RIPENING OF CHEESE 3I9 



These results indicate that the storage of cheese in 

 boxes in curing--rooms is one means of avoiding the 

 results of too rapid loss of niois'ture. Of course, dif- 

 ficulty arises in the way of molds in the case of cheese 

 so stored, unless they are properly fumigated (p. 

 134) or covered with paraffin, a point which will be 

 considered next. 



Protection of surface of cheese and loss of 

 weight. — The covering of the outer surface of 

 cheese with a layer of paraffin has been found to 

 diminish greatly the loss of weight. The first sugges- 

 tion of the practical use of paraffin in connection 

 with covering cheese came, so far as we know, from 

 the Standard Oil Company about 10 or 12 years 

 ago, when it advertised a preparation of yellow- 

 colored paraffin for use in protecting cheese from 

 mold. Some experiments were made at the Wis- 

 consin experiment station in 1899 to prevent mold 

 by the use of paraffin, but the results were not re- 

 garded as sufficiently satisfactory in every way to 

 justify its recommendation for general use. In ex- 

 perimental work at the New York experiment 

 station, cheese was covered ' with paraffin in order 

 to control moisture, without any reference to the 

 thought of practical application. The matter was 

 later taken up in a practical way here and in Can- 

 ada. The results of co-operative work between 

 the United States Department of Agriculture and the 

 experiment stations of Wisconsin and New York, 

 carried on in 1902-3, may be regarded as the first 

 demonstration in the United States that attracted 

 serious attention. Since then the practice has grown 



