THE CHEESE-PRESS. 



125 



burst with pressure. It has a substantial bottom pierced 

 with holes to allow the whey to flow away, and a strong 

 wooden cover fitting it exactly. In some places, cheese- 

 vats are made of tin with holes in the bottom. The 

 dairy- woman now chooses a vat or vats, according to 

 the quantity of curd, and, spreading a cheese-cloth 

 loosely over the mouth of the vat she is intending to fill, 

 she again breaks up the curd, carefully squeezing every 

 part of it, until the vat is filled, and 

 the curd heaped up in a rounded form 

 above the top ; the ends of the cheese- 

 cloths are then folded over, and the 

 vat, with its contents, placed in the 

 cheese-press, where it is subjected to 

 pressure, according to the size of the 

 cheese. There are generally two or 

 three kinds of cheese-presses in large dairies, differing 

 from each other as to weight or pressure. 



The most simple kind of cheese-press is merely a long 

 beam, one end of which is often placed in a hole in the 

 wall. This beam acts as a lever, the cheese being 

 placed in its vat between the weight and the fulcrum. 

 Another form is a large square stone, suspended by a 



THE CHEESE-VAT. 



COMMON CHEESE-PRESS. 



screw, between the side-posts of a timber frame. The 

 cheese-vat is placed under it, and the stone is lowered 

 upon the sinker, by turning the screw to the left hand 

 and raised again by turning it to the right. But the 

 most complete and effective press is of cast iron, and 

 consists of a frame with a perpendicular piston, flat 



