TUNLEY FARM, NEAR BATH.

Western Star, Issue 374, 21 August 1880, Page 3 (Supplement)

TUNLEY FARM, NEAR BATH.

ft will be remembered that at the International Dairy Fair, in New York, for 1878, the sweepstakes prize for host cheese made anywhere was awarded to Mr George Gibbons, of Tunley Farm, near Bath, Somerset, England. The cheese was of the Cheddar variety with all the distinguished characteristics of the fine quality produced by this method—a method which is said to have originated in nr near Cheddar, Somerset, more than 300 years ago./ Mrs Gibbons, who manages *he cheese-making on the Tunley Farm, is a daughter of the late Mr Joseph Harding, the noted exponent of Cheddar cheesemaking, and whose name is familiar to all progressive cheese-making in this country and in Europe. •• Mr Gibbons has frequently taken prizes, having been awarded first premium in France and in various parts of England for best cheese, and it may be a matter of some interest to American Dairymen to know the procedure of manufacture in this dairy. Last'year, 1879, in the awards made by the Royal Agricultural Society of England for best managed farms, we notice Mr Gibbons comes in for 2nd prize, and it is from a report of the judges that we gather ranch interesting matter, which we condense and rearrange in a brief article for the readers of The Dairyman. The Tunley Farm is occupied by Mr Gibbons under an unexpired term of lease. It contains 384 acres, 100 acres of arable, and 284 acres in grass. The land is of a. very undulating character and of good fair quality, the soil being described as mixed, mostly heavy, and the subsoil mostly clay. Mr Gibbons pays about 30s sterling (7 dol. 50 c.) per acre for labor, and expends a sum exceeding a year’s rent of his farm upon purchased food for his stock.

The returns in the shape of pork and dairy produce are large. About 200 pigs at an average weight of .200 lb each are fattened annually. On the first visit of the Committee in January, there were on the farm, seventysix cows, sixteen 2-year-old heifers in calf, twenty-four yearling heifers, and two bulls. The sheep consisted of forty-five breeding ewes, sixty-three ewe tegs, fourteen wether tegs, and two rams. The horses kept on the farm were seven cart-horses and four cart colts, two nag colts, a pony, and a cob. The crops on the arable land consist of wheat, barley, roots, and seeds. Cheese Making.—As previously remarked the cheese is made by Mrs Gibbon. The vat in which the milk is put, is fixed on a wooden frame, with a contrivance for tilting, to assist in running off the whev. It has also a gauge for registering the milk ; the morning’s and evening’s’ milk are mixed together, and raised to a temperature of 80 deg. Fah., by heating a portion of the evening’s milk in a boiler of hot water. About five drachms of Hanson’s rennet is added to every eleven gallons of milk, or in this proportion for the mess, which coagulates it very regularly in an hour.

When the milk is coagulated, the curd is cut diagonally with a large knife, and left until the whey begins to separate, when the instrument called the scoopbreaker is used, gently moving it at first through the curd, great care being taken not to bruise the curd, so that it may not lose the fatty matter, which it would do if broken roughly. The motion isgradually increased until the whole is very finely broken. Some of the whey is then drawn off and heated, and when near boiling is poured into the whole, which temperature up to 90 deg, Fah., stirring at the same time to prevent the curd packing, and to heat it regularly. This, to use the local term, is the ‘‘first scald;” and after about ten minutes the same is repeated, and the temperature raised to about 100 deg. Fah. Mrs Gibbons prefers raising the heat at time of heating the whey, to applying the heat underneath the vat. The whole is still kept stirred until the curd becomes more tenacious, offering quite a resistance when placed between the teeth, no perceptible acidity taking place in the whey. The time for the curd standing ip the whey depends upon the season of the year, temperature of atmosphere, condition of the milk at time of setting, &c., varying from thirty minutes to one hour. After the whey is drawn, the curd is cut info squares of 6 or 8 inches and 1 inch thick, and laid up to drain; being occasionally turned, and it is in this stage that the acidity is allowed to take place.

It has to be turned several times, pure air being allowed to pass over it, thus being

thoroughly exposed to the atmosphere. Tt is ground through a curd mill before salting. The salt is applied at the rate of 1 lb of salt to 56 lb of curd, and after being well mixed, is spread thinly over the cooler, where it is turned several times and exposed to the air, and when sufficiently coni, say 60 deg. to 65 deg. of temperature Pah., it is pressed under iron lever presses. Tt remains in press until the third dav (being turned of course), when it is taken to the curing room to ripen. The principal features nf the Cheddar process is setting for coagulation at about 80 deg., breaking the curds very fine—scalding or conking the curds at a temperature of 100 deg., drawing the whey early, exposing the curds after the whey is drawn a 'long time to the atmosphere and until acidity is developed, grinding the curds, and salting and allowing the cheese to remain under pressure until the third day. At Mr Steed’s fatm in Somerset, which took the first prize, and where the same same system of Cheddar cheese-making is carried on, the beat is applied under the vat, the curds being “ scalded” at 100,deg. Pah. . and stirred intermittently for about twenty minutes, when the whey is drawn. The above are the leading points mentioned by the committe in Cheddar cheesemaking without going into any lengthy detail. And they will perhaps he of interest to American dairymen, Siner, an American theorist, has recently set up the claim that drawing the whey early and exposing the curds for considerable time to the atmosphere to oxidise.” is his discovery and “ a valuable improvement.”