Agricultural and Pastoral.

Otago Witness, Issue 929, 18 September 1869, Page 16

Agricultural and Pastoral.

PROFESSOR VOEBCEER ON' CHEESE- ■ ' ■ ' ■ MAKINGk "

The' following is>an extract from Mr 1 . Willard's letter to the Utica Herald, in which he gives an interesting account of a day spent with Professor Toelcker, chemist of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. ■ " Dr. Voelcker, is free to confess that he does not understand the nature of rennet, and he has proved that the chemists before him have been wrong in their conclusions. In looking over the result of his analysis of milk, although knowing perfectly well the percentage of its different constituents, I was struck with the large amount of phosphates which it contains. He showed me the different solid constituents in a quart of milk. In one bottle were the oils, in another the casein, in another the phosphates, milk, sugar, &c. The amount of phosphates in a quart of milk is no infinitesimal quantity ; but our farmers will better understand' its bulk when I say that it is 'quite a handful,' and then consider for a moment the large number of these handfuls that , are taken from the soil by our dairy farmers and never returned. " The doctor remarked, while showing me the bottle containing the phosphates, that they were really the manures upon which the finer grasses feed, and that the best results always follow their application upon old dairy, farms. There is an immense waste of bones in America: here they are husbanded, imported from America and other countries, atid largely used. He says the quality of milk is greatly influenced by the finer grasses, and these only are found upon the old sward. When you commence cultivating and manuring with barn-yard manures, you get an order of plants that ' may give quantity of milk, but of very inferior quality, and he assured me that cheese of the finest flavour qould not, be made upon such grasses. Nor would it possess the keeping qualities of that made upon the finer grasses grown upon an old sward. "He said to me that one of the greatest faults of cheesemakers was in the application of heat. Many used too high heat. The lower the temperature that could he used, and the more uniform or even it could be applied, the better flavour would obtain to the cheese. Another point of importance in cheesemaking, and one not generally understood, was in relation to the whey. It should be drawn of, got rid off, just as soon as possible, or as soon as consistent with the necessary operations. The reason he gave was, that you could never tell what matter you had, or what you were dealing with in the whey. It may contain taints of the worst character. You cannot well determine the degree of its acidity, and hence great risks were run in steeping the curd for a long time in the fluid. He would prefer to draw the whey as early as possible from the curd, and allow the curd to undergo its proper change and arrive at maturity" heaped tip in the bottom of the vat. " Speaking of the whey, he remarked that he would always draw it. if possible, while it ■was sweet •, and, at our factories, it would be profitable to extract tho milk sugar by evuporution, as they do in Switzerland. " J said to him, 'J?'r«n* your analyses of different samples of choice cheese, I notice the fine quality does not depend upon the quantity ■of butter it contains, since your bast cheese contained n considerable less pjr centagc of butter than our American.' He said flavour nnd rich buttery appearance depended not only upon a nice manufacture, but upon uniform temperature in curing. It will not do to roast cheese one day and cool it down the next. The process of curing must bo so gradual that all the constituents muy mingle together, without detriment to either."

E.VrOTtTATIOX OF BRKADtmJKFS.-— E.XCCpt Oil the gokifieldJi, the people of New Zealand are essentially a rural population. We have 114 manufactures, nnd are dependent entirely upon the proceeds of pastoral nnd farming industry. We nre now producing a clip of wool, which is our staple export. The bulk of our labor, however, is employed upon the cultivation of the soil. The consequent production of cereals is far in excess of internal wants, nnd the time has arrived t or the prompt commencement of an exportation. Coucurrently with this discovery is to be seen the ■existence of a great many facts which compel -us to the conclusion that no export for wheat can be found except to Great Britain. The Australian colonists are fully provided with homegrown braulstuft's. They even compete with us in tWs market. The whole American sen- board of the Pacific isHelf-aupporting.and fora prrcat many years has bwn equal to supplying a large proportion of the Australian ami New Zealand consumption. I »ni not able to state vrlmt may be the prospect of an export to various Asiatic ports, but see 110 reason to hope for any market in that direction. In tho British Islands, however, we know that j?raln in good merchantable condition can be sold at tolerable steady rates. There wo have also a cafe and established mercantile connection immediately available. Under theso condition* it would for the present aprwar wise to hftvc regard to that market only, when wtfertaining tho question of exporting the grain, holding ourselves in readiness to graap every opportunity of safely extending our trado to other parti of tho world,..— W. S. Moorhotwe,

•Sr(:i> Flocks.— U will I* as woll.to R«y, in Tefcwnco to stud •Hook*, that although the uwos may to all appearance lie ererythWß* you mny desire m regnrds form «n«l wool, yetpnrticular attention in wmlflito at the tUrn ot lambing, to observe closely If any of the ovjrcr 9X9 bad uuraes, that i», to #oc that tho vrooi of

;*iriy-ewes does not.,get thin and-puny>;j Ao see, ' that >she has plenty of milk, anddoes not getout of : condition -whilst rearing her lamb; /A ,good sound-constitutioned. ewe should rear 1 a strong lamb; and yield >a good' fleece , at the same time. Any ewe that 'f strips" her belly* wool,, or loses her wool at the points whilst rearing a lamb, should be discarded. ! would also reject ,a ewe which (throws a lamb with 1 black or yellow marks on face or legs ; I would not absolutely object to the tips of the ears being a little brown, but I would prefer them white. — Melbourne Leader. j

Food fob Fowls. — The French people give their fowls more animal food than either English or American farmers", and the French are enabled to supply the English market with millions of egg's per annum, producing, a large, amount of revenue 1 to France— so large that it forms a portion of the satistics of that country, and annual returns are made up for each department as to the amount of eggs produced therein. 1