254 



THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



the cheese ripens rapidly and must be eaten when it is comparatively green, or it soon gets 

 out of flavor. On the contrary, too much salt retards the ripening process, and the cheese, 

 being long in coming to maturity, will be hard and stiff. The quantity of salt must be 

 determined, in a measure, by the character of the cheese. &quot;With a certain quantity of salt 

 added to the curd other things being equal the cheese will be ripe and ready for market 

 in thirty days, and so on, regulating the amount of salt used by the nearness or remoteness 

 of time between the making of the cheese and the marketing; cheese of long-keeping, slow- 

 maturing qualities requiring an amount of salt 

 suited to that purpose. But in all cases, before 

 salting, the curds should be made as dry as they 

 can conveniently be made. 



It must be remembered that while the 

 making of cheese of the best quality depends, 

 in a great measure, upon the time and manner 

 of salting and the quantity of salt used, it should 

 never be done at random or by unskillful hands. 

 The quantity of salt to be used in cheese making 

 should vary, according to the season, from two 

 to three pounds to a hundred pounds of curd. 

 Some dairymen prefer to use no more than 

 two pounds of salt to the above quantity of 

 curd in the cool weather of spring, when rapid 

 ripening is particularly desirable for getting the 

 product into market as soon as practicable. 

 Some of the best Cheddar cheese makers of 

 England use one pound of salt to fifty-six 

 pounds of curd, the salt being applied after 

 the curd has been ten minutes in the hoops, 

 and then ground in a curd mill at a tempera 

 ture of from 60 to 65. Salt checks acidity in 

 curds. When acid is fully developed in the 



PLATFORM SCALES. 



curd, salt applied at the proper time will check the further progress of it, and thus is 

 made to serve a very important purpose in cheese making. Salt of the best quality should, 

 however, always be used for cheese. Some salt has a bitter flavor, which greatly injures the 

 butter or cheese in which it is used. Saltpetre is used in small quantities in some English 



