Cheese-making on the Canadian Cheddar J. L. THOMPSON. As practised at the Hawkesbury Agricultural College. THE following is a concise statement of the way that the Cheddar cheese, which has proved to be so successful in the English and Colonial markets, is made at this institution. It is selling readily at 8d. per lb. for parcels over 1 cwt., and 9d. per lb. for parcels under that quantity. With so many apprentices manufacturing the cheese, it is of wonderful uniformity, quality, texture, and flavour, although occasionally, owing to that cause, a cheese may be found hardly up to the usual standard. It will be readily understood that no written description can ever make anyone a proficient cheesemaker, practice alone in this case can make one perfect, but at the same time it is desirable that the main principles as here now laid down by Mr. C. R. Cassidy, the dairy instructor, be made public: Set the evening's milk so as to be at a temperature not under 58 degrees Fahr., nor above 68 degrees in the morning. Skim off the cream of the evening's milk, and through a strainer pour into the vat the morning's milk, which will dissolve all the cream. Heat up the whole mass to 84 degrees in five to ten minutes, stirring with the rake meanwhile, so as to thoroughly mix the morning and evening milk. Take out 5 oz. of milk, and add one teaspoonful of rennet, stir rapidly for five seconds, and then slowly until it thickens. If the milk is sufficienly ripened, and the rennet (Hansen's) is of the proper strength, the 5 oz. of milk should coagulate in about twenty seconds. If the milk takes longer than twenty seconds to coagulate, it is better to delay setting or adding the rennet until the twenty-second test is satisfactory. Keep the milk in the vat at 84 degrees meanwhile. If, on the other hand, the milk shows a test of less than twenty seconds, the milk is over-ripe or turning sour, therefore add the colouring and rennet as soon as possible. When ready, add 14 to 2 oz. colouring to 100 gallons milk. Stir the milk well. Then add about 3 oz. rennet to 100 gallons milk; stir for five minutes; then work the scotch hand over the surface of the milk until it begins to thicken. Take notice of the time required for same-if the milk takes twelve minutes to thicken, it will take take twice twelve and half of twelve, viz., thirty minutes, before it is ready to cut, from the time of adding the rennet. When ready to cut, commence with the vertical knife first, lengthways across the vat. In from five to ten minutes, cut with the horizontal knife, length ways with vat only, and once across each end, taking great care not to knock the curd about. It is best to use the vertical knife first, as the cut strips are apt to support themselves, and the downward pressure causes the whey to ooze out. When the horizontal knife is used first the layers press upor each other, and greatly retard the escape of whey. After cutting, wash down all curd that may be adhering to the sides of the vat, and stir very gently with the hands for about ten minutes. Then stir with the rake very gently at first, so as not to bruise the curd. Heat slowly up to 98 degrees in from forty to fifty minutes, raising the temperature not more than 2 degrees in the first ten minutes. When the curd begins to get firmer, increase the speed of raking, so that at 89 to 91 degrees full speed is obtained. Continue raking vigorously until sufficient acidity is developed, at which stage the curd should feel firm, and squeak between the teeth. When ready, the whey turns a little sour or acid, and the card will draw from to inch on a hot iron, string-like hairs being noticeable. Run off the whey immediately by a syphon, and place the curd on a drainer, gently stirring with the hands in the meantime, so as to drain off the whey. Then pack the curd at one end of the drainer from 4 to 6 inches deep, well covered. In ten minutes cut the curd in strips from 10 to 12 inches long, 4 to 5 inches wide, turn them upside down, and turn every ten minutes until cheddared, which can be detected by the hairs drawing 1 inch on a hot iron; cut with the curd-cutter, and work the curd with the hands for about ten minutes. This aërates the curd by allowing gases, &c., to escape. At this stage the curd should have a shining velvety appearance, when it is ready to salt. 2 lb. salt to 100 gallons milk, and again work the curd with the hands, so as to thoroughly salt it. Pack again for about ten minutes, and put the curd into the hoop at a temperature as near 80 degrees as possible. Place the hoop and its contents in the press, using little or no pressure for the first five or ten minutes. Then press gently until all the whey ceases to drip out. In about twenty minutes from the time of hooping use full pressure. In summer, twenty-four hours pressing is necessary, and fortyeight hours in winter. Then remove to curing-room, paste down the ends, and turn every day until disposed of. The curing-room should be as near 65 degrees as possible. As practised at Bodalla, with Good Milk and Cool Weather. Use Having morning's and evening's milk in the vat, raise the temperature to 84 degrees Fahr. To determine if the milk is ready to receive the rennet, take 5 oz. of the milk, add one teaspoonful of rennet (Hansen's), stir rapidly for five seconds, then slowly until it thickens. If it thickens in thirty seconds from the time the teaspoonful of rennet is added, the milk in the vat is ready, or ripe for setting. Should it take less than thirty seconds-say, twenty-the sooner the colouring and rennet are added the better, the milk in the vat being over-ripe (turning sour), and will consequently work quick. If, on the other hand, it takes more than thirty seconds, allow the milk to remain ripening in the vat, always at 84 degrees, until, on again trying 5 oz. of milk, it thickens in thirty seconds. When the test indicates the milk to be ripe for setting, add colouring at the rate of 2 oz. to every 100 gallons; stir well into the milk. Add 4 oz. of rennet to the 100 gallons (3 oz. when over-ripe); stir five minutes; then allow the milk to settle; watch for the milk thickening. The best way to detect the thickening is to go over the surface of the milk with a dipper, which raises a wave, and with a little practice it is easy to see when the coagulation begins. Care has to be taken not to pass the dipper over the surface of the milk after the thickening has begun. The milk by the 5-oz. test ought to have thickened in about fourteen minutes from the time the rennet was added. By doubling the time taken to thicken, and adding half (14+14 +7 = 35 minutes), the time for cutting the curd will be ascertained, namely, thirty-five minutes from the time the milk thickened, or forty-nine minutes. after adding the rennet. Before cutting the curd, as a confirmatory test, insert the finger among the curd and raise to the surface. The curd, if ready, will split clean. To cut the curd, use the horizontal knife from end to end, and across the vat. Repeat with the vertical knife. After cutting the curd, run your hand along the sides of the vat to remove any curd that may adhere thereto. Thereafter mix the curd with the hands for about ten minutes, till it feels firmer, and then put the rake in and heat slowly to 100 degrees, taking from forty to forty-five minutes to raise the milk to the required temperature. The reason for mixing with the hands before starting the rake is to have the curd somewhat firm, as the rake, though worked very gently, is apt to bruise the tender curd. The time for running the whey off is an important part of the Canadian principle. In fact, the taking-off of the whey and the cheddaring of the curd before cutting and vatting are the two points that differ most from the American Cheddar system, and to attain proficiency in both the above points requires much practice and sound judgment. To arrive at an idea of the time for running off the whey, take the previous tests-the 5-oz. test-thirty seconds; milk thickened in fourteen minutes. These tests show the milk to be working at a good average rate, and the curd ought to be ready in about an hour from the time of stopping the heating, taking the average three hours from the adding of the rennet. For example: The rennet added at 9:30 a.m., coagulated at 9:44 a.m., and at 10'19 a.m. the curd cut, allowing five minutes to cut the curd, ten minutes to mix with the hands, and forty-five minutes to heat to 100 degrees, it would now be 11-19 a.m.; thus to make the three hours the whey ought to come off between 12:15 and 12:30 p.m. These tests cannot always be depended upon, but they help the cheese-maker by giving him an idea how the milk is working. After heating to 100° keep the curd well stirred with the rake until the curd is ready. The better the curd is worked the firmer will it be. When ready, the whey turns a little sour. The curd, nice and firm, has an agreeable smell; squeaks between the teeth, like indiarubber. Take a handful of curd in the hand-press, squeeze the whey out, and apply to a heated iron test-rod, pull it away gently, and thin hair-like strings will be seen about of an inch long. In some cases I have seen the curd pull long before it or the whey was ready. When everything is up to the standard, run the whey off in the usual way with the syphon. When all the whey has gone, cut the mass of curd from end to end, and through or across, into blocks to fit the feeder of the curd-cutter. Pile the blocks against the sides of the vat to drain out the whey. Place a canvas cover over the lot to keep at an even temperature. Turn the blocks every half-hour. In about two and a half hours the card ought to be ready for vatting. The curd, when ready, is inclined to be tough, and by placing one of the blocks on its side and tearing it almost in halves, the curd will appear stringy. It also has a fine soft feel on its surfacenot exactly soft, but a sort of glossy skin. To get up to everything properly requires practical experience. Cut the curd with a cutter, not a mill, which grinds and hurts the curd. The proper cutter cuts the curd into strips, working after the style of a turnip-cutter. After cutting, spread the curd over the bottom of the vat, and mix well with the hands. The mixing airs the curd, improving it by removing taints, &c. Add salt at from 24 to 24 lb. per 100 gallons, and mix well into the curd. Vat the curd, and press gently to remove any whey that may have been left in it. Take about fifteen minutes to have the full pressure on the cheese. It is ready for the cheese-room next morning. Sixty-five degrees is the average cheese-room temperature. This is only showing how to work under very favourable circumstances. The Selection and Purchase of a Dairy Herd. By J. L. THOMPSON, Principal, Hawkesbury Agricultural College. THE establishment of a herd of profitable dairy cattle at the present time is by no means an easy matter. Dairying is being extended nearly all over the Colony, and it is needless to expect that those engaged in the business will dispose of really first-class profitable young cows, although there are, unfortunately, many to be found anxious to sell third- and fourth-rate milkers. It may be said at once that there are few men capable of selecting good dairy cattle. Some possess the skill in a high degree intuitively, others acquire it by careful observation and experience, and some never attain it at all. The breed of cows to be selected will depend, to a great extent, upon the locality, climate, and richness of pasture, &c. It would be absurd to procure large animals to find a living on sparse and poor herbage. The Ayrshire breed is becoming very popular and general in Australia. So also are the Jersey and milking Shorthorn strains. Where herbage is abundant and rich, and cows have not far to travel to satisfy themselves, heavy massive cows may be kept with advantage-such, for instance, as the Shorthorn or Shorthorn cross. Whatever breed of cattle it may be desirable to start with, young animals should be procured. I would recommend that the would-be purchasers go to a well-known dairy district, such as the South Coast, and procure a number of well-grown heifers, under two years old, and not in calf. These could be put to a pure-bred Jersey, Ayrshire, Shorthorn, or Holstein bull, according to the stamp of cattle supposed to be most suited for the district they are intended for. When these heifers come in with their first calves they can be tested as to quantity and quality of milk, and if not up to a fair standard, should be spayed and fattened for the butcher. This course will not incur any serious loss, and if the young cattle were procured at a reasonable figure a profit might even be made. It is an axiom in cattle breeding "that like begets like," but there are many excep tions to this rule, and although it may reasonably be expected that a good milker will produce an animal also good at the pail, this is not always the case, and occasionally very poor milkers are produced from first-class dairy cows. The heifer calves by the pure-bred bull should all be reared for the dairy, and if they in turn are put to pure-bred bulls, in the course of a few generations a high-class type of dairy cattle will be obtained. All kinds of stock do best in the locality where they are reared, and it is undesirable to bring stock from rich to poor pasture, as they will assuredly deteriorate. All dairy cattle, whether large or small, should have well-rounded, robustlooking frames, indicating a strong and vigorous constitution. The following is a description of a good dairy cow, from the pen of Mr. David Lindsay Dymock, of Jamberoo, one of the best judges of dairy stock in New South Wales : "Square and heavy behind, long from haunch to hip, wedge-shaped, light brisket, neck long and thin, full eyes, horns thin, intelligent looking, colour spotted or roan, well-defined milk-veins prominent and tortuous on udder and belly; teats, 3 or 4 inches apart, and hanging perpendicularly, should be of fair size and length, not funnel-shaped; deep flank; big round body, as this is the boiler-power to produce all; escutcheon, or mirror, well out on sides of flank to root of tail, as the arteries of the udder follow same." The following doggerel lines, which appeared in the Farmer's Magazine some years ago, describe a good milch cow of milking Shorthorn strain :She's long in the face; she's fine in her horn; She'll quickly get fat without cake or corn; She's clean in her jaws, and full in her chine; She's heavy in flank, and wide in her loin ; She's broad in her ribs, and long in her rump; A straight and flat back, without ever a bump; She's wide in her hips, and calm in her eyes: She's fine in her shoulders, and thin in her thighs; She's light in her neck, and small in her tail: She's wide in the breast, and good at the pail; She's fine in the bone, and silky of skin; She's a grazier's without, and a butcher's within. Brown states that the dairyman wants a cow 1. To be suitable to climate, elevation, soil, and general conditions. 2. To be large rather than small, other things being equal. 3. A great eater, drinker, and digester; a greedy cow. 4. Of a contented disposition; yet lively, and able to defend herself, and search for food when necessary. 5. To be a home-comer, and easily milked. 6. A motherly cow; fond of her calf when required. 7. To give ten months a year a large quantity of rich milk-not less than six times her own weight, and not under 4 lb. of butter from every 100 lb. of milk. 8. To give valuable calves when properly mated. 9. To have good performance records in her ancestors. It is an axiom among dairymen that the bull is more than half the herd, and whatever breed he may be he must be pure bred, for no other is reliable in prepotent power, or possesses ability to transmit the required characteristics to the progeny. He should be large of his class and fairly muscular. The head should be masculine, but not coarse; the neck rather long than short, with moderate crest; the skin moderately thick, but of a soft, yielding character, being what is termed a good handler. As the milk is separated from the blood it is necessary that there shall be a large quantity of that fluid in his system, and, consequently, that the blood-vessels be large and numerous. The escutcheon principle of judging the milking qualities of the cow is just as valuable in determining the value of the male in getting stock famous for milk production. The Escutcheon Principle. As this method of judging the milking qualities of different cows has been referred to in this article, it is desirable that an explanation be given as to what the escutcheon is, and what it means as referring to milch cows. Briefly, it relates to the various appearances on the thighs and udder (see illustration). It will be seen that a considerable portion of the hair on the |