Education of the Farmer. 457 



for many of the little things of which it was so hard to find an 

 explanation before. The question of the underlying principles 

 that govern the changes which take place in a cheese during the 

 curing or ripening process, is one on which authorities do not 

 agree. There have been several theories advanced and in a 

 measure refuted, as is often the case in such work. At the present 

 time there is a great deal of careful work being done, and it is 

 hoped that in the end they will be able to determine the true facts 

 governing it. The question of the laws governing the development 

 of flavors is probably least understood. Certain germs have been 

 isolated and cultures made which have helped in producing the 

 desired flavors in butter and cheese, and some of the bad flavors 

 have been traced to putrefactive germs, but the underlying prin- 

 ciple which brings about all the different flavors is not well under- 

 stood. 



Prof. Harding, bacteriologist at the Geneva Experiment 

 Station, has been working for the last eighteen months on the 

 causes which produce sweet flavor in cheese. He has had a large 

 number of samples from different sections of the State and has 

 made cultures from them from which he has isolated certain yeast 

 plants and cultivated them. He has put one of those cultures in 

 milk and I have made cheese from it. In some instances I had 

 the sweet flavor develop in the cheese to quite an extent. In 

 others I failed, showing that we failed to secure some of the par- 

 ticular conditions it required to do its work. If Prof. Harding 

 is able to work out the conditions which this yeast requires in 

 order to produce its characteristic flavor, then we shall know how 

 to control it and thus stop the loss from that cause, which is a 

 large item to the dairymen in many sections of the State. I 

 believe he has good prospects of accomplishing the desired cud. 



The question which is easiest to study of the whole line of cheese 

 investigations, because it does not require the aid of a scientist, 

 is about the last to receive any attention, and that is the effect of 

 temperature in curing the cheese. I do not think there has been 

 any systematic effort in that direction until the last two or three 

 years. Wisconsin and Canada have both been working on this 

 question lately and have secured quite convincing results. At the 

 meeting at Cortland last year I told you something about the work 

 we were doing at Geneva and the results we had been able to 

 secure up to that time. We have continued the work and the 

 results this year are even more convincing, if possible, than those 

 previously obtained. In discussing this work I shall confine 



