OUR DAIRIES.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VI, Issue 602, 21 April 1882, Page 2

OUR DAIRIES.

No. 12.—Mb Thos. Johnson's, at Robinson's Bay. One of the nicest little dairy farms on the Peninsula isthatof, Mr Thomas 8. Johnson, at Robinson's Bay. It consists of a hundred ?ar r <JS of line pasture, on which

Mr Johnson's capital herd of milkers ami young stock do exceeding!} 7 well. He usually milks about 20 cows, and from them he nuikes some four tons of cheese a year. He has some 80 acres of land on the Little River road, and it is here the majority of the cattle go in the winter, after the grass seed is taken off it. Besides cheese making in summer time, Mr Johnson always has a few winter cows to supply butter and milk nt that season, and, as most residents know, his butter has an excellent reputation. There ars some capital buildings about the place, and these are all the work of Mr Johnson and his sons. Mr Johnson came to the Peninsula more than 20 years ago, to take charge of Mr Hughes' mill, now known as Mr Saxton's. When that gentleman gave up business, he had the chance of taking the mill, but refused, and settled on the place where he now resides, which was then covered almost to the water's edge with heavy timber. Here he and his sons went pit sawing, and so cleared the land. There is an excellent three-stall stable, good stockyard and cowshed, and convenient calf and pig pens. The house, round which a number of gums and other trees are planted, is prettily situated, with a nice flower garden in front. It is very roomy and convenient, and there is one room in it that will well repay a visit, and will always be a standing record of Mr Johnson's skill, industry, patience, and good taste. The roof and a dado some sft high are of highly polished totara. The wood is some of the most beautiful we have ever seen, being a perfect mass of crops-grained knots, and the labor of cutting and planing it must have been enormous. The mantelpiece is also of the same wood, and has been beautifully carved. A cheffonier fills one of the corners of the room, and is executed in excellent style out of wood from the same knotty tree. The dairy itself is some little distance from the house, in a very cool spot, and is most commodious, and well supplied with water by means of a pump that raises the liquid from the creek below. It consists of two compartments, and is fitted with every convenience, including an admirably constructed pulley for raising the heated whey from the copper into the cheese vat. The presses are good, the chessetts varying from 361b to 501b. The cheese room adjoins the dwellinghouse, and is in a shady corner where the sun beldom comes. It is at present filled with cheese that bears testimony by its condition of the excellency of the accommodation provided. Most of the calves are reared, two gallons of milk per day being given. When a calf looks delicate, it is only kept for a few days, and then killed for the rennet. The young stock certainly do credit to their feeding. The whey is utilised, as usual, for pigs and fowls.

Mrs Johnson is the cheese and butter maker. She lias only exhibited her produce once, at the last show in Akaroa and on that occasion took first prize both for her butter and cheese, a very great honor indeed. The system pursued in making the cheese is the Cheddar. The whole of the night's milk is set in pans, none at all being placed in the vat. In the morning these pans are all skimmed and the milk heated and put in the cheese vat with the now iniik. The cream is then added, being run through the strainer into the vat. Mrs Johnson is of opinion that warming the cream is most injurious to it, as it makes it oily and prevents its as-i-imilatiori with the rest. The curd is set at from 80 to 83 degrees, according to the weatlier, and then left for an hour, Ilansens extract or their own rennet being used. It is left an hour and then broken up with a wire curd breaker. Some whey is then taken out, and it is heated to 90 degrees, and th«n after another half hour's rest to 94 degrees. Sour whey is not used. After the last heating the whey is run off from the bottom and the curd heaped in the middle of the tub and a light weight appied. After draining suflidenlly it is placed in the dripper under moderate pressure, after which it is salted and placed in the chessets. Mrs Johnson's cheese and butter are much sought after, and always command good prices in the market.