Instruction in Cheese-mahinij . 



511 



Professor Van Slyke, in a series of investigations extending over 

 •several years and including the milk of not less than hfteen hundred 

 different cows, found that the percentage of casein inci*eased in a 

 nearly constant ratio with the percentage of butter fat. To quote 

 his own words, "While we have noticed considerable variation when 

 we consider individual herds, we have found that, as a rule, there 

 were two-thirds of one pound of casein for each pound of fat in milk, 

 whether the milk contained 3 or 4 per cent, of fat, though this 

 normal relation was considerably affected in the season of 1898 by 

 the effects of drought upon the pasture, in which case when the 

 amount of fat in the milk increased beyond 4^ per cent, there was a 

 gradual but slight diminution of casein for each pound of fat." 



A similar case was brought under my notice with regard to a 

 cheese factory in North Gippsland last year, in which milk of a 

 certain percentage of fat would not produce quite so much cheese as 

 milk of the same percentage of fat in a factory within a few miles. 

 With reference to this, Professor Farrington of the Wisconsin Agri- 

 cultural College wrote that they had similar experience in case of 

 drought when the cows had not sufficient nutritious food, and tliis 

 was really the cause of the difference. However this does not dis- 

 count the necessity for paying for milk accordiiig to its fat contents, 

 but shows that cows should have plenty of nutritious food to ]3roduce 

 the best results. 



One of the best means of obtaining proficiency in cheese-making 

 is to keep a daily log, with which all my pupils are started. It enables 

 them to compare one day's make with another, and should they have 

 any cheese which matures differently to the others they may look up 

 the record to see the cause and know how to guard against it another 

 time. The following is a copy of the details of the log : — 



To enable us to discover the source of taints in the curd we have in- 

 troduced what is known as the Wisconsin curd test, which consists of a 

 number of pint glass jars which are nearly filled with milk, a separate 

 bottle being used for each supplier, the milk is heated to 98 degrees 

 Fahr. coagulated with 10 drops of rennet, cut in 20 minutes, and the 



