MANUFACTUKE OF CHEESE. 403 



pared smoothly, and a bandage of the proper length and width, first sewed 

 together at the ends, applied. The top and bottom of the bandage are most 

 neatly drawn together, and kept in place by a string run in the edges which 

 lap an inch or two over the sides. The cheese is then to be returned to the 

 press, where it remains under heavy pressure until the curd of the next day u 

 ready to take its place in the cheese hooj). It is then taken out and removed 

 to the curing-room, where it is rubbed over with hot whey butter, usually 

 colored with annatto, its weight and date marked on it, and for thirty days or 

 more turned and rubbed daily, and oiled as often as necessary. The rubbing 

 should be carefully and thoroughly done, so as to brush off and destroy any 

 nits that may have been deposited by the cheese fly ; for if neglected, especi- 

 ally in warm weather, skippers will work their way into the cheese and under 

 the bandage and cause serious trouble. 



If it be desired to practice this mode of separating the whey by cooking the 

 curd without the use of a vat, it can be done after a fashion in the ordinary 

 cheese tub, but involves greater labor and less certainty of a thoroughly well- 

 made product. In such case, as the whey subsides, dip out a portion of it into 

 a tin vessel to be set in another of hot water, and when warmed — say to be- 

 tween 130° and 140^ — let one pour it slowly into the tub containing the rest 

 of the whey and curd, while another stirs it, briskly but gently, so that no part 

 gets overheated ; the effect of which is to separate some of the butter which 

 then escapes, and to overcook the outside of the particles of curd. Too much 

 hoAt will cause curd to run in the whey like toasted cheese, and a coating of 

 this tough substance acts like a water-proof wrapper, and effectually shuts up 

 whatever Avhey remains outside the particles. This would result in an im- 

 perfect product, of course, liable to leak and puff, and to be porous and rank 

 flavored. In using a tub it is necessary to heat successive portions of whey, 

 all of which must be added with the same caution. Except for the differences 

 necessitated by the employment of inconvenient vessels, the process is to be 

 the same as when a properly constructed vat is used. 



MANUFACTURE OF CHEESE BY ASSOCIATED DAIRIES. 



Reduction of labor and increase of product have been greatly assisted by 

 the introduction into families of improved apparatus in place of the old-fash- 

 ioned cheese tub and other utensils. But the great and radical change which 

 has still more recently passed upon cheese manufacture has been by the adop- 

 tion of the principles of association. The advantages of association in the con- 

 duct of various branches of art and manufactures are well understood and 

 appreciated ; but the farmer has hitherto considered himself excluded from 

 participation in them by reason of his occupation. To a considerable extent 

 he is undoubtedly excluded ; but his case admits of some exceptions, and here 

 is a notable one, not only in theory, but abundantly proved so by facts. In 

 the manufacture of cheese a considerable time must necessarily elapse after 

 the rennet is added before the curd goes to press. One of the most prolific 

 sources of inferiority when made in f;^milies is the temptation or sujiposed 

 necessity to hurry the process. This may require only three or four hours, 

 and perhaps it may need seven or eight. Whatever the length of time re- 

 quired, the process cannot be hastened without serious injury. During this 

 time there is little or nothing to do but to note the progress which is making ; 

 and with proper facilities it is scarcely more work to make up the milk of fifty 

 cows than the milk of five or ten, and so it is comparatively little more to make 

 up that of five hundred than fifty. 



About ten years ago Mr. Jesse Williams, living near Rome, Oneida county, 

 New York, conceived the idea of turning the above fact to practical advantage 

 by making up the milk of his neighbors into cheese, together with his own. 

 Although this idea of associated action was doubtless original with Mr. Williams 



