364 MANUAL OF MILK PRODUCTS 



is dissolved in alcohol or ammonia to get the proper shade, and 

 in this color-bath the cheeses are placed for about one minute, 

 when they are removed and allowed to drain, and as soon as they 

 are dry the outside of each cheese is rubbed with boiled linseed 

 oil, in order to prevent checking. They are then wrapped in tin- 

 foil, which is done very much like the bandaging. Care must be 

 taken to put the tin-foil on so that it presents a smooth, neat ap- 

 pearance. The cheeses are finally packed in boxes, containing 

 12 cheeses in each box, arranged in two layers of six each with a 

 separate partition for each cheese. 

 Curing room. 



Much more attention must be given to the conditions of the 

 curing room as regards moisture and temperature than in the 

 case of cheddar cheese. The curing room should be well ven- 

 tilated, should be quite moist, and its temperature should be 

 kept between 50 and 65 F. These are conditions which are 

 not easy to secure in any ordinary room. Some form of cellar is 

 best adapted to secure these conditions. The amount of mois^ 

 ture can be determined by an instrument known as a hygrome- 

 ter, which consists of two thermometers ; the bulb of one is 

 exposed to the air directly and is known as the dry-bulb ther- 

 mometer ; the bulb of the other is wrapped with a piece of cloth, 

 preferably flannel, the lower end of which is placed in water, and 

 this is known as the wet-bulb thermometer. The dry-bulb 

 thermometer indicates the temperature of the air in the room ; 

 the wet-bulb thermometer indicates a lower temperature because 

 the water evaporates from the bulb and the evaporation is 

 accompanied by a lowering of temperature immediately around 

 the wet-bulb. The less moisture there is in the air, the more 

 rapidly will evaporation take place and the lower will be the tem- 

 perature indicated by the wet-bulb thermometer. The greater 

 the moisture, the less will be the amount of evaporation, and the 

 smaller the difference between the wet- and dry-bulb thermome- 

 ters. When the two thermometers indicate the same tern- 



