126 



SKETCHES OP RURAL AFFAIRS. 



below to cover the sinker of the cheese- vat. The piston 

 is raised or lowered by a small pinion attached to a 

 ratchet wheel and lever, three feet long. The lever is 

 grooved on the upper side to hold the ring of the weight 

 for increasing or diminishing the power, in proportion 

 to the distance from the ratchet wheel. The pressure 

 of this instrument is equal to about twenty tons, and 

 its cost is about four and twenty shillings. 



The vat being placed in the press, and the weight 

 applied, remains in that situation for two or three hours ; 

 it is then removed, and the cheese taken out and allowed 

 to stand for an hour or two in a vessel of hot whey, for 

 the purpose of hardening the coat of the cheese. After- 

 wards it is wiped dry, left to cool, and then covered with 

 a clean cloth, and returned to the vat, which has also 

 been wiped quite dry. It is then replaced in the press 

 for about the same time as before. This occupies till 

 evening of the day in which the cheese was made. The 



cheese is then again 

 taken out of the vat, 

 and another dry cloth 

 being applied, it is 

 turned and put back 

 as before. In this 

 manner it is taken 

 out, wrapped in clean 

 cloths, and turned in 

 the vat twice a-day 

 for two days, when it 

 is finally removed. In 

 all this process, the 

 state of the cheese- 

 cloths is not an unim- 

 portant matter. The 



IMPROVED CIIEESE- PRESS. dairy-maid should be 



well supplied with 



these articles, which are large towels of a light and open 

 texture, which should be washed F and wrung out of 



