3l8 SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF CHEESE-MAKING 



was placed under a bell- jar and kept in an atmosphere 

 completely saturated with moisture. The results 

 secured by this treatment are presented in the table 

 on the preceding page. 



The results of this experiment are quite striking. 

 In the cheese kept in air incompletely saturated with 

 moisture, there was a steady loss, so that the cheese 

 which contained 36 per cent of moisture at the start 

 had rts moisture content decreased to less than 25 

 per cent. On the other hand, the cheese kept in a 

 saturated atmosphere not only lost no moisture, but 

 actually gained water by absorption, so that its per- 

 centage of water was increased from about 36 per 

 cent at the beginning to nearly 38 per cent at the 

 close of the experiment. The two cheeses, which 

 contained the same percentage of moisture at the 

 beginning, were found to differ, at the end of 15 

 months, 13 per cent in moisture, solely as the result 

 of being kept in air containing different degrees of 

 moisture. 



The same fact is well illustrated in experiments 

 made at the Wisconsin experiment station. A com- 

 parison was made of the relative humidity of the air 

 in a curing-room with that inside a closed cheese- 

 box, in which a cheese was kept. 



