110 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



be secured by stoves, but a far better mode would be by warm 

 water pipes. 



Mr. Willard, of Little Falls, N. Y., who has the best curing- 

 room I have seen, in a note, says, " In order to cure cheese 

 properl}', so that flavor and texture be perfect, an even tempera- 

 ture is all important. Under our practice of sending cheese to 

 market at thirty to forty days old, a temperature of T0° to 80° in 

 my opinion is about right. It needs air and light, but if air be 

 admitted through windows so as to strike the cheese, the exposed 

 surface will crack and check, disfiguring the rind, rendering it 

 liable to be lost from mites, and always injuring its sale. When 

 the sun's rays strike directly, it will be unevenly heated, and the 

 rind sometimes almost melted. If the room is damp, the cheese 

 moulds under the bandage, presenting an unsightly appearance, 

 and on this account, perhaps, an upper room is most desirable. 

 In our best dairies the cheeses are not always of uniform good 

 flavors on account of curing according as the weather varies. This 

 has long been understood, both by buyer and manufacturer, and 

 though losses are annually sustained, little attention is given to 

 curing-rooms, dairymen not generally knowing how to obviate the 

 difficulty. 



My cheese is cured in an upper room ; the cheese-house is so 

 located in respect to other buildings that a draft of air is induced 

 around it. Light is admitted at the north and south ends only, so 

 as to prevent the sun's rays striking the cheese. Several trees 

 are near the building, shading the north and east sides. The 

 windows for admitting light are never opened to let in air. In the 

 centre of the building is a large ventilator terminating in a cupola, 

 the openings provided with wickets for closing draft or regulating 

 as desirable. In the sides of the building and even with the floor 

 are six ventilators or openings, twelve by twenty inches, communi- 

 cating with the open air ; three on each side, and provided with 

 wickets to regulate draft as desired. In this way a draft is secured 

 which does not injure the cheese. In the original plan I proposed 

 to have a refrigerator or ice box in the room, to be used in case of 

 need for cooling the atmosphere, but thus far have had no use for 

 it, the thermometer at no time quite coming up to 80°, The room 

 is lathed and plastered, and provided with a stove, so that in cool 

 or damp weather the temperature is kept up by artificial heat. 

 The room operates perfectly in curing cheese." 



