The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1892-03-02
The BrattlebOro Meeting...IO. 5.

read at this meeting was that by Colonel
L. ID. Curtis, the veteran cheese maker,
formerly of New York but for some
years the agricultural editor of the
Mirror and Farmer. We think
good many of our readers take that
excellent paper, but we ought not for
that reason to deprive those who do not
of 80 much valuable instruction. After
referring to the past of the cheese in
dustry, Mr.. Curtis said:
Chow much improvement have we
made on these suggestions of twenty to
twenty-five years ago? Many things
that were talked of at that time are still
questions of lively debate aud often the
disputan,s join in the discussion as if
these were new things never thought of
before. 1t was ferments then; it is mi
crobes now. But who knows whether
microbes are causes or effects? In such
field it is very easy to get the cart be-
fore the horse.
"In 1870, January IL, at Utica, N.
Y, Professor l.. B. Arnold read his
paper on the active principle of renuet.
If not the first, he is entitled to all the
credit of an original discoverer. "A
large piece of pine charcoal wac taken
and made cOncave on one side, so as 10
hold a small amount of liquid, and
used as filter. The rennet so filtered
lost all its strength and all its peculiar
odor-nothing, apparently, but pure
brine came through This liquid had
no effect in curding milk. Expert
ments showed that the efficacy of rem
net depended on microscopic ellis,
which the charcoal retained. These
were found in the stomach of the lamb,
the pig and the calf. In the lamb they
were small and feeble; in the omnivor-
GUS pig they were large and powerful,
and more often seen in clusters of sim
guar shape, while in the calf they are
generally SINGLE They are found all
through the intestinal canal, in the
bladder and in the milk glands. They
begin to break at a temperature little
above blood heat, and as it rises, more
and more of them are destroyed. At
100 degrees more than half of them dis.
appear, and at 100 degrees none ofthem
are to be SEEM He thinks they all dis
appear at 140 degrees; the elder Voelck.
er said at 1876 degrees. These cells
are formed in tubes opening through
the lining of the stomach, something as
eggs are formed in the hen. The ma.
ture ones are discharged through the
mouths of the ducts into the stomach
The less and less mature follow behind
in the tube, the least mature being the
last that are rubbed out in soaking anC
preparing the rennet, and appear TO BIZ
the weakest, the first rubbing producing
tho af Thoaa latt q y hn
the cream in the curd best.
How do the rennet cells act in
curding milk? | understand they dc
not multiply, but produce their effec
somehow by mere contact, called ca
talysis. They are neither acid no
!. alkaline. Professor Arnold found tina
alkalis are death to the cells. Som'
l. acids have the same effect, and all arr
weakening. The discovery of thes'
two facts led him to adopt the swee
curd system, which is simply drawing
the whey sweet, getting rid of it as fas
as possible, and thus reducing the de
velopment of acid to the minimum
while the choosing or ripening of thu
curd is going on in the vat.
"BefOre the New York State Dairy
mems Association, in December, 1877
Professor Arnold pointed out wherein
his process differed from others. M
process he said, is similar to the oil
private dairy system in this: In both
the whey is drawn sweet, but in tn
dairy the curd, when separated from
the whey, was at once sailed ant
pressed. But / give an EXTENSIVE
ripening of the curd, after it is out o
the whey, before even applying salt
Here is an important difference.
make the same difference with thos
who use the Dunlop, Wiltshire, etc
The Cheddar process comes neares
my mode, but the two separate at al
important point. The Cheddar mel
(about one-half of them) draw thei
whey sweet, as well as l. They max
it point to ripen the curd after it il
out of the whey, and so do l. The,
drain their curds and pack them in tn
make vat, turn them occasionally t.
keep them warm alike, and let tn
whey run off, and at first L did thu
same. But the polar stars TOWARD
which we travel lie in opposite sides o
the heavens. The Cheddar men, &C
cording to Professor Willard, work Of
an acid basis; l on sweet one. The
ripen their curds to a certain stage O
acidity. l ripen mine to certain stag
in respect to choosing. If the milk
suspected of being too sweet for them
they put sour whey into it with tn
rennet, to hasten the souring; and the
work all the way through with vie'
to encouraging and cultivating acid a
about certain time, and their manir
ulations are all shaped to that end
l, on the other hand, avoid the use {
acid in any and every way, and work t.
put it off as long as | can, and, it pos
sible, to steer clear of il entirely. Mil
is never too sweet for my process
though but one minute from the COW
These two conditions of choosing an
souring have no necessary connectio
with each other. The former depend
on the action of rennet and oxidation
the latter on fermentation. They ma
or may not advance alike. Either on
is liable to be in advance or behind tn
ill.,. h., an In ba condition =