THE CHEESE-PRESS. 251 



solidity. The quantity used is rarely more than an 

 ounce to one hundred pounds, and the effect is simply 

 to give the high coloring so common to the Gloucester 

 and Cheshire cheeses, and to many made in this coun- 

 try. This artificial coloring is continued from an 

 idle prejudice, somewhat troublesome to the dairyman, 

 expensive to the consumer, and adding nothing to the 

 taste or flavor of the article. The annatto itself is so 

 universally and so largely adulterated, often by poison- 

 ous substances, such as lead and mercury, that the prac- 

 tice of using it by the cheese-maker, and of requiring the 

 high coloring by the consumer, might well be discon- 

 tinued. The common mode of application is to dissolve it 



Fig. 82. Cheese-preas. 



in hot milk, and add at the time of putting in the rennet, 

 or to put it upon the outside, in the manner of paint. 

 The cheese-presses in most common use are very dif 



