New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 



75 



presence of other organisms is usually overlooked. It should 

 not be forgotten that while the number of liquefiers rarely 

 amounts to more than one per ct. of the total during the early 

 history of the cheddar cheese, even under these circumstances 

 their number is considerable. It is also not unreasonable to sup- 

 pose that an enzyme formed by this class of organisms will con- 

 tinue to act in the cheese even after the disappearance of the liv- 

 ing cells. The long-continued presence of this small number of 

 liquefying organisms in the case of a 28-pound cheddar cheese 

 is well illustrated by the following determinations made by 

 Nicholson. 



Tablk IV. — Bacteria Per Gram in a Ripening Cheddar Cheese. 



At the end of 62 days this cheese was pronounced ripened and 

 of fine quality from the commercial standpoint. 



These results are quite in accord with the determinations which 

 we have made upon a considerable number of cheddar cheeses. 

 During the early period of its life history when the cheese is 

 rapidly passing through the ripening changes the flora consists 

 very largely of lactic-acid organisms with a small proportion of 

 liquefying bacteria. 



effect of acid upon the digestive action of the rennet. 



It has been known for many years that the use of larger cjuan- 

 tities of rennet would quicken the rate of ripening in cheese and 

 cheese-makers use this knowledge in hastening the ripening 



