The first cheeses of the Cheddar group were made on the farms. The work was usually performed by women, and the process was very simple. The methods were crude, and the cheeses were made in a more or less haphazard way. The milk of the evening was placed in a cheese tub in the dairy room and cooled to a temperature that would prevent souring. In most cases the cream that had raised to the surface of the night's milk was removed in the morning. This was considered an act of economy, for it was thought that in the process of manufacture it would all pass off in the whey and be lost. The morning's milk was then mixed with that of the evening and warmed to the setting temperature by placing a portion in a tin pail and suspending it in a kettle of hot water. When hot, it was emptied into the tub of cold milk. By transferring back and forth, the setting temperature was finally reached. Few of these settlers owned thermometers. Consequently, cheese-makers were obliged to depend on the sense of feeling to determine temperature. One of the serious difficulties of the early manufacture was the production of rennet of a uniform strength. After the addition of the rennet and as soon as the coagulated milk became firm enough, it was broken into as small pieces as could be conveniently made, a wooden knife being used for the purpose. After standing ten minutes it was stirred by hand, breaking the pieces finer, and the temperature was gradually brought to 98° F., aiming as near blood heat as could be judged by the sense of feeling. It was kept at this temperature until the moisture was out of the curd and it would squeak between the teeth. The whey was drawn off and the curd stirred until dry, salted and put to press. All the curd of one day was made into a cheese. This resulted in small uneven-sized cheese. Since such cheeses were made from the milk of single dairies with all the surroundings clean, the flavor was usually good but the texture was open and soft. The method of caring for the cheese and marketing was entirely different from that practiced at the present time. All the cheeses made during the entire season were held until fall and marketed at one time. They were packed in casks four to six in a package, one on top of the other. The earliest date when single boxed cheeses were on the market was 1841.