Charles Louis Flint

This chapter I translate from an admirable little work in German, “Die HollÄndische Rindviehzucht und Milchwirthschaft im KÖnigreich Holland,” by Ellerbrock, a distinguished veterinary surgeon, professor of cattle pathology and cattle-breeding in the Agricultural Institute at Zeyst, in Holland.

Milking and Treatment of Milk.

—The cows are turned to pasture early in spring, and stay there day and night throughout the pasture-season. They are milked daily in a particular part of the lot called the milk-yard. This is kept in some instances permanently in the same place; in others, it is changed about at pleasure. A shady part of the pasture is generally selected, and it is commonly enclosed with a board fence. The cows are driven into this yard to be milked, when not already there at the usual time. The milking is done by male and female domestics, who carry their pails, cans, and dishes, hung on a kind of wooden yoke, Fig. 84, neatly cut out, painted, and set with copper nails. This is swung over the shoulders, or else the dairy utensils are carried on donkeys, ponies, or hand-carts; or, where there is water communication, in boats, twice a day, to the yard.

Fig. 84.

In the larger dairies the utensils in common use are small wooden pails, Fig. 85, painted in variegated colors, with bright brazen or iron hoops, and neatly washed; a strainer, Fig. 86, made of horse-hair; a large wooden tunnel, Fig. 87, for pouring the milk into the cans and casks; one or more buckets, Fig. 88, usually of brass, lined with tin, large enough to hold the milk of several cows together, or from twelve to eighteen quarts. In many dairies they have wooden buckets, Fig. 85, painted green or blue outside, with black stripes, and with iron or brass handles, kept very bright. Here the buckets are coated over inside with white oil-colors. These are borne by the yoke (Fig. 84), or in some of the ways indicated above.

Fig. 85.

Fig. 86.

Fig. 87.

Fig. 88.

Fig. 89.

In many places, instead of buckets for keeping the milk together, they use copper or brass cans lined inside with tin, and in the form of antique vases or large beer-jugs, Figs. 90 and 91, which are constantly kept brightly polished. In other places, they use for holding the milk smaller or larger barrels, Fig. 92, with broad hoops also kept constantly polished.

Fig. 90.

Fig. 91.

Fig. 92.

Instead of the yoke a soft cushion is also used, which the dairymaids strap over their backs, so that they hang down and rest over the hips and thighs. On this cushion the cans are laid, and fastened with broad hempen straps, that they may not press too heavily upon the body. This band is called the milk-strap. Where the milk is carried home on a hand-cart, neatly-woven baskets are fastened upon little wagons in which the cans are placed. If it is to be carried in casks, the same arrangement is fixed upon a hand-cart. Two wooden floats are laid upon the milk in the buckets, in order to protect it from slopping over. One or more large milk-casks or tubs, in which it may cool off properly, are also used. The size of these tubs is different, as well as the materials of which they are made. Where the cooling is not left to the air alone, but is sought to be effected by hanging the milk-tub into cold water, the vessels are made of metal. The large vase-like jars are also used for this purpose. These hold about thirty cans, or twenty-six quarts. Wooden bowls are used, of different sizes and forms, and earthen pans, rather deeper than broad, Figs. 93 and 94, in which the milk as it cools is set for the cream to rise. A large pot for collecting the cream until there is enough to churn, and wooden skimmers for taking off the cream, are also used. The milker sits upon a common four-legged, and sometimes one-legged milking-stool, and milks either the teats on one side, or one hind and one front teat, the pail being held between the knees. The cows are milked regularly at four or five o’clock in the morning, and at five or six in the afternoon.

Fig. 93.

Fig. 94.

In West Friesland, North and South Holland, Utrecht, and other places, it is customary to tie the tail to the leg of the cow, that she may not annoy the milker. Most cows do not resist this, being accustomed to it from the beginning. They also pass a cord around the horns and tie her to a post stuck in the ground during the milking, as in Fig. 95. In many provinces only the unruly cows are tied in this way.

Fig. 95.

The milking takes place on the right side of the cow, so that the milker sits on this side. In West Friesland and North Holland there is an exception to this rule. The cows are tied in pairs in the stalls, and one is milked on one side and the other on the other, the milker sitting with his back to the board partition, to avoid annoyance from either animal.

When the milking is ended the milk is poured through the hair strainer into the bucket, or through a strainer or tunnel in the cans or casks, whichever are used. The milk is taken to the dairy-house, without delay, in some of the ways already mentioned. When the yoke is used, one bucket is hung on the right side and another on the left, each with a float on the top of the milk to keep it from slopping over. The large metallic milk-cans, with wooden stoppers, are borne home on the cushions already described as being held by shoulder-knots strapped round the waist. The mode of transportation depends much on the distance from the dairy-house and the quantity to be carried.

In winter, when the cows are in the barn, they are likewise milked twice a day, and the milk is at once strained through the hair strainer into casks made for the purpose. These implements differ according to the object pursued in the dairy; yet pans and pots are mostly used for raising the cream to be made into butter, since but few dairymen make cheese in winter.

All utensils necessary for milking, the preservation of milk, and the making of butter and cheese, are kept with the utmost neatness. Where a stream of running water flows through the yard, the implements are generally washed in that, and flowing water is preferred for the purpose. But where the farm or dairy-house stands at a distance from a stream, a shallow fountain, or basin, is dug out in the earth, walled up, and so arranged that the water can be taken from it and fresh water substituted when it gets impure. In such a basin, or in flowing water, all new wooden dairy utensils are soaked for a long time before being used; but those in daily use are washed, rinsed, and scoured out with ashes, with the greatest care. None but cold, clear, fresh fountain or flowing water is taken for cleansing dairy implements. It is to be observed that, in large dairies, the use of water which is covered with newly-fallen honey-dew, for washing the dairy utensils, is carefully avoided. When the milk-vessels have been perfectly rinsed out in fresh water, they are, in many dairies, put into a large kettle of water over the fire, and properly scalded; after which they are again cleanly washed with cold water, so that not the least particle of milk or impurity is to be seen, nor the least smell of it to be observed. The metallic milk-vessels and the metal parts of the wooden ones are cleansed with equal care and exactness, and kept polished. Dairymaids feel a pride in always having the brightest, most polished, and cleanest utensils, and each strives earnestly to excel the others in this respect.

When the milk-vessels are scoured, scalded, and rinsed perfectly clean, they are hung on a stand of laths and poles, made for the purpose, to be properly dried. The round wooden milk-bowls, being made of one piece, are very easily broken or split, and must be handled with very great care in cleaning. To avoid breaking, a peculiar table is used for scouring them.

The Dutch dairyman knows perfectly well that his dairy can secure him the highest profit only when the utmost cleanliness is the basis and groundwork of his whole business; and so he keeps, with the most extraordinary carefulness, and even with anxiety, the greatest possible neatness in all parts of the dairy establishment.

Determination of the Milking Qualities of the Cows.

—The Dutch cattle are, in general, renowned for their dairy qualities; but especially so are the cows of North Holland, which not only give a large quantity, but also a very good quality, so that a yield of sixteen to twenty-five cans[2] at every milking is not rare. Next to these come the West Friesland and South Dutch cows, from which from twenty to twenty-four cans of milk may be calculated on. Though one could not take a certain number and calculate surely what the yield of each cow would be, yet he could come very near the truth if he reckoned that a cow, in three hundred days, or as long as she is milked, gives, on an average, daily, from six to eight cans of milk, from which the whole annual yield would be from one thousand eight hundred to two thousand four hundred cans. Of this the cow gives one half in the first four months, one third in the next three, and in the remainder one sixth. These superficial results cannot be taken, however, as the fixed rule.

[2] A Dutch can is a little less than our wine quart

Professor Wilkins, in his Handbook of Agriculture, gives the following estimates of the yield of milk: A good West Friesland or GrÖningen cow will, after calving, give daily fourteen quarts of milk. This will, after a while, be reduced to eight quarts. She may be milked three hundred and twenty-three days in the year, and her product in butter and cheese will amount to one hundred gÜldens.

In Prof. Kop’s Magazine it is stated that a medium-sized Friesland cow, which had had several calves, was giving daily, on good feed, five and a half to six buckets, or from twenty to twenty-two cans, and over. In South Holland, also, this quantity is considered a good yield of a cow. Of the cows of Gelderland, Overyssel, and Utrecht, the yield cannot be reckoned higher than sixteen cans daily, and that only during the first half of their milking season.

Treatment of Milk for Butter.

—To get good butter it is quite necessary that the fresh milk be properly cooled before it is set for cream. In the great dairies of North and South Holland, which not only possess the best cattle, but may be given as models in dairy husbandry, they manage as follows:

The milk, as it is brought from the pasture, is poured from the buckets, cans, and casks, through a hair strainer, into one vessel, the milk-kettle. These milk-kettles are not everywhere of the same size, or of similar form, but are always riveted together with strong brass or copper bands, and lined with tin inside. The most common milk-kettles hold sixteen cans; yet they are found so large as to hold three barrels, or about six hundred quarts. The peculiar kettle form is very rarely found, but more frequently the cylindrical, or vase-shaped. They are held either by two handles or one. The number required depends on the number of cows and the quantity of milk expected.

Fig. 96. Cool-bath.

The milk-kettles, when filled, are set into a basin with cold water, called the cool-bath, for the purpose of cooling the milk. The cool-bath is frequently in the kitchen, sometimes in the bauer-house, so called, or directly before the cow-room, near the spring. The latter is the most common and the most convenient place. The water reservoir is dug in the ground, and an oblong four-cornered form is preferred for it; the sides of the excavation being walled up with hard-burnt building-stones and cement, but the bottom is laid in tiles, either red, hard-burnt, or white glazed. Richer dairymen take finely-hewn blue stone or white marble for it. The size of the reservoir is governed by the number of milk-kettles to be put into it, and so is its depth by their height, so that the rim of the kettle is on a level with the top of the cool-bath, Fig. 96. The sides of the cool-bath in the kitchen project some feet over the floor, yet are not so high that the setting in and taking out the milk-kettle will be attended with great inconvenience and trouble. Where it is desired to make the work of setting in or raising up the milk-kettles from the cool-bath as easy as possible, a beam is fixed along the side of the trough, and iron props are firmly fixed, which extend out a little over the edge of the trough, half-way down from the beam. On these the operator can support himself in lowering or raising heavy vessels. These stays, or props, are sometimes fixed directly into the wall, along which the cool-bath stands. Under the bottom of the reservoir, on the other side from where the water comes in, is an outlet, stopped with a tap or faucet, to let off the water.

The cool-baths in the kitchen are, for the most part, on the floor, and extend up a convenient height; whilst those in the cow-barns, as a general rule, are dug down and walled up, and their top is fastened to the floor of the barn. They are deep enough to allow the water for cooling the milk to come up to the rim of the milk-kettle; but, in order to prevent men and cattle from falling in, it is covered with a strong wooden lid to shut down, as in Fig. 97.

Fig. 97. Cool-bath.

Such a cool-bath is used in the cow-room only in summer, when the heat is so great that it is difficult to keep the milk cool in the kitchen. The cool-bath in the cow-room is considered as only an auxiliary to that in the kitchen, and to be used only in case of necessity. The milk-kettles are hung by their handles, and let down by means of a crank. When the platform is not in use it is taken away from the cool-bath, and the cover is let down and kept closed.

The milk is allowed to remain in the cool-bath until the froth has disappeared, and there is no difference in temperature between the water and the milk. The milk of one milking must give place for the next, so that it will be changed twice daily, morning and evening. A very great importance is, everywhere in the Dutch dairies, attached to this rapid cooling of the milk, because it is known by experience that it is thus greatly protected from turning sour.[3]

[3] It will be perceived that the arrangement for cooling the milk before setting in the pans, in the Dutch dairies, is very elaborate. I have followed the original in translating the above, though the practice in Holland differs widely from our own in this respect, and from that recommended in the preceding pages. The point may be worthy of careful experiment.—Translator.

The milk, when properly cooled, is brought to the milk-cellar, where it is immediately poured out of the milk-kettles into vessels designed to receive it. Wooden bowls or pans, or high earthen pots, are used for holding it. The pans and pots are set on the table, and a small ladder, or hand-barrow, is laid on there, on which is placed the strainer, when the milk is poured from the kettles. The wooden milk-pans are of several forms, generally made of ash or of linden, and oval. They are, on an average, three and a half feet long, and half a foot broad, more or less; but their dimensions vary.

It has been found, by experience, that the flatter and shallower the pans, the quicker and better the cream rises. The milk-pots are pretty large, but are rather shallow than deep, glazed inside, of different forms, and different capacities; but they are always broader on the top than at the bottom, though they stand firmly on a round, broad foot-piece. Milk pans and pots are rinsed with cold water before the milk is poured into them. When properly cleaned and filled, they are placed on shelves made for the purpose, in regular rows. These shelves are only a few feet high above the floor of the cellar, and of suitable width; but, if there is not space enough for the milk, the pans are placed on the bottom of the cellar. The pots are also set along the walls, on firm board shelves.

The milk-cellar, or rather the milk-room, Fig. 98, in the North and South Dutch dairies, is placed on the north side of the house, next to the kitchen, but a little lower than the latter, so that there are usually three steps down. The longer side, facing towards the north, has one window, whilst the gable end, with its two windows, faces towards the west. The windows are generally kept shut, and are open only nights in summer. The cellar is either arched or covered with strongly boarded rafters, over which the so-called cellar-chamber is situated. The floor of this room is laid in lime or cement, with red or blue burnt tiles, so that nothing can pass down through into the milk-cellar. In the cellar itself are the above-mentioned shelves and platforms for the milk-vessels along the walls, while outside, in front of the cellar, linden and juniper trees are planted, to prevent as much as possible the heat of the sun from striking upon the walls. Cleanliness, the fundamental principle of Dutch dairy husbandry, is carried to its utmost extent in the cellar. Barrels of[307]
[308] meat, bacon, vegetables of every kind, and everything which could possibly create a strong odor and infect the air, or impart a flavor to the milk, butter, or cheese, are carefully excluded.

Fig. 98. Dutch dairy-room.

The vessels in which the milk is set remain standing undisturbed in their places, that the formation of cream may go on without interruption. Twenty-four hours, on an average, are thought to be necessary for the milk to stand, during which time the cream is twice taken off, once at the end of each twelve hours. The morning’s milk is skimmed in the evening, and the evening’s on the next morning. But the milk always remains quite still till the dairymaid thinks it time to skim, which she decides by the taste. Long practice enables her to judge with great certainty by this mode of trial.

Fig. 99.

When the cream is ripe it is taken off by the dairymaid with a shallow wooden skimmer, Fig. 99, in the form of a deep plate, and carefully placed in a particular vessel—a bucket or cream-pot. The cream-pot is generally washed very clean, the staves very finely polished, striped with blue or white outside, and held together by broad brass or copper hoops, kept very bright. For closing the jar they use an ashen cover, which is either simply laid on by a common handle, or sometimes held on by brass or copper hinges. Both cream-pot and cover are always scoured quite white and clean. The cream remains there till enough is got for churning, or till it becomes of itself thick enough for butter. It is known to be of the proper consistence for butter when a long, slender, wooden spoon, thrust down into it, will stand erect. When in summer the cream does not get thick enough in season, they seek to hasten it by putting in a little butter-milk; but in winter the ripening of the cream is hastened by warming, either by holding the cream-pot over a coal-pan, or on a hearth-plate.

The remainder, the skim-milk from the milk bowls or pans, sour milk, or butter-milk, is poured into a particular vessel, and made into spice-cheese.

Besides the methods here described for keeping milk for butter, milk is used for other purposes. Sweet milk cheese is made of the unskimmed milk; cream is used in the house for coffee. Rennet is also added to fresh milk, and the product is immediately sold, being greatly relished by many. From skim-milk and butter-milk put together is made an article called kramery by cooking the mixture, putting it into a linen bag, and hanging it in a cool part of the milk-cellar, or elsewhere, when the liquid drops out and leaves a mass of considerable consistence, called Hangebast.

As soon as the milk is taken from the vessels, they are taken out of the cellar and carefully cleansed and dried before being used again.

Methods of Churning.

—Churning is the principal operation in the manufacture of butter, for by it the fatty particles are separated from the other constituents. There are several methods in Holland of effecting this separation of the butter globules. The oldest and simplest is that of putting the cream into an upright churn, in which the cream is agitated by moving a long dasher, pierced with holes, up and down, till the object is accomplished.

Fig. 100.

There are, strictly speaking, only two forms of the churn which are used in all parts of the country. One is broad at the bottom and narrow at the top. This has been known from the earliest times, and is called the old churn, Fig. 100.

This old churn is still used in many dairies, and it has the preference over the other form, because it is thought to bring the butter quicker and more completely.

The other form is more like a beer or brandy cask on end, being smaller at each end than in the middle, and is called the barrel-churn. Both kinds are made of oak-wood, and have wooden or broad metal hoops. In the one case they are painted outside; in the other, they remain of the natural color, but are the more frequently scoured, so that the dark-colored oak-wood gets a whitish color. The metallic hoops are always kept polished bright.

Both kinds are of different sizes, according as the quantity of cream is greater or less, or as they are to be worked by hand or animal power simply, or by machinery. In South Holland, where unquestionably the most butter is made, the barrel-churn is at each end about two feet and two inches in diameter, and in the centre is seven inches broader, with two-inch staves. The old churn, on the other hand, is usually fourteen inches at the top and twenty-five at the bottom.

In North Holland and West Friesland, also, sizes are found in which one hundred and fifty to two hundred quarts of cream can be churned. The churns have each a strong cover at the top, which fits into their rim about the thickness of the hand, with a hole in the middle for the dasher.

The churning is performed either by the hand motion of the dasher, as in all small dairies, and in the smallest churns, or by man-power with the help of certain mechanical contrivances. The means for effecting this are different, and so the churns have different names. In many dairies, for instance, they have a lever connected with the dasher; in other places they use a flexible pole, fixed into the ceiling above, for facilitating the motion of the dasher, or put a lever in motion with the feet, which raises and sinks the dasher. There are also complicated artificial butter-machines and butter-mills, which are named after the inventor, the manufacturer, or the motive power. The most known and widely used are the turning-mills, the wheel-mills, and the clock-work mills; as the Hand Butter-Mill of Valk, FÜrst’s churn, etc.

There are also still more elaborate machine-works for moving the dasher, which are used in the larger dairies on account of their convenience and economy. Dog-power and horse-power churns are frequently met with.

Churning in the Common Churn.

—The use of this is well known. The dasher is moved up and down by hand, with the churn full of cream, till the butter particles are separated and collected together. The operator keeps his body in equilibrium, to exercise the power of moving the dasher regularly for agitating the cream.

The Lever Churn

is very commonly used in South Holland, Fig. 101. The churn itself is barrel-form, as already described, and the dasher is put in motion by a lever. The upper end is pierced with holes, through which runs an iron pin. In a beam of the ceiling two joists are firmly fixed, about a foot and five inches long and four inches square, and several inches apart. The longer arm of the lever is four feet and seven inches; the shorter, three feet and six inches. The churn stands under the short arm of the lever, where the dasher is fixed. By drawing the longer arm of the lever towards him, the operator presses the dasher down through the cream. This mode is far less wearisome than the hand-churn, because by the lever, with less expense of power, a far greater agitation is produced. A weight is sometimes attached to the longer arm, by which the power required is still further reduced.

Fig. 101.

Churning with an Elastic Rod.

—The old-fashioned churn is set in motion by the aid of another kind of power, as seen in Fig. 102. A long, tough, flexible stick is fastened into the cross-beam in the ceiling, so that its larger end is held firm by two iron clasps. The elasticity of the rod is such that, when the smaller end is drawn down by hand, which, at the same time, moves the dasher, it rebounds, and thus saves considerable expenditure of power.

Fig. 102.

Churning with the Treadle Lever.

—In many places the churn is put in motion by the feet, as in Fig. 103, where several levers are united to produce the upward and downward motion of the dasher. The longer arm of the lever is connected with the churn, and the shorter is set in motion by a foot-board. The foot-board lies on a roller, with its longer part attached to the lever; and by throwing the weight of the body upon this part the shorter arm of the lever is drawn down, and the longer, attached to the churn-dasher, is raised. The mode of operation is so plainly seen in the cut as to need no explanation.

Fig. 103.

Among the more ingenious contrivances used for churning in Holland belongs the churn invented by FÜrst. The body is somewhat similar to the barrel-churn, but is smaller; and it is of uniform diameter throughout, as in Fig. 104. It is covered with a wooden lid, furnished with a convenient handle, and stands on a low platform, to which it is fixed, when in use, by means of a screw, k. The motion is communicated to the dasher by means of a wheel, or windlass, and an endless cord.

Fig. 104.

In the interior of the cylinder is placed a kind of ventilator, Fig. 105. This consists of eight wooden wings, pierced with holes, and motion is communicated to it by means of the wheel, b, connected by the cord to the larger windlass. The wings of the machine when set in motion, strike incessantly in the cream, and so powerfully that the whole mass is agitated, and in this manner the separation of the butter particles is soon effected. The motion is so rapid that it is often necessary to turn the crank very slowly, especially just as the butter is coming.

Fig. 105.

Fig. 106.

Valk’s Hand Butter-Mill, Fig. 106, has many advantages. It is less fatiguing to work than the old-fashioned churn, and even than FÜrst’s, because the motion of the body required is simple and less exacting. And again, the churn takes up less room, and is easily transported, which is an important consideration in churning, on account of the influence of the temperature. In summer the heat may delay, or render the operation difficult, and in winter the coldness presents obstacles. A transportable churn can be moved into a cool place in summer, and a warm one in winter, when it is desirable. The dasher of the churn is also seen separate in the same figure.

Fig. 107.

The Dog-power Churn, Fig. 107, economizes labor, while, at the same time, more butter is obtained, on account of the uniformity of the agitation produced. It is in use in all the Dutch provinces. The form and size of the churn are comparatively indifferent; but the tread-wheel and direction of the moving power are the important points. The diameter of the wheel is from ten to twelve feet, and the rim or outer circumference is made of boards two feet wide. The weight of the animal turns the wheel and moves the dasher by means of cogs, as shown in the figure.

Where there is a sufficient supply of moving power, a churn with two dashers is sometimes attached, as shown in Fig. 108, in which case one dasher moves down while the other is raised.

Fig. 108.

A large and strong dog is required, and he is easily taught to keep to his work, by beginning with short trials, and gradually lengthening them. A steady and uniform step is necessary, and this will soon be acquired. The dog is sometimes left free, and sometimes tied by a line.

Fig. 109.

Fig. 110.

Churning by Horse-power.

—On large farms and in extensive dairies the churning is done by horse-power, as shown in Fig. 109. The form of the churn itself is optional in this case, also. The size of the wheel varies, but it is seldom less than nine or ten feet in diameter, furnished with cogs on the upper surface, which are from four to six inches long, and play into a smaller wheel, the axle of which is attached to the dasher of the churn. A third and smaller wheel is sometimes introduced, as in Fig. 110. A quick and regular step is required of the animal, and a quiet and docile horse is always preferred. A horse adapted to this work commands a good price. Blinders are always used on the horse while churning.

Duration of the Churning.

—In whatever way the churning is performed, the result is always a separation of the fatty particles from the other constituents of the milk. As soon as the churning indicates that the butter particles increase in size and collect together, the motion of the dasher must be hastened till the butter has come together in a large mass. Great care should be taken to observe the appearance of this formation. The Dutch dairymaids acquire great skill, by long practice and experience, in judging of the proper moment when the separation of the particles has completely taken place. Very great importance is with justice attached to this skill, for it is undoubtedly true that one with this knowledge can get far more and better butter from milk of the same quality, the same quantity, and skimmed at the same time.

The cream taken from the milk of thirty-five cows, after standing twenty-four hours, is generally churned in summer in less than an hour, sometimes in three quarters of an hour. In very hot weather the cream-pot is frequently set into the cool-bath of fresh water for five or six hours before the churning begins, and it churns the easier for it. Cold water is never poured into the churn with the cream. In winter, as well as in cold weather in spring and fall, warm water is sometimes poured in with the cream.

Working and Treatment of Butter.

—When the churning is finished, the dairy-woman takes out the butter with a wooden scoop, Fig. 111, and puts it into a tub for further working. The tub, Fig. 112, is a broad, shallow vessel, open at the top, and having an opening at the bottom which is stopped by a bung. The scoop is pierced with holes, through which the butter-milk drains. The butter put into the tub is now rinsed, salted, and formed.

Fig. 111.

Fig. 112.

Fig. 113.

The tub is put upon a low, firm table, and the butter is worked by the hands, or by a shallow, rather wide and strong wooden ladle, until the butter is united into one firm and entire mass. Many dairy-women are accustomed to work the butter out from the middle towards all sides before bringing the whole mass together in the tub. Then very clear and pure fresh cold water is poured upon the butter, and worked through it till all the milky particles are entirely removed. After this is done in several workings, the bung is removed from the bottom of the tub, and the watery matter runs down through a little strainer, as in Fig. 113. As a general rule, butter is washed with water and worked over eleven or twelve times; yet the operator must judge whether the butter contains any particles of milk, and must work with water till, as it runs off, it is no longer whitish, but perfectly clear. Butter sometimes becomes too soft from too much working, if it is all done at once; it is then worked over two or three times, and allowed to stand in cold water after each working, which preserves its hardness and texture. This whole operation is called the washing of the butter.

Fig. 114.

When the washing is finished, the butter is cut with a blunt, saw-toothed knife, Fig. 114, in every direction, in order to remove all hairs, or fibres of any kind, which by any possibility have got into it during the day. It is then sprinkled over with white, finely-powdered salt, the quantity of which is regulated by the taste; and this is perfectly worked in, so that the whole is uniformly salted. Most dairy-women determine the quantity of salt by the eye and the taste, and acquire such facility by continued practice that they always get the proper quantity; but less experienced ones take the salt by weight. The salting is not all done at once, but is continued three or four days, twelve hours intervening between each application, until all the salt has dissolved, and not a crystal is to be found. If the butter has a speckled and variegated appearance, it is a sign that the salt is not completely worked in, and the neglect must be remedied by working it over still more in the most thorough manner. When the salt is all dissolved, the butter is brought into single balls and got ready for the next market-day, or the whole mass is put into a particular keg, in order to be taken to market at some subsequent time as firkin-butter.

The Form of Fresh Butter.

—The form of the butter is made by taking a suitable quantity and pressing it into a mould, and then taking it out by knocking on the mould. Many different forms of butter-moulds are in use in the different sections of Holland, such as are shown in Figs. 115, 116, and others.

Fig. 115.

Fig. 116.

Fig. 117.

The figures impressed on the butter are given by the mould, where it is deeply engraved; or they are made after the butter is taken out of the mould, and for this purpose a peculiar instrument is used, Fig. 117, a kind of flat wooden spoon, with a short, convenient handle, and long grooves in the broad, flat surface. Each region has its own peculiar stamp, or special figures, which are given to lump-butter, to which particular attention is paid by the purchaser. The butter-dealer knows exactly that in one section butter is stamped in one way, in another section in some other way; and that the butter of one section, with its peculiar stamp, is worth more than that of another.

The butter-moulds are generally made of linden-wood, but must always be large enough to hold at least a certain prescribed weight of butter; for all lump-butter brought for sale to the weekly market must be of a prescribed weight. This weight is very different, and almost every city has different regulations and market customs; yet, in most places, a pound is the legal weight. Certain market-masters, or inspectors of butter, are appointed, and watch that all the butter has its proper weight. If too light, it is forfeited by the seller, who is also punished for fraud. The butter brought to market is generally covered with very clean white cloths, and several sample lumps are put for inspection in a large butter-bowl, basket, or shallow box.

Many dairymen are accustomed in spring, when the first grass butter is made, to send their regular customers a few little lumps of fresh May or grass butter. These presents generally have a peculiar form, and on the specimens most carefully prepared some animal is moulded, as a sheep lying down, a dog, &c., with a bunch of green grass or buttercups in its mouth. The dairy-woman herself usually presents this butter in a beautiful milk-bowl adorned with grass and flowers, covered with glittering white cloths.

The Packing of Butter in Firkins and Barrels.

—If the butter packed in firkins and barrels is to be kept a long time, experience and knowledge are required to pack it so that it will not be injured. The form and size of these casks are different in different sections and provinces. Where butter-making forms a chief branch of dairy business, the particular form and size which have been used for a long time are adhered to, because dairymen know very well that the public recognizes their choice butter by the form and size of the casks, and buys it the more readily. The greatest anxiety of the Dutch butter-maker is to keep up the old, well-earned reputation which Dutch butter has in every foreign country, both for its intrinsic good qualities, the result of the process of manufacture, and for its extraordinary appearance as an article of commerce.

For the proper preservation of the good qualities of butter, it is of the highest importance to have the casks properly made and treated; but the mode of salting and packing the butter in them is also of special importance, since this is examined at the sale. The old and customary forms and sizes of butter-casks are, therefore, of great consequence to the butter-maker, because every butter-dealer and judge of butter recognizes at once, by the external form of the casks, from what section the butter comes, and makes up his mind on the money value of the article from these appearances.

It was not originally known what kinds of wood were best for transporting butter long distances in, and preserving its highest qualities; and butter-casks were made of several kinds of wood, as oak, beech, willow, etc. But it was for the interest of the government that Dutch butter should maintain its reputation for extraordinary qualities abroad, and the most rigid laws were enacted, prescribing from what wood the casks should be made, etc.; and now only oak is allowed to be used, and the casks are all inspected and stamped according to law.****

Before the butter is packed the casks are properly cleaned and prepared, for which practice and experience are requisite.

Old butter-casks that have been previously used are cleaned of every particle of fat and dirt remaining in them, and scoured and washed out as carefully as possible, and are placed for several days in running water before they are used again. If no running water is at hand, quite clean pond or spring water is taken, and all impure water is carefully avoided. After they have lain in the water five or six days, they are carefully scoured out with good wood-ashes and sand, and again well rinsed. After several scourings and soakings, they are put into a kettle over a fire and carefully scalded; and then, when cold, again scoured and rinsed, for which the most judicious dairymen use milk instead of water, and they are then placed to dry in the air. They are fit for use only when everything has been done in the most careful manner.

But new butter-casks require still more particular and careful treatment before they can be filled with butter without fear of injury. They are got ready for packing in several different ways. Some dairymen let them lie in pure water a whole summer and winter long, and wash them out in lye, and then treat them just as they do those that have been used. Others, however, who give the new casks the preference over the old, but who cannot wait for the soaking in lye over summer and winter, treat them in the following manner: They prepare a lye of good American potash, which generally contains the most alkali, in a cask holding some three hundred quarts, taking a pound of potash to twenty pounds of water. For a cask of the size named fifteen pounds of potash are used, which is prepared by pouring boiling water upon it and stirring constantly, adding a little more water as the potash dissolves. With this lye, which will be about five degrees strong by BeaumÉ’s aËrometer, the butter-barrels are entirely filled. The barrels stand two hours filled with lye, and are then emptied and exposed to the air to dry, without being scoured out with water or milk. The lye may be used again for other new barrels, even though a part of its strength may be gone. Potash is added, from time to time, to keep up the specified degree of strength. A solution of fifteen pounds of coarsely-powdered alum is prepared in about three hundred quarts of hot water, in a vessel as large as the lye-cask. The butter-barrels are also filled full of the solution of alum, and allowed to stand twenty-four hours. This alum solution must also be of five degrees strength by BeaumÉ’s scale, and it can be used over and over by adding more alum now and then. After emptying out the alum and lye, they are dried a day in the sun and air, and then rinsed out in fresh, pure water, when they can be used for packing butter without fear. Some add a little sulphate of iron or green copperas to the alum, when the solution is more powerful; yet the management of the butter-barrels is then more troublesome, and requires more experience. The effect of the copperas has also the disadvantage that it blackens the barrels, which, though it does not injure them, is not liked by the purchaser.

By this treatment the new butter-barrels are much more quickly and cheaply cleansed, and got ready for packing and transporting butter, than by the course pursued with old barrels. The barrels, treated as above, are not only quite water-tight, but the wood is stronger and more durable. By means of the potash-lye and the alum solution the tannin is taken from the oak-wood used in the barrels, which, if it remained, would give a disagreeable taste to the butter. The effect of the potash and alum upon the wood of the barrels is quite harmless, and does not impart the least unhealthy quality to the butter.

When the old or new barrels have been cleansed and prepared, in either of the ways indicated, suitably for packing the butter, the bottom of the barrel is evenly covered with salt. Then a layer of butter which has been thoroughly washed and salted is made, and another layer of salt, and so alternate layers of salt and butter till the barrel is full, when a little brine of salt and water is poured on top. The butter is now ready to be laid in the cellar, and thence to be sold and exported. When the dairy is not sufficiently large to fill a barrel each day, the butter of several churnings must be used, and the barrel filled from time to time as it stands in the cellar. In that case the upper layer of butter is left covered with salt, and the cover of the barrel is closed down tight. In most large dairies a barrel is generally filled at one churning, which is considered better for the quality of the butter. The butter is always packed in so firmly that no space is left unfilled.

In doing up butter for sale at home, or at a neighboring market, the lumps are worked into the form of half a sphere, and put into little bright-hooped boxes, made to fit into larger casks, which can be nicely covered and closed up, as seen in Fig. 119, where the dairy-woman holds a box in her hand. The covered casks are also seen carefully nailed up.

Fig. 119.

The buyer who wishes to try the butter uses a long iron or steel borer, hollow inside, and furnished with a handle, as also seen in the cut. This not only enables him to test the quality but the uniformity of the butter in the cask.

Coloring of Butter.

—The practice of coloring butter is founded on the fact that we are accustomed to form our judgment at once of the qualities of the article from the whiteness or the yellowness of its color. Whiter butter is less attractive generally than yellow summer or grass-made butter. The color has come to be important to the seller, and artificial means are found to regulate it.

The coloring is made as follows: About a pound of butter is melted, so that the heavier parts sink to the bottom, when the light, clear fat on the top is poured into another dish. In this fat thus poured off is put a piece of annatto about the size of a walnut, wrapped up in a linen cloth, and it is then again put over the fire. The coloring matter of the annatto strains through the linen cloth, and turns the butter brown red, when it is allowed to cool off. When the butter is to be colored, some of this brown red is melted, salted, and mixed very carefully into the butter after washing. The quantity of coloring matter used depends on the color which the maker wants to impart to his butter, and a little practice soon enables him to take the right quantity. Others pour the coloring matter directly upon the butter to attain the same end.

In coloring artificially it is important to get a uniformity of color, which is the result of very thorough working. Colored butter must not be marbled.

The cream is sometimes colored before churning. The annatto is put into a clean beech-wood lye, and as much of this colored and strained lye is taken as is necessary to produce the desired color in the butter. It is then churned as usual.

Turmeric is sometimes used instead of annatto for coloring butter. It has no advantage, however, over annatto.

In many sections the butter is colored with an extract of saffron in water, or of marigold, or with the juice of carrots, which is applied to the cream before churning.

The coloring adds nothing to the quality or the taste. It is done for the sake of the looks; but it gives the butter a deceptive appearance.

Use of the Butter-milk.

—The butter-milk in the churn is poured into a great cask, which in large dairies, as a general rule, is painted blue outside and white inside, with broad black iron hoops. It stands generally in the kitchen covered with a wooden lid. Butter-milk is used either in cooking, or for calves or swine, or is sold.

Dairymen in the vicinity of large cities have barrels with broad, bright brass hoops, in which they carry their butter-milk to market. It is put into them through a bung-hole, and when full the wooden bung is wound with linen and driven in. In these barrels the butter-milk is carried to Amsterdam, Rotterdam, etc., sometimes by boats on the canals, sometimes on wagons, and by yokes, and there sold to the grocers at wholesale, to be again sold out by them. The butter-milk thus brings an income by no means inconsiderable to well-managed dairies.

The Manufacture of the different kinds of Dutch Cheese.

—From time immemorial, cheese, as an article of commerce, which has had a large sale, has brought an extensive income to the cattle-breeders and dairymen where its manufacture has been largely carried on, as everywhere in West Friesland, North and South Holland, and along the borders of the crooked Rhine in Utrecht.

Dairymen are not the only ones who enjoy the advantage which grows out of the cheese-trade; but a large number of other people derive considerable profit from it, and support themselves entirely by it. Even the commonalty of the cities, where the weekly markets for the sale of cheese are regularly held, derive a considerable revenue from the small taxes for carriage and market-dues, to which every seller has to submit.

The actual difference between the different kinds of cheese made in Holland is due in part to the form and size, and in part to the mode of making. Every sort has also a name derived from its peculiarities, or from the provinces or sections where it is made. The varieties of cheese best known in the markets in South Holland are the spice cheese, the sweet milk cheese, known also under the name of Gouda cheese, the so-called May cheese, the Council’s cheese, the Jews’ cheese, and the English cheese, made in many places.

Further up in North Holland, the North Dutch sweet milk cheese, as it is commonly called in the province, known in the foreign markets as Edam cheese, is almost exclusively made. A kind of sweet milk cheese is made to a limited extent, called Commissions’ cheese. In West Friesland, Utrecht, and South Holland, but few except sweet milk cheeses are made.

In making cheese, the utmost cleanliness is most carefully observed in all the operations. Whoever is intrusted with this work is required to display the utmost neatness in his whole person, as well as in the dairy-room; and the vats and other utensils are daily scoured, washed with lye, and washed out in water and rinsed. The greatest attention is also paid to the transport of cheese to the weekly markets in the cities; and in whatever way his load is carried, whether by wagon or in little boats, the person intrusted with it is always dressed in the so-called cheese-frock, a large white linen, which is used exclusively for this purpose. At the market itself the cheese is laid on a four-cornered bench, two feet high, and exposed to view in a glittering white linen cloth. But, in order to keep off all dust and impurities, a sail-cloth is raised over the whole, called the cheese-sail; or it is covered with a sail-cloth covering, or sometimes with clean straw. But in other places it is customary to carry the cheese on wagons, in a white linen cloth, and covered with a woollen cover, ready packed for sale at the markets.

Cheese-making in South Holland.

—Spice cheese from skim-milk, and sweet milk or Gouda cheese, are the only kinds made to any extent in South Holland. Spice cheese, which derived its name from the addition of spices, is a firm, flat cheese, of about twenty pounds weight, brought to market generally colored red. It is three quarters of a foot thick, and one and a half feet in diameter, and is made as follows:

The skim-milk is poured from the milk-pans into large tubs, and allowed to stand quiet till the cheesy matter has settled to the bottom, which requires, perhaps, half a day. Then the thin liquid on top is poured off very carefully, without stirring up the rest, through a strainer, into a large brass kettle, till it is full; but the thicker substance at the bottom is left, and not put into the kettle. Under this kettle a fire is made, and the milk heated to a certain degree, regulated by the judgment of the dairymaid, sufficient to warm other cold milk, but it must not boil. The fire is made in the kitchen, or in the summer-house, or in some other room called the cheese-house. When the milk in the kettle is properly heated, it is poured into the tub of milk which has been heated and allowed to get cold. This tub is an upright vat, open at the top, of uniform diameter, bound with wooden hoops, and generally left of the natural color of the wood; scoured very bright, but sometimes painted blue and the hoops black. It is seen in Fig. 120.

When the quantity of milk is large, the dairyman puts in as much rennet as he thinks necessary to curdle the milk completely; but before and during the addition of the curd the whole is thoroughly stirred, and this stirring is continued until the stick or wooden ladle used for the purpose will stand erect in the curd. Then the dairy-woman works the curd with her hands till no further effect of the rennet in curding the milk is to be seen. It is called the cheese-curd.

The rennet is prepared in the following manner: The maw or fourth stomach of a newly-killed sucking calf is taken from the other stomachs, carefully cleaned and cut into strips two inches wide, and then hung up in the chimney to be smoked and dried; or, in hot weather in summer, it is hung up in the sun. Well smoked and dried strips will keep a very long time. When these are wanted for use, they are very carefully washed and purified, and then laid in the salt brine from the butter-barrels, or in lukewarm salt water to soak. The liquid is put into bottles and laid in the cellar. For curding milk as much is taken as is thought to be necessary, which cannot be determined without considerable practice and experience. If too little is taken, the cheese is not fat enough; if more than the right quantity, it gives a disgusting acid taste. It is difficult, almost impossible, to state exactly how much rennet should be used with a certain quantity of milk, because this must be determined by its quality and its strength. Something like the following quantity is, however, taken: In a sixty-quart vat are placed about fifty rennets, prepared by drying, washing, and cutting, and a clear salt brine or butter-pickle of twenty to twenty-five degrees strength is added. In smaller quantities the proportion of rennet is about one and a half quarts to a rennet, or even less. This dried maw can be bought everywhere in packages of twenty-five pieces each.

One great point in cheese-making is to have a sufficient quantity of good rennet in store; for the older it grows the more powerful and effective it becomes, and the experienced cheese-makers, studying their own interests, know very well how difficult, hurtful, and time-wasting, it is to use fresh or new rennet. The assertion sometimes made that they use muriatic acid instead of rennet for curding the milk in Holland rests on an error, at least so far as the present methods are concerned. In earlier times, and for the poorest kinds, as the Jews’ cheese, muriatic acid was more or less used. At the present time, the rennet for those cheeses is prepared from the stomachs of calves some days old.

When the curd has sufficiently come, and has all been thoroughly broken, the dairy-woman puts a four-cornered linen cloth, called the cheese-cloth, which is used only for this purpose, and is only loosely woven, upon a small strong ladder laid over the edges of a low tub, and puts upon the cloth the proper quantity of curd, then ties up the four corners of the cloth, and presses with her whole strength, that the milk may drain off. This work is also done by men who can apply great strength, Fig. 121. The corners of the cheese-cloth are brought together, and the operator presses as hard as he can, in order to remove all the milk from the curd. But, as this is not possible with the hands alone, the whole is placed under a plank-press, and by this means as much of the milk as possible is pressed out. A strong cleat is nailed to a pillar in the wall at a convenient height from the floor,—say two feet,—so that the tub, ladder, and cheese-cloth, can be put under the plank, when the plank is pressed down upon the cloth and curd. At the other end of the plank the operator sits and presses down with the whole weight of his body, as seen in Fig. 122. The whey runs into the tub, and is generally used as food for swine. The pressure is continued till no more runs off.

After the complete removal of the whey, the curd remaining in the cloth has the form of the palms of the hands, and is pressed so firmly that it holds together when the cloth is removed. But it is again broken up, and put for this purpose into the breaking-tub, a low but broad, open tub, with wooden hoops, and made of strong staves, and is here worked over by the bare but cleanly-washed feet of the dairyman, or hired man. This working with the feet is continued, just as in kneading dough, till all is brought to a stiff paste.

When it has come to this consistence the forming of the cheese begins. The dairyman has for this purpose a cheese-mould standing before him, and lays on the bottom a layer of cheese without spice, and this is called the blind layer. The cheese tub or mould, Figs. 123 and 124, is used only for this first moulding. It is a wooden vat, made of staves from one to one and a half inches thick, and is nine and a half to twelve and a half inches in diameter, and about ten inches high, bound at the bottom and top with stout hoops. The bottom of oak-wood, put in very carefully, is pierced with holes for letting off any moisture that may remain in the cheese. On the top of the tub a cover is exactly fitted, to sink down upon the cheese when the pressure is applied. This cover is of oak, one and a half inches thick, and has a cross-piece three and a half inches thick, which serves as a handle.

The first layer of cheese is quite firmly pressed down or trodden into the mould with the hands or feet, and then follows a layer of curd mixed with spices. The mixture is made best by putting as much of the pasty curd from the vat into a tub as will form one layer in the mould. Over this the spice is strewn, caraway and some pounded cloves, and the mass is then worked over, when it is placed as a new layer into the mould. Upon the second layer some coarsely-pounded cloves are generally scattered, or they are stuck whole over the surface. After that the second layer is pressed in like the first, and the third follows, and so on till the mould is full. On the uppermost and firmly pressed layer is laid the cover. The mould thus carefully filled is now brought under a press, which, partly on account of its length, is called the “long-press,” and sometimes the “first” or “cheese press,” because the cheese first comes under it. This press is seen in Fig. 125. It stands on four short legs, and consists of upright beams fixed upon a platform, and a long beam, acting as a lever, with one end fastened by a rivet or bolt. The other end is loaded with weights to any desirable extent, as appears in the cut. The power of the press may also be increased or diminished by shifting the end of the lever to the lower or upper hole.

When the mould is put under the press it is set into a shallow, four-cornered wooden box or pan on the foot-board. This pan is furnished with grooves at the side, through which the whey can escape. The pressure may still further be increased by putting a block on the lid of the mould, as appears in the press. It is this powerful pressure which gives the cheese the high quality for which it is distinguished above others. The whey still remaining in the curd runs off through the holes in the bottom of the mould, when the strong pressure is applied, into the pan, and is caught in another pan which sits under the press.

When the cheese has stood two hours under the press, it is taken from the mould, surrounded by a clean linen cloth, and again brought under the press. The change of cloth is repeated once or twice after two or three hours’ pressing, and the cheese is left standing in the press over night. The next morning the cheese is brought under another press, under which it is subjected to still more powerful pressure, and receives its peculiar form. This press is seen in Fig. 126, and consists of a frame resting on four strong uprights, forming a kind of firm table. On the plate of the table lie four or six rollers, whose ends at both sides pass through holes in the standard pieces, and serve merely to assist in taking out the cheese. The pressure is obtained by heavy weights let down and raised by a kind of windlass fixed in two perpendicular standards. The cheese as it comes under this press is not in the mould, but is simply laid in a pan, as seen in Fig. 127. Before the pressure begins, however, the stamp or mark of the manufacturer, a key, a letter, etc., in iron, is laid upon the cheese, and upon that a square board. The pan and weight are lowered, so that the pressure begins and the stamp is impressed on the cheese, which becomes flatter, smoother, and firmer than before. The cheese is left under this press till it gets its final form, and the pressure in the pan is increased or diminished, according to circumstances.

When the cheese, after being pressed in both machines, has received its final form, it is placed in a long trough, called the salt-trough, which is generally in the cow-room behind the cow-stands. It has been already said that the cow-stall is used as a cheese-room in summer, when the cows are out to pasture. In this trough, a space deep and wide enough for the diameter of the cheese, from four to six cheeses can be laid. In the salt-trough the cheeses are salted as long and as thoroughly as is necessary. Observation and experience are needed here to get the right quantity of salt and the right time, that the cheese may receive a suitably firm crust or rind.

When the cheese in the salt-trough is sufficiently salted, it is put over a large tub, where it is properly washed in cold, fresh water, trimmed with a cheese-knife, and colored. For coloring, annatto boiled in water with some potash is used. After the coloring the cheese is rubbed with the beistings, or first milk of a cow newly-calved. The spice cheese gets its red color and firm, smooth rind in the coloring and washing in the beistings; and this distinguishes it from other sorts.

The colored cheeses are now laid upon shelves made for the purpose in the cow-stall used as a cheese-room, and turned daily till properly dried. When dry they are laid for sale in a cheese or store room. This room is connected with the house, or separated from the other rooms only by a thin board partition. This room, as well as the cow-stall, is kept extraordinarily clean,—scoured and aired, and used for nothing but the keeping of cheese.

Fig. 128 represents the cow-stall used as a cheese-room, in which the salt-trough is seen, and the dairyman and dairy-woman are occupied in turning and trimming the cheese.

Manufacture of Sweet Milk Cheese in South Holland.

—The best kind of sweet milk cheese is made in the vicinity of the city of Gouda, and on the gray and Dutch Yssel, from which circumstance it is often known by the name of Gouda cheese.

The making of this cheese is less difficult than that of spice cheese, but requires more attention and care, because the rich sweet milk is used for it. It is as follows: The milk as it comes fresh from the cow is strained through a hair-strainer into a large wooden vat or tub, or, in some large dairies, into a copper kettle, which stands on a peculiar tray or bench. This tray is made of four to five inch posts, and its size is governed by the quantity of milk of the tubs to be used; but these tubs generally hold from one hundred to one hundred and fifty cans. The milk is immediately set with the requisite quantity of rennet, usually one quarter of a can to one hundred cans of milk; and if it does not “come” in a quarter of an hour, more rennet is added.

When it has properly curdled, it is stirred in all directions with a wooden ladle three or four times over, and somewhat broken up, when it is allowed to stand three or four minutes at rest. It is then gently and constantly stirred again, with the ladle or the hands, and broken. By too active stirring one gets more whey than cheese, and very quick stirring must be avoided. The whey is then allowed to stand some time, by which the curdled cheese particles collect, and the whey appears on the surface, and can be taken off and poured into a tub made for the purpose. To the mass still remaining in the kettle, which is now almost all cheesy matter, as much hot water is added as is sufficient to warm it properly. The addition of hot water must be made with discretion, however, and must not exceed a certain amount, which can be learned only by practice. The more we add, the drier will the cheese become after a while; and, though it may keep the better, and be better for transportation, the taste is unquestionably injured by it. The cold-made cheese is far more liable to injury from keeping, but is much richer and more palatable, on which account the best is generally eaten fresh. The quantity of hot water to be added for warming the milk must therefore he determined somewhat by the disposition to be made of the cheese.

When the hot water has stood, say half an hour, on the curd, it is taken off and poured into the whey. The curd is now properly brought together by the hands or a ladle, and again thoroughly worked and broken. After standing at rest a short time, the water and whey are turned off again, as completely as possible, in the whey-tub. The mass of curd still remaining in the vat, now called wrongel, is cut up into small pieces, which are very carefully worked over, and then pressed into the wooden cheese-mould. In order to get a very fine separation of the curd, only a small quantity is taken at once from the vat, which is rubbed in the hands, and then pressed into the mould till it is quite full. The cheese-mould is in the form of a bowl, made of willow wood, with its lower part pierced with holes, so that the whey can run off when the pressure is applied. The cheese now formed is taken out carefully, rubbed with the hands, and still further worked in the cheese-tub, and again very firmly pressed into the mould with the hands.

To be able to press it into the mould with greater power, an implement called the presser is used. It consists of a short stick, with a kind of handle or cross-piece on the upper end. On the lower end a disc is fixed which fits into the cheese-mould. In using the instrument, the disc is placed on the cheese to be pressed into the mould, the handle or cross-piece is placed against the chest or shoulders, and the operator presses down at the same time with his hands, thrusting the disc as deeply as possible into the cheese-mould. When pressed enough on one side, it is turned round in the mould, bringing the other side up, and the pressure is again applied as strongly as possible. For saving the whey in cheese-pressing, the mould is set into a pan only a little larger than the mould itself, which catches the whey running out from the mould. When the cheese in the mould is properly pressed by hand, the cover is put upon the mould, which is loaded gradually, in order to bring down the greatest possible pressure. The weight or pressure is greater or less according to the size of the cheese; yet during the pressure the cheese must be frequently turned, that it may get the right form. The gradual increase of the pressure goes on for twenty-four hours, when the cheese is taken from the mould to be laid in a tub of salt-brine in the cellar; the cellar must be kept cool. The cheese remains in the brine twenty-four hours, but is turned once in that time. It is then taken out and put upon a table, the surface of which is inclined, the legs of one end being longer than those of the other. On both sides of the inclined table run grooves in the direction of the inclination of the surface, which unite at the lower end, and serve as a way of escape for the brine or pickle into a tub below. Here the cheese is rubbed with salt, and a handful of salt, is scattered over the top, when it is left standing for some time “in the salt.” If one side was rubbed in the morning, it is turned at evening; and the other side is served in the same manner as the first. A cheese of from fifteen to sixteen pounds remains standing thus four or five days, according to the temperature. If the heat is great, it must stand the longer in the salt. When sufficiently salted, it is washed off in hot water, and taken to the cheese-room, where it is daily turned on dry, clean shelves. If it is still greasy or dauby on the outside, it is still further washed in water, and dried off with a coarse linen towel.

The cheese-room is generally kept closed by day to keep out the light and sun, which are not good for cheese. It is opened in the morning and evening to let in a little cooling air; yet a strong breeze is avoided by opening all the doors and windows at the same time, for the cheese will crack and break open if exposed to it.

Sweet milk cheese is fit for use at the age of four weeks. Strongly salted cheese does not ripen up so quickly as that which is salted less; but, if it takes longer, the loss is less, and, on that account, it is preferred for sending off to less salted cheese, which, on the other hand, is richer, and has a little better taste. In the daily turning of the cheese, great care is taken to observe any little specks in it where the mites conceal themselves. As soon as such places are discovered, a hole is dug out with a knife as deep as they extend into the cheese. The holes are left open till the next day, when, if no more mites appear, they are stopped up with other cheese. But, if they still appear, some pounded pepper is put into the holes, which destroys them. Rotten or moist spots on the cheese are treated in the same way, but very deep holes have to be made into the cheese, and it is best to cover them with buckwheat-meal, when they dry up very quickly.

In very hot weather it sometimes happens that the cheese swells up and begins to ferment. Then it is laid on the cleanly-scoured pavement of the cheese-room, where it is cooler; or, as many do, pierced pretty deeply with holes with a knitting-needle, which often helps it. With the decrease of the great heat of the sun, the swelling also ceases. The cheese is not injured except in appearance, the taste being improved. But, if the swelling is very considerable, it makes the cheese hollow. If the milk and cheese dishes are not very cleanly washed and rinsed out, the cheese gets a wrinkled crust, and begins to ferment.

Sweet milk cheese, three or four months old, is turned and aired only once a week in dry weather. Many cheese-makers also sprinkle the cheeses daily, for a week or two after they are fourteen days old, with beer and vinegar, or with vinegar in which saffron has been extracted, by which it gets not only a beautiful yellow color, but is also protected from flies.

The Use of the Whey of Sweet Milk Cheese.

—On what remains of the milk devoted to the making of sweet milk cheese in the manner above described, or the whey which runs off in the pressing of the cheese, there forms, after it has stood a few days, a fine creamy skin, which is carefully taken off with a wooden spoon, put in a clean jar, and stirred from time to time. This cream is collected to make butter, and it can be done once a week. This butter-whey is healthful and good, to be sure; but, on the whole, is not so fine and delicate flavored as good cream butter, and on this account is cheaper.

The butter-milk which comes from the churning of the cream of whey is a good food for swine. They greatly relish it.

Whey is also sold as a beverage, and is called “sweet whey.” When fresh and untainted, it is quite an agreeable drink, very cooling, and good for the health in spring, purifying the blood, though somewhat purgative in its effect on the kidneys. Later in summer, when the heat is very great, whey is thought to be rather injurious to the health than otherwise. It is then used exclusively for swine.

May Cheese.

—In the early part of summer, when the grass is best, sweet milk cheese is made in precisely the same way as that described, yet of smaller size and less weight. This is called May cheese, and is designed for immediate use or sale when ripe, as it will not keep, and easily loses its fine flavor.

Jews’ Cheese.

—Another kind of sweet milk cheese is the Jews’ cheese. It differs from common sweet milk cheese in its form, which is flatter and thinner, and partly in being less salted, and of a much looser texture. It is but little made; but some dairies are devoted to it.

Council’s Cheese.

—This is made as the common sweet milk cheese, only in much smaller moulds. It has also a peculiar color. It is allowed to get rather old before it is relished, and is then mostly given away.

New Milk’s Cheese.

—This is made in winter, when the cows are in the stall. It is not so good as grass cheese, which is made in summer, when the cows are at pasture, and is less relished, and brings a lower price. When the cows are brought to the barn late in the fall, it can be made of very good quality for a few days; but the longer the cow remains in the stall the more the milk loses its good quality for cheese, on which account but few of the larger dairies make cheese at all in winter.

To make it appear to buyers more like grass-made cheese, and to be able to sell it, it is colored with the same material, and it is then often very difficult to distinguish it, since great pains is taken to give the two kinds the same form, hardness of rind, etc. The dairymen have less to do with this deception than the dealers. Hay cheese is rather better in quality for coloring, since it gains in appearance and taste; but it never can equal grass-made cheese in fine qualities.

Cheese-making in North Holland.

—In the province of North Holland sweet milk cheese is made almost exclusively. From ancient times this particular branch of farming has been carried to great extent; but it has especially grown in importance since the province gained a firm soil by artificial draining. At the present time North Holland is the head-quarters of the cheese-trade; and it is easily explained in the fact that no other province has more or better cattle. The manufacture of cheese is almost the only object of keeping cattle, and the North Dutch dairy farmer applies himself with the greatest possible zeal to the most careful modes of cheese-making, in order to keep up the ancient reputation of his cheeses, both in the domestic and foreign markets, and to secure to himself all of the advantages springing from it.

The quantity of cheese which is weekly sold in the markets of Alkmaar, Hoorn, Edam, Purmerend, Medenblik, Enkhuizen, etc., is enormous. We cite Alkmaar alone as an example, where on the city scales there were weighed no less than 23,859,258 Netherlandish pounds (536,834,830 pounds, American), from 1758 to 1830. Since that time the manufacture has increased, so that from three to four million Netherland pounds are annually brought to the Alkmaar market. But, besides this, a large quantity of cheese does not come into the market, but is sold at the dairy without passing through the hands of the traders, and never comes to the city scales.

In 1843 there were sold in the North Dutch cheese-markets 22,385,812 pounds, to say nothing of the large quantity sold directly from the dairy. It is easy to see, therefore, how important and extensive an interest the manufacture of cheese has become for this province. Of the twenty-two million pounds annually exported, the value may be estimated as at least three million Dutch guilders. The price and value of the cheese vary, of course, with the markets.

The North Dutch cheese differs somewhat in quality and money value, according to the section where it is made; but in general that made in the region about Hoorn is considered the best, as is very natural, since in that vicinity are to be found the finest meadows and pastures in the province. The villages of Oosterblokker, Westerwoude, Hoogecarspel, and Twisk, are distinguished above all others; and so are the pastures of Beemster, Purmer, and Schermer, almost equally so.

The Dutch cheese-maker reckons twelve Netherland cans of milk to a pound—two and a quarter pounds American—of cheese, according to which a cow in three hundred days would give from eighteen hundred to two thousand cans of milk, or usually from one hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventy-five Netherland pounds of cheese, in a year.

The Utensils used in Cheese-making in North Holland

are nearly the same as those already described for saving the milk for butter, and those used in the various processes of cheese-making in South Holland. They are modified to some extent, to be sure, by the taste, the pride, the wealth, or the caprice, of each dairyman. Many a them are painted, wholly or in part, in oil colors, for the sake of durability as well as cleanliness, on which the North Dutch dairyman lays great stress. They do not require much capital.

Variety of North Dutch Cheeses, and the Trade in them

.—The North Dutch cheese is called sweet milk cheese, and also, pretty commonly, white cheese, where it is made; but in Germany it is called Edamer, less because the best is made in the vicinity of this city than because the largest trade in it is carried on there.

All sweet milk cheese has not the same weight, form, and size. Many kinds of it come into the market under different names; as, for example, large cheese of 20 to 24 pounds (45 to 54 pounds), Malbollen of 16 pounds (36 pounds), medium of 10 to 12 pounds (22 to 27 pounds), Commission’s of 6 or 7 pounds (14 to 16 pounds), and little ones of 4 pounds (9 pounds), to which belong the Jews’ cheese. Besides this, the making of English cheese is carried on. Malbollen is but little made. It is of about twenty pounds weight. Fifty years ago large quantities of it came into market, and were sold mostly in North Brabant and the Rhine provinces. Of the medium cheese the manufacture is pretty extensive at the present time, and it is sold to go to North Brabant chiefly. The price of these sorts is more frequently fluctuating than that of the smaller ones; but less so than that of Commission’s cheese, which is not much made. These varieties in former years were very profitable, since they were made with little labor, being light and spongy from slight pressing and little salting, and were sold green.

Dairy industry is now chiefly devoted to making the varieties most known and sought for in Germany, the Edam small sweet milk cheeses, which are sent in enormous quantities to all parts of the world. There are two varieties of Edam cheese in the market, one with a white, the other with a red rind. The latter is firm, more of a yellowish color inside, and colored outside. The coloring matter is prepared in France for this special purpose. By this treatment the cheese is better adapted to transportation. The early red rind cheese is the finest and best. It is made in spring from milk fresh and warm from cows just turned to pasture, and is exported mostly to Italy, Spain, and America. That made later in summer is not so good, and goes to France; the red rind, made still later in the fall, goes to England and Brabant. Cheese that is injured, or does not keep well, is sold mostly in Hamburg and Brabant.

Making of Edam Cheese.

—The Edam is a rich sweet milk cheese, that is made from fresh, unskimmed milk. The milk, while still warm from the cow, is poured into a large tub or a kettle through the strainer. In cold weather, when it has cooled off in standing in the air, it is warmed to a proper degree by adding milk heated by the fire. The rennet is then added. This is prepared in the following manner: The maw of the nursing-calf, cut, into long strips, is soaked for twenty-four hours in sweet whey, when it is made lukewarm over a slow fire, whey and all, and three times the quantity of cheese-brine, or solution of the salt of the cheese, added. The mass is then allowed to stand four days, when it is fit for use. An exact determination of the quantity of rennet to be used cannot well be given, since the quantity depends on the quality; but usually about two hundred cans of milk to one fifth of a can of rennet is the proportion, taking more or less, according to the strength of the rennet.

The milk in the tub to which the rennet has been added is covered over and allowed to stand till it is curdled, or become hard, which usually requires a quarter of an hour. The curdled milk is then called “glib.” It is now slowly but regularly stirred, with a shallow, long-handled cheese-spoon, in all directions.

Some cheese-makers treat the milk in the following manner: They stir the milk, thrusting an inverted cheese-ladle into the curdling mass every two or three minutes after adding the rennet, by which the curdling is much hastened. Now they move the ladle or cheese-stick three or four times with considerable force through the thickening milk, and lay it, inverted, on the surface of the milk, covering the vat for ten or twelve minutes, when the mass is again set in motion, and then again allowed to stand. By this means the cheese particles settle to the bottom, and the whey rises to the top.

When, after these alternate stirrings and rest of the curdling milk, the solid particles have settled, and the whey is collected on top, the latter is turned off, as carefully as possible, into the whey-tub. In order the better to settle the cheesy parts, and to cause the whey to come up, the cheese-stick is loaded with weights or stones, by which the whey is separated in the pressure upon the curd. Some minutes after, the whey is again turned off, the whole mass is properly stirred, and the curd is collected with the cheese-stick and worked with the hands, and the whey is again carefully turned off. The curd, now become thick, is taken out of the vat, piece by piece, and broken with the hands as finely as possible, in order to fill as much into the cheese-moulds as will just make a cheese. The moulds are set into the cheese-vat, and the curd is worked and pressed closely in with the hand, to remove the whey as much as possible. The cheese is then taken out of the mould, and again very finely crumbled in the vat, and, after the whey is again turned off through the strainer, is pressed the second time into the mould, so that it is as full of cheese as it can possibly be. It is then turned in the mould so that the upper side goes down, when it is again firmly pressed in. The turning is repeated several times.

In the making of large and medium cheeses the presser is used, while space left empty by the pressure is again filled with curd, so that the mould is always full, and the cheese gets its requisite size. In the smaller or four-pound cheeses, the hands alone are used for this pressing into the mould. The mould, now pressed full, is put into a tub, properly washed in whey, and cleansed of all remaining fat. By the washing and smoothing the cheese must get a glossy and smooth rind. After this is done, the cheese is again taken out of the mould, wrapped in a clean linen cloth, put in again, and covered over and brought under the press, that it may become harder and firmer, and that the whey may run off.

In hot weather the cheese is left under the press five hours, from nine in the morning till two in the afternoon; but, if it is cool, it must stand longer. There are several different objects in view in deciding the continuance of the pressure. Many think two or three hours sufficient, whilst others press five hours. Cheese designed for export is pressed longer, or twelve hours.

It takes from three to four hours, usually, from the pouring in of the milk to the bringing of the cheese under the press; but it can be done in two or two and a half hours without injuring the cheese.

After the first pressing is finished, the cheese is put into another mould, rounder than the first, and with only one hole in the bottom, to lie in the salt. In many places a long trough is used, in which several such moulds are placed to be salted at the same time; and for this either dry salt or pickle (brine, or salt in solution) is used. The pickle is most commonly used, and is thought best. When one side of the cheese has laid some hours in the brine, it is turned, and the other side is also salted. After a while it is salted or turned in the brine but once a day. Small four-pound cheeses remain nine days in hot weather, and in cold ten or twelve days, in the salt; medium ones of ten to twelve pounds must lie at least three weeks. In very hot weather they are often salted twice a day. The moulds with the salted cheese are placed, several together, into the cheese-vat where the brine is, or on a salting-tray where the brine is collected in a tub beneath. After being finally salted, they are washed perfectly clean with water or warm whey. Many put their cheeses from the brine immediately in a kettle of hot whey for some minutes, and wash them in it. All unevenness or roughness got in pressing in the mould is now scraped off with a knife.

After the washing, the cheeses are again perfectly dried, and laid on the shelves in the cheese-room, where they are daily turned, and remain from two to four, and even five weeks. The cheese is now salable; but before it is packed or delivered it is laid for some hours to soak in pure, cold spring or well water, the smallest for three hours, the medium four, and the largest five hours. The cheese is then well cleaned with the cheese-brush, laid on the shelf in the store-room, and turned a week or more, daily. But, in order to give them a fine yellow color, in damp weather, especially, the poorer ones are, by many dairymen, laid a good ways apart, and sprinkled or washed daily with new beer. When the cheese is to be sold, it is properly washed still again in hot whey, and rubbed with a woolen cloth a day before sending to market, with hot or cold linseed-oil, by which the outside of the cheese gets a fine glow; but it must be rubbed till no fat or oil is to be felt.

The Red Color of Edam Cheese.

—After the dairyman has sold his cheese to the merchant, it is colored by him quite red. It will not be uninteresting to many readers to know some of the details of this peculiar color.

Edam cheese is colored with what is called tournesol, which is extracted from a plant (Croton tinctorium). This is an annual, which grows wild in France, in great abundance, in the vicinity of Montpelier, in Languedoc; and around Aix, in Provence, large commons are sown with it. The seed is sown in March and April. From a white and straight tap root, it sends up a stalk something like six inches high, which divides into many branches. The leaves have very long stems, of a pale green color. The flower-stalks spring up from between the branches, and bear flowers in fan-shaped clusters. The vegetation of the plant continues four months.

The preparation of the tournesol is as follows: The plants are collected late in summer, the roots thrown away, and the other parts taken to a mill, where they are ground, and the juice pressed out. Into this juice the rags of old hempen cloth are dipped till they are soaked full, when they are hung up to dry in the sun. When they are dry they are laid on a tray over a tub filled with urine, in which carbonate of lime has been dissolved, so that the edges hang over the rim of the tub on which they rest. The vapor from the solution of lime must penetrate the rags, and this gives them a violet color, when they are taken off and dried again, to be replaced till they are fully colored.

The tournesol rags have become an article of commerce, for which France receives annually from Holland from 100,000 to 200,000 guilders (from $38,000 to $76,000).

To give the Edam cheeses the red rind, they are rubbed with these tournesol rags, from which they got the dark violet color; and after they are dried they are again rubbed, which gives them a glowing red.

It is an excellent peculiarity of the tournesol rags that they not only impart the color to Edam cheese, to which people abroad are so accustomed, but that they keep the insects from the cheese, whilst the coloring matter does not penetrate inside, but remains on the rind. Substitutes for it have been repeatedly sought, but not found; nor have the attempts made to grow the plant in Holland proved successful.

Use of the Whey of the North Dutch Sweet Milk Cheese

.—The whey obtained in making cheese in North Holland is collected in large tubs. The sweet, agreeable taste of the whey is soon lost when it is set to obtain the fatty particles still remaining in it. The cream which forms on it is daily taken off with a skimmer, put into a cream-pot, and when it is collected in sufficient quantity it is made into whey butter.