the stock of both. When soil is resorted to, Italian rye-grass is at once the cheapest and best forage that can be used; but it can be varied, as circumstances dictate, with clover, sainfoin, vetches, or green rape. When cows are kept entirely at pasture during the summer, from 1½ to 2 acres of grass land is required for each animal; and if hay alone is given in winter (as is the practice in Gloucestershire), the produce of another 1½ acre of meadow is required to supply their winter keep. As 1 cwt. of green forage is an ample daily allowance for a cow, and as two cuttings of clover or Italian rye-grass, averaging 8 tons each per acre, can with suitable manuring be easily obtained, it is obvious that by soil in summer and feeding on roots and cooked food in winter, half the extent of land will suffice to maintain a cow on the latter system that is found requisite on the former. The dung produced under the soil system is also richer, and can be more economically used. And, above all, the produce in milk, besides being of richer quality, is greater in quantity by fully one-fourth. The average yield of milk per cow per annum in Gloucestershire is estimated at 525 gallons. Under the more generous house-feeding system an average of 680 gallons is obtained. All changes of diet must be made with caution. The utmost vigilance must also be used in order to insure regularity in the times of feeding and milking, in seeing that the latter process is thoroughly performed, and in guarding the cows from exposure to extremes of heat or cold. Through inattention to these particulars the flow of milk may easily be so diminished as altogether to neutralize the profit of a dairy.
Dairies are of three kinds, viz.:
1. New-milk dairies. 2. Butter dairies. 3. Cheese dairies.
New-milk dairies.
1. New-Milk Dairies.—Dairies whose produce is sold as new milk have hitherto existed only in or near to towns, or amidst the dense population of mining and manufacturing districts. This branch of dairy business is to a large extent in the hands of a class of frugal industrious persons, possessing each from one to a dozen of cows, and who, with the aid of their own families, overtake the whole management of their cows, and the delivery of the milk to their customers. But in our large towns there are now also to be found gigantic establishments, in some of which so many as a thousand cows may be seen at one time. In these town dairies the cows are usually purchased when they have newly calved, or at the point of calving. They are retained as long as they continue to give a remunerative quantity of milk daily. From the generous feeding which they receive, they are usually by that time so well in flesh that they either go at once to the shambles or are fit for doing so in a very short time after being put dry. The stalls thus vacated are at once refilled by the purchase of cows that have newly calved, and so the number of cows and the supply of milk is kept up all the year round. This, at least, is the way in which such dairymen would prefer to conduct their business; but the prevalence for several years past of the dreaded epizootical lung disease has altogether broken up many of the lesser dairies, and has constrained the owners of the larger ones to adopt to some extent a different mode of management. It being found that cows which recover from this disease are afterwards exempt from its attacks, it becomes an object of some importance to retain them as long in the dairy as possible. Such cows are accordingly put to the bull, and during the period of rest which they are allowed before calving again are sent to country quarters, where they are kept at less expense than in town, and whence they are brought up as soon as they are again in milk. In these dairies the cows are milked twice a-day. The milk is conveyed at once to the milk-room, where it is strained, measured, and delivered over to retailers, or to servants of the establishment, by whom it is distributed to the customers. A portion, in some cases a half, of the new milk is, however, retained in the dairy for twelve hours. It is then skimmed, and the cream either retailed as cream or made into butter; and the milk being mixed with an equal quantity of new milk, the whole is disposed of under that character. This business requires the employment of a large capital: it is attended with much risk, and calls for much skill and vigilance in carrying out its various details. When well managed, it is, however, a remunerative one to those engaged in it, and has undoubtedly tended to improve the quality of the milk supplied to the community, as well as to make that supply more ample and regular.
Railways, which have revolutionized so many things, bid fair to introduce important changes in this branch of dairy business. Instead of keeping the cows in or near cities, where housing, food, and litter are costly, it is becoming a common practice to keep the cows on farms near railway stations, and to forward the new milk in suitable vessels twice a-day to parties who retail it to the citizens. This plan has many things to recommend it. It is much easier to carry the milk only to the point of consumption, than first to convey thither the cows and all the litter and food which they require, and then to recarry to the country the manure which they produce. It may also be fairly presumed that a rural residence, with sweet pasturage and pure air, will be more conducive to the health of the cows and the wholesomeness of their milk, than their being cooped up in city byres or cowhouses, and fed largely on the refuse of breweries and distilleries.
2. Butter Dairies.—These are the most common form of the dairy, inasmuch as the making of butter admits of dairies being combined with various uses of the milk. We have seen that a portion of the cream in new-milk dairies is thus employed, and the same thing occurs in the cheese-making districts. Indeed, wherever cows are kept for any purpose, some portion of the milk is used for the production of butter. There are, however, extensive districts both in England and Scotland where such prominence is given to this particular product that the dairies of these districts are with propriety spoken of as "butter dairies." In the midland and western counties of England, where the breeding of cattle is extensively carried on, the calves receive new milk for the first two or three weeks only, and are afterwards fed upon skimmed milk and a gruel composed of bruised linseed and oatmeal cooked together. This admits of the greater part of the cream being converted into butter. When the calves are all weaned, the skim milk is employed in fattening pigs. In many parts of the country butter-milk New milk of average quality contains about four per cent. of oily or fatty matter, which is suspended in minute globules, inclosed in a membrane composed of a cheesy substance. When the milk is allowed to settle, these globules, being lighter than the general mass, gradually rise to the surface in the form of cream. In the process of churning, these globules are broken by the mechanical agitation, aided by the action of the lactic acid which is formed from the sugar of the milk. When the globules are thus ruptured, the contents cohere in a mass and assume the familiar form of butter. Until this acidity takes place, butter cannot be formed by mere mechanical force. The invariable practice, therefore, is to allow the cream, whether separated from the milk or not, to stand until the formation of this acid has at least begun; for when once commenced it is rapidly accelerated by the air, which is introduced in the process of churning.
Butter is made either from cream only, or by churning the whole milk and cream together. The best butter is obtained from the cream which rises during the first twelve hours after milking, and the next best by churning the whole milk. In the former case the new milk, after being carefully strained, is poured into shallow vessels of glazed earthenware, glass, tinned iron, wood, lead, or zinc, of which the three first-named sorts are the best. The wooden vessels are objectionable from the difficulty of cleaning them thoroughly; and the two last from the noxious salt which is produced by the action of the acid of the milk on the metal. When it is intended to extract as nearly the whole of the butter from the milk as is practicable, the first skimming takes place at the end of twenty-four hours, and is followed up by one or more skimmings at further intervals. The cream is stored in jars, which should be kept in a place separate from the milk-room, that the milk in the coolers may not be prematurely acidulated by the proximity of the sour cream. The latter is either stirred repeatedly, or poured from one vessel to another, to prevent the formation of a tough coat upon it before enough is accumulated for a churning. In large dairies it is usual to churn daily. Three days is as long as the cream can ordinarily be kept with safety to the quality of the butter. When a cow has recently calved, her milk is comparatively rich in butter and poor in curd; but by and by the relative proportions of these constituents gradually change places, the cream diminishing and the milk becoming thicker. A very sensible change in the quality also usually takes place when a cow again becomes pregnant. In not a few cases the cream is so affected by this circumstance, that double or treble the length of time is required to churn it that sufficed before, and the butter is at the same time of inferior quality. If cows are flurried and heated, either by gadding in the pasture, or by being overdriven in bringing them home for milking, their milk becomes peculiarly liable to corrupt, the yield of butter is sensibly lessened, and its quality is impaired. The success of the process of churning depends much on the temperature of the cream being nicely regulated. A mean temperature of 60° Fahrenheit seems to be the best. The temperature of the cream usually rises about 10° during the process of churning. About 55° is therefore the desirable starting point. Advantage is derived from rinsing the churn with cold water in summer and with warm water in winter. The addition to the cream of small quantities of cold or hot water, as the case requires, is also found beneficial. Box or barrel churns are preferred when the cream only is churned, the former being best adapted for small dairies, and the latter for large ones. When the whole milk and cream are churned together, it is indispensable that acidity and coagulation should first take place. The time required to produce butter in this case is much longer than with cream alone, three hours being an average period. The plunge churn is most appreciated for this practice; and in large dairies it is usually worked by steam, water, or horse-power. Forty strokes of the piston per minute is found the best rate of working.
In Devonshire a method of treating the milk has long been in use by which what is called "clouted cream" is produced. To effect this, the new milk is strained into shallow earthenware pans, into each of which half a pint of water has previously been placed to prevent the milk adhering to the pan in the subsequent process of scalding. After standing twelve hours, these vessels are placed over a charcoal fire, or on a hot plate, or are immersed in cold water in a shallow boiler, which is then heated until the temperature of the milk rises to 180°, after which they are again replaced in the milk-room (great care being taken to preserve the surface of cream unbroken), and allowed to stand the usual time. The effect of this scalding is to separate the whole of the cream from the milk, and greatly to facilitate its conversion into butter. This is readily accomplished by placing the cream in a small tub, and working it with the hand or a piece of flat wood. The thickened or "clouted" cream is frequently eaten in this state of half-formed butter, in which it is removed from the milk. It has then a very rich appearance and agreeable flavour. The butter made from it is asserted by some persons to keep better and to be altogether superior to that made without scalding; whereas others assert, and with good show of truth, that it contains an undue proportion of cheesy matter, and that in consequence it is more liable to rancidity than other butter.
A mode of procedure in use in some Lancashire dairies has been much commended. In milking the cows, the method first drawn and larger portion of the milk is set aside, and the cream in due time skimmed from it in the usual way. The strippings or offalings, which are known to contain the greater part of the butter obtained at any one milking, are kept separate, and mixed with the cream of the other portion at the time of churning. The labour of churning is less in this way than when the whole of the milk is subjected to that process, and at the same time a larger yield of butter is said to be obtained than when only the cream is churned.
Although the process of churning, in a popular sense, completely separates the butter from the other parts of the milk, this is not done so thoroughly as to exclude the retention of some oily matter in the whey, and, on the other hand, of a portion of caseous matter in the butter. Cheese, being a nitrogenous substance, is peculiarly susceptible of putrefaction, and hence even the smallest portion of it when left in butter is sure in a very short time to corrupt and to impart to the whole mass a rancid flavour. Besides this liability to taint, arising from an element inherent in itself, butter, in common with other fatty substances, has a peculiar affinity for smells of all kinds. If cream or butter be kept in the same apartment with tainted meat, or other decaying matter, or is stored in vessels that have previously contained any rancid substance, or is exposed to unsavoury odours from the proximity of dung-heaps, stables, &c., it is sure to retain unmistakable tokens of having been in such evil neighbourhood. The inherent tendency to rancidity is to be combated by carefully washing the newly-churned butter in repeated baths of pure cold water, and by working a little salt into the mass while the washing is in progress. By this means not only the whey, but the greater part of the caseous matter above referred to, can be removed. If the butter is to be used fresh, it is immediately made into rolls or pats; but if it is to be cured, fine salt, at the rate of half an ounce to the pound, is thoroughly incorporated with it, and the mass, after lying a day, again worked over, and then tightly packed into a perfectly clean air-tight vessel. In domestic use the most convenient vessels are jars of glazed earthenware. That intended for market is put into casks called half-firkins, firkins, and tubs, containing respectively twenty-eight pounds, fifty-six pounds, and eighty-four pounds. These should be of well-seasoned oak, and made perfectly tight, as otherwise the butter is sure to be tainted. From the facilities which railways afford for cheap and rapid carriage, a very great proportion of our homemade butter is now sent to market in a fresh or slightly powdered state.
The unpleasant flavour imparted to milk or butter when cows are fed on turnips or cabbages can be removed or avoided; 1st, by cooking these esculents and giving them in mixture with chopped straw, in quantities not exceeding sixty pounds a-day, given at two feeds; or, 2d, by adding to each gallon of the new milk a table-spoonful of a saturated solution of nitre, or the same quantity of a solution prepared by dissolving half an ounce of chloride of lime in one gallon of water.
The average yearly product of butter per cow in the butter dairies is usually estimated at 170 to 200 pounds. This is in addition to the new milk used in rearing the heifer calves required to keep up the stock, and to the butter consumed in the farmer's family. With uniform good feeding an average of 227 pounds per cow per annum has been obtained in a dairy of forty cows belonging to Mr David Young, Lochtside (near Kirkcaldy, Fife), of which a most interesting account is given in Morton's Cyclopaedia, from which we quote the following particulars. The quantity of milk yielded on an average by Mr Young's cows is nine quarts daily for ten months, or 680 gallons annually. The average proportion of milk, cream, and butter, to each other, is one gallon of cream to nine of milk, and three pounds of butter to one gallon of cream, or one pound of butter to three gallons of milk as it comes from the cow. The following is a tabular view of the annual produce and cost of each cow:
**Expense from May 1 to October 1.**
| Item | Cost | |-------------------------------------------|------| | 2 acres of grass at 45s. | L4 | | Clover and tares | 1 | | Draff in Summer | 0 6 ½|
**From October 1 to May 1.**
| Item | Cost | |-------------------------------------------|------| | 14 tons. 4 cwt. of turnips, at 7s. 6d. | L5 | | 5 bushels of linseed, at 7s. | 1 | | Draff in Winter | 1 2 1| | Interest on L14, at five per cent | 0 14 | | Carriage of milk and tolls | 0 15 | | Attendance, fuel, &c. | 0 10 |
Total: L15 19 0½
**Produce per Cow = 680 gals. of milk.**
| Item | Quantity | Cost | |-------------------------------------------|----------|------| | 227 lbs. of butter, at 10½d. | | L9 | | 600 gals. of skimmed milk, at 4½d. | | 11 | | 50 gals. of butter milk, at 2¼d. | | 0 9 ¾| | Calf at a week old | | 0 15 |
Total value of produce: L22 8 0
Deduct expense of food, &c.: 15 19 0½
Net profit per cow: L6 8 11½
3. Cheese Dairies.—Cheese-making is by far the most difficult department of dairy management. Although the art is universally practised, and the raw material is everywhere substantially the same, there is perhaps no equally common product which varies so much in its quality and market value, from mere diversity in the skill with which it is made. The difficulty of producing really good cheese, arises from the peculiar susceptibility in milk to be influenced by a great variety of external causes, and the extreme facility with which its component parts enter into chemical changes of the most decisive kind. An average sample of milk has been found to consist of—
| Substance | Percentage | |-----------------|------------| | Caseine | 4·48 | | Butter | 3·13 | | Milk sugar | 4·77 | | Saline matter | 0·60 | | Water | 87·02 |
The caseine, which forms the chief ingredient of cheese, and which is almost exactly of the same composition as animal flesh, is held in solution in the milk by means of an alkali. Any acid which removes this alkali converts the caseine into an insoluble curd, which when dried forms cheese. When milk is allowed to stand until it sours, coagulation takes place from the action of the acid which is formed spontaneously in itself. But there are various substances which when added to new milk have the property of forming lactic acid, and thus of causing it to coagulate speedily. The substance which is invariably used for this purpose in British dairies is rennet, prepared for the most part from the stomachs of sucking calves. To adapt them for this purpose, these stomachs, usually called bags or vells, as soon as taken from the animal are turned inside out, carefully freed from all impurities, and salted. They are then packed one upon another, with a layer of salt between each, into a deep earthenware vessel, covered over with salt, and excluded from the air by a close-fitting lid. In the best English dairies the skins are invariably kept for a year before being used. About a month before the rennet is needed, a sufficient number of the skins are from time to time taken out of the jar, and when the brine has drained from them, they are spread out upon a table, powdered on both sides with fine salt rolled with a paste roller, distended with a splint of wood, and hung up to dry. The rennet, provisionally called steep or yeurning, is an infusion of these cured stomachs. A portion of the dried bag, at the rate of a square inch to 10 gallons of milk, is put the day before it is needed into a cup containing half a pint of lukewarm water and a tea-spoonful of salt; and it is by mixing this infusion with the milk that coagulation is obtained. It would appear that the power of producing this effect is due to a certain degree of decay having begun in the skin. If this has gone too far, the milk is not merely curdled, but an unpleasant taste is imparted to it, and the cheese so made corrupts prematurely, and is unwholesome. The careful cleaning and salting regulates this principle; and when skilfully managed, a sweet and wholesome curd is obtained. In some dairies, as much of this rennet is infused at one time as serves for several weeks, or even months; but the practice of the best dairies is in favour of its daily, or at most weekly, preparation. To produce cheese of the best quality, it is indispensable that the rennet be sweet and good; that only so much of it, and no more, be added to the milk, as will suffice to produce perfect coagulation; and that this take place at the proper temperature. Too much rennet makes a tough curd and a poor ill-flavoured cheese. From 80° to 85° appears to be the proper temperature of the milk when the rennet is mixed with it, and from an hour to an hour and a quarter the time which it should take to coagulate.
A cheese-dairy farm must be provided with suitable buildings, apparatus, and utensils. The buildings required are byres for the whole of the cows, a calf-house, yards for the heifers, and piggeries. The byres should not be less than 17 feet in width, distributed as follows:—
| Passage in front of stalls | 3½ feet | |---------------------------|---------| | Manger | 2 | | Stalls | 6 | | Urine grip | 1½ | | Passage behind | 4 |
17 It is usual to rear one heifer calf for each three cows, and to have the heifers to calve for the first time at 3 years old; so that the young stock of all ages are equal in number to the cows. As many pigs are kept as suffice to consume the whey; the proportion, in summer, being one pig to two cows. The dairy comprises a milk-room, working-room, salting and drying room, and cheese-room. The working-room is provided with two boilers; a smaller one for heating water, and a larger one for heating whey. There are also lead tanks for containing the fresh whey, and a cistern in which, after being scalded, it is stored for the pigs. The cheese-tub is of wood or brass—the latter being best, as it admits of being thoroughly washed and burnished; whereas, a wooden vessel, being porous, is exceedingly apt to retain minute particles of milk or whey, which, souring in the wood, become a source of mischief to the future contents. The other utensils are lever presses; cheese vats of elm, turned out of the solid and hooped with wood; pans of tinned iron or brass for heating milk by immersion in hot water; cheese-ladder; curd-breaker; curd mill, thermometer, &c.
The cows are milked twice a day; at 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. The whole available hands are engaged at this work, that it may be accomplished speedily. Usually, each person has seven or eight cows to his or her share, and occupies about ten minutes in the milking of each of them. The milk is carried to the dairy as fast as it is drawn from the cows, and is there consigned to the care of the dairy-maid, who proceeds in her treatment of it according to the variety of cheese which it is designed to produce. The kinds of cheese in best estimation and of greatest market value are Stilton, Cheddar, Cheshire, and Gloucester. The first variety is made in Leicestershire, and contains the cream of one milking added to the new milk of the next. The Cheddar and Cheshire cheeses are made from new milk, or rather from milk in which all its own cream is retained. Gloucester cheese is usually deprived of a small portion of its cream. Double and single Gloucester differ only in the former being twice the thickness and weight of the latter, and consequently taking longer to ripen. The Scotch variety called Dunlop, and the Gouda of Holland, are full-milk cheeses, but are much inferior in quality, and sell for a much smaller price than the same class of English cheeses. As there are good grounds for supposing that this inferiority is entirely, or chiefly due to unskilfulness in the manufacture, the Ayrshire Agricultural Association in the summer of 1854 sent a deputation into the counties of Gloucester, Wilts, and Somerset, to inquire into the methods of cheese-making there practised. The following is an extract from their report:
"We are indebted to Mr Titley, cheese factor, Bath, for an introduction to Mrs Hardinge, Marksbury, and her nephew, Mr Joseph Hardinge, Combe Dando, who make first-rate Cheddar cheese. In their dairies, as well as in the other establishments which we visited, we were favourably not only in seeing the manufacture of the best cheese of their respective kinds, but also in meeting with people who were ready to give clear explanations of the various processes, and excellent reasons for what they were doing.
There is an appearance of ease and simplicity about the method of making Cheddar cheese, as we saw it practised in Leicestershire. In the dairies of Mr Hardinge and his aunt a regular system is followed; and those undeviating guides, the thermometer and the clock, are frequently referred to in the different stages of the process. The more that a regular system is introduced into the manufacture of cheese—subject to such modifications as the superintendent may occasionally think necessary for varying circumstances—there is the greatest probability of obtaining uniform results.
The points of excellence aimed at in these dairies are the manufacture of the best quality of cheese in the most cleanly manner, and with the smallest amount of labour. In their attempts to accomplish this, Mr and Mrs Hardinge have been highly successful.
In addition to the girls who do the work of the dairy, several men and boys are employed to milk the seventy-three cows belonging to Mrs Hardinge at Marksbury. The men carry the milk, but they do not enter the dairy in doing so. It is poured through a sieve into a receiver outside, from which a pipe conveys it through the wall to the cheese tub, or to the coolers. A canvas bag is also placed over the inside end of the pipe, so that a double precaution is used against impurities entering with the milk.
Immediately after the morning milking, the evening and morning milk are put together into the tub. The temperature of the whole is brought to 80 degrees by heating a small quantity of the evening milk. Mrs Hardinge, who has had long experience in cheese-making, can tell the precise temperature, within two or three degrees by merely passing her hand through the milk. Her grand-nieces, who now relieve her of most of the duty of supervision, can usually tell very nearly; but even with individuals whose senses are acute there is a liability to deception, from the varying heat of the hand when it is put into the milk, in different states of the weather. The thermometer, therefore, is found to be the surest guide, and it is regularly used.
In spring and towards winter a small quantity of annatto is used to improve the colour of the cheese. It is put into the milk along with the rennet at seven o'clock. After the rennet is added, an hour is requisite for coagulation. At eight o'clock the curd is partially broken and allowed to subside a few minutes, in order that a small quantity of whey may be drawn off to be heated. This whey is put into a tin vessel and placed in a boiler in an adjoining apartment, to be heated in hot water. The whey is then most carefully and minutely broken. Mrs Hardinge and her niece performing this part of the work with utensils called show breakers. The servants are never intrusted with this duty. When the curd is completely broken, as much of the heated whey is mixed with it as suffices to raise it to 80 degrees, the temperature at which the rennet was added. Nothing more is done to it for an hour.
A little after nine o'clock the work is resumed. A few pailfuls of whey are drawn off and heated to a higher temperature than at eight o'clock. The curd is then broken as minutely as before; and after this is carefully done, an assistant pours several pailfuls of heated whey into the mass. During the pouring in of the whey the stirring with the breakers is actively continued, in order to mix the whole regularly, and not to allow any portion of the curd to become overheated. The temperature at this time is raised to 100 degrees, as ascertained by the thermometer, and the stirring is continued a considerable time until the minute heavy pieces of curd acquire a certain degree of consistency. The curd is then left half an hour to subside. At the expiry of the half hour the curd has settled at the bottom of the tub. Drawing off the whey is the next operation, and the ease with which it is performed would astonish an Ayrshire dairy manager. The greater proportion of the whey is used in a large tin bowl, and poured through a hair sieve into the adjoining coolers. As it runs into the leads it appears to be very pure. When the whey above the mass of curd is thus removed, a spigot is turned at the bottom of the tub, and the remainder is allowed to drain off, which it does very rapidly without any pressure being required. To facilitate this part of the work the tub is made with a convex bottom, and the curd is cut from the sides of the tub and placed on the elevated centre. It is carefully heaped up, and then left for an hour with no other pressure than its own weight.
After this interval it is cut across in large slices, turned over once on the centre of the tub, and left in a heap as before for half an hour. The whey drips away toward the sides of the tub, and runs off at the spigot; and, no pressure being applied, it continues to come away comparatively pure.
After untangling these simple and easy manipulations, and lying untouched during the intervals that have been mentioned, the curd is ripe for the application of pressure. But great care is taken not to put it into the vat to be pressed at too high a temperature. If the heat be above 60 degrees, and it usually is higher at this time, the curd is broken a little by the hand and thrown upon a lead cooler until it is brought down to the desired temperature."
When curd has by such means as these been brought to a somewhat firm consistency, it is enveloped in coarse linen cloths and put into perforated wooden vats, which are placed in a lever press and subjected to gradually increased pressure until the whey is expelled, and the cheese has acquired sufficient consistency to retain its shape when turned out to the shelves of the drying room. Very rich cheeses are usually supported for some weeks after leaving the press by being tightly bound round with a fillet of stout linen cloth. During the first day's pressing, the incipient cheese is frequently taken out of the vat, has its edges pared, receives dry cloths, and is reversed in the vat to keep its sides uniform. In the Cheshire dairies iron skewers are thrust into the curd through the perforations of the vat, and then withdrawn to form drains for the readier emission of the whey. Salt is applied sometimes by crumbling down the curd after its first hour in the press, and mixing fine salt with it at the rate of 1 lb. of salt to 42 lbs. of curd, and then returning it to the vat. This crumbling is effected by passing it through a simple curd mill, which tears it into minute fragments. In other cases the salt is merely rubbed into the cheese externally at each changing of the cloths while it is in the press, and for some days after its removal to the drying room. As soon as its degree of dryness and firmness admits, it is placed in the cheese-room, and is then wiped with a cloth and turned at first daily, and afterwards twice weekly until it is ready for market. The cheese-room is kept at a temperature of 60°, and has light and currents of air excluded from it. The darkness is a protection from flies, and a still and moderately warm atmosphere promotes its ripening.
When the process of making new-milk cheese is skilfully conducted, it consists not only of the caseine, but includes nearly all the butter of the milk. A portion of the latter is, however, carried off in the whey, from which it is recovered by a simple process. The whey is heated in a boiler to 180°, at which point a small quantity of sour buttermilk is stirred into it, which has the instantaneous effect of causing all the buttery matter to rise to the surface, from which it is skimmed off and put into a jar. As soon as the buttermilk is put in, the fire is withdrawn to prevent the whey from reaching the boiling point. The whey thus deprived of its cream is run into a caister, whence it is dealt out to the pigs. The whey-cream is kept for three or four days until it thickens, and is then churned like ordinary cream. About half a pound of this whey butter is obtained weekly from each cow. It is worth about three-fourths of the value of cream butter.
A gallon of good milk produces 1 lb. of cheese. The average produce per cow per annum is from 3 to 5 cwt., exclusive of the milk used in rearing calves. (J.W.—S.)