DAIRY AND SEED IMPROVEMENT MEETINGS. 259 



DOMESTIC CHEESE MAKING. 

 By F. L. TiBBETTs, Dexter. 



There is a popular opinion that domestic cheese making has 

 become a lost art, but the agricultural returns of the 12th 

 census show that in the year 1909 there were 15,670 farms 

 upon which dairy cheese was being made, and it has been my 

 privilege to meet with some fine cheese makers in this state who 

 are anxious to improve their product and I hope that there will 

 be more interest shown and a helping hand extended, to pro- 

 gressive cheese makers, that they may become more proficient 

 along these lines. 



Domestic cheese making is an old story with me. It has 

 been carried on with us for thirty-two years. My mother, Mrs. 

 L. H. Tibbetts, was considered an expert cheese maker. She 

 began making cheese in a small way, using home-made presses, 

 drains and sinks. All these utensils were made of wood. The 

 drains were square, the bottoms being covered with slats; the 

 sides were bored full of holes. I need not describe to you the 

 old-fashioned presses as nearly every old farm-house attic 

 boasts of one or more of these treasures. But with these crude 

 utensils she was able to supply her table with an article of food 

 which was a delight to all. 



Later on my father enlarged his dairy and commenced to sell 

 his surplus cheese for the small sum of 8c. per pound and in 

 those days was able to make a fair profit, even at those prices. 

 They kept steadily improving and making improvements in the 

 equipment, adding tin drains in the place of wooden, also a 

 gang-press. These proved to be great labor-saving devices and 

 at the same time being more sanitary, improved the quality of 

 the cheese. 



Mrs. Tibbetts and myself began making cheese on our home- 

 farm, using the same formula employed by my mother with the 

 exception of changing from the home-prepared rennet to that 

 which is scientifically extracted and which is much more con- 



