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MINUTES MAY 



1 08. Having made choice of a vat or vats, pro- 



CHEESE. portioned to the quantity of curd, .fo that the 



checfc, when fully preffed, fliall neither over 

 nor under fill the vat, ihe fprcads a cheefe^ 

 cloth loofely over the vat ; into which me re- 

 breaks the curd ; carefully fqueezing every 

 part of it in her hands ; and, having filled the 

 vat heaped up and rounded above its top, folds 

 over the cloth, and places it in the prefs *. 



In autumn, when the weather got cool and 

 moift, the curd was fcalded, " to make the 

 (( cheefe come quicker to hand," (that is, 

 fooner faleable) and to prevent a white woolley 

 coat from rifmg. It is done thus : If front 



* Much depends on the confrru&ion and powef of the 

 prefs. The excellency of conftru&ion. depends upon its 

 preffmg level : if it has too miKU play, fo as to incline 

 and become tottering or leaning one way or another, and 

 do not full perpendicular upon the cheefe-board, one fide 

 of a cheefe will frequently be thicker than another ; and, 

 what is ftill worfe, one fuie will be thoroughly prcfled 

 while the other is left loft and fpongy. Its power may be 

 given by a fcrew, by a lever or by a dead weight, and 

 ought to be proporti .,ned to the thicknefs of the cheefe. 



I had one conftrufted on the above principles ; th 

 power, a dead weight of {tones, contained in a cubical 

 box, moving in g:ooves fo as to kcrp its bottom horizon- 

 tal ; the medium weight, i cwt. 2 qrs. but regulated, by 

 the ftones, agreeably to the thicknefs of the cheefe or 

 cheefes to be prefled. 



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