Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1866-09-27
Agtitnltnral.
Cheese making in England,


information on dairying in England,by the
American Dairymen's Association, writes
from Gloucester as follows
On the western side of the Cotswold hills,
extending to the Severn river, and fifteen
or twenty miles in length, is what is called
the Vale of Berkeley. 1t has every appear
ance of having been in past time, covered
with the sea. This valley is the chief dairy
district of the country. The native cow is
of dark color, with black nose and muz-
zle, short on the legs, is thick set, we'll
built animal, altogether very useful beast,
but the shorthorns and Herefords are re-
placing her
In the regular Gloucester dairies the
cheese is made thin-eight of them only
weighing one hundred and twenty pounds.
They are made twice day. They com
mence at seven o'clock in the morning and
finish about ten to eleven o'clock In the
afternoon they commence with the evening
milk about five and finish again between
eight and nine o'clock. These cheeses have
a name in the cheese consuming world as
the famous Berkeley cheese. They are rich
and sweet, if made well. The maker of
these are quite as tenacious of their repu-
tation as those whomake cheese worth from
ten to twenty shllings per cwt. more mon
ey.
At a nice farm in the southern part Of
Gloucester, which visited to see the opera
tions of making "single Gloster cheese, "the
dairy consisted of thirty-fve cows There
were short-horns, large, handsome stock,
but not showing extraordinary capacity for
milk. The dwelling, dairy and out-build-
ings were all of stone, large, commodious,
and everything kept in the neatest man
ner.
The place where the cheese was made
was a spacious room, with stone floor, clean,
and we'll ventilated and as cool and sweet
an apartment as the most fastidious cheese.
making consisted of one unpainted tub for
holding the milk, leaden vats for holding
the whey circular wire curd breaker, hav.
ing an upright handle springing from the
center, dippers, skimmers, &c, with two
box presses for pressing cheese. The last
were unlike anything had ever seen, and
consisted Of large, square boxes, moving up
between standards by means of pully and
ropes attached to windlass. The boxes
were filled with stones, iron, &c, making a
weight of several hundred pounds, and are
applied directly on the cheese These pres
ses were very nicely made of dark wood
vanished, and evidently intended to be
ornamental as well as useful. From the
manner Of their make, and the power to be
applied in raising the weight, the services
of a strong man would be required. The
milk was being made up twice day, max
ing eleven cheeses, (of fourteen pounds
each, for every two days, the cheese being
about three inches thick by fourteen to fif
teen inches broad There was no heating
apparatus to the room, and none is required
in the "Single Gloster" process of cheese
making. AS soon as properly coagulated
it is broken up with the wire breaker, by
moving it up and down, which has a ten
dency to pulp the curd, more than to break
it, as the word breaking is generally under
stood among our cheese makers. The mass
is thus left for the curd to settle, and after
it has arrived, at proper degree of firm
ness to be handled the whey is dipped of
down to the curd the tub canted up to drain
off wat whey remains, and the curd gath
cred to the upper edge of the tub The
whey being removed, the curd is cut across
and heaped up and pressed with the hands
to expel as much of the whey as possible
when it is put to press. 1t remains in press
till morning, when it is taken out, turned
and salted on the outside 1t is then re
turned to the press and goes through the
same operation for four to six successive
successive days. When taken from the
press it is put upon the shelf for a few days
to be turned every morning, and finally
goes to the cheese room, when prices suit
This cheese room, or drying room, is in the
upper part Of the dwelling, and the cheese
when taken here are placed together on the
floor.
A cheese dealer from Bristol, who was
present with us, made a test of the cheese
by walking upon them as they lay spread
upon the floor, which we were assured was
the usual method of determining their firm
ness of solidity. They stood the test of hi
weight and boots, and were pronounced one
of the best dairies in Gloucester.
The hoops in which the cheese are pres
sed are turned out of solid piece of wood
and each has a bottom, pierced with holes
similar to the hoops used in Wiltshire
and in one of the presses | counted fifteel
cheeses piled up one upon the other, all o
which were being pressed together.
| think, from the above description, non,
Of our dairymen in America will care t,
make "Singie Gloster" cheese, and canuo
see why people here will continue to keel
along in the same old rut of their forefath
crs without making some effort to improve