218 CHYMISTRY APPLIED TO AGRICXTLTURE. 



into pieces, into each of which the salt is worked by the 

 hand ; a mould or form is then filled with the curd ; this 

 is covered over with a cloth, upon which is placed a weight 

 to press the cheese ; by this process the salt is made to 

 penetrate the whole mass, and the last remaining portions 

 of whey are forced out. 



The whey which is disengaged by this last operation is 

 very salt, and is usually preserved to moisten cheeses with, 

 when by their progress of decomposition they have become 

 too dry. 



The curd remains under the press several days, and is 

 turned from time to time, that the salt may become incor- 

 porated with the mass, and that the whey may be perfectly 

 separated from it. 



When the cheese is taken from the press it is placed in 

 a situation where the temperature is cool and equal, and 

 where it will not be exposed to light or insects, and there 

 it undergoes the other processes, by which the making of 

 a cheese is completed. These processes vary much in 

 different places : in some a cheese is turned every day, 

 and its surface, as soon as it becomes dry, is moistened with 

 salted whey : if a cheese becomes mouldy, the rind is for- 

 cibly scraped with a wooden knife; in other places the 

 rind is scraped and taken off every five or six days, and 

 by this means the part that is most advanced in decompo- 

 sition, is removed and sold at a low price to the people. 

 As soon as this crust is taken off, the new surface is rubbed 

 with salt, which is forced into it with the hand ; the cheese 

 is then carried into the cellar : the operation is repeated till 

 the cheese is disposed of 



If, in drying the curd, the action of fire is added to com- 

 pression, a firmer, harder cheese, and one of very different 

 qualities, is obtained : a cheese prepared in this way can be 

 kept a longer time than others. 



In the manufacture of this kind of cheese, the milk is 

 placed in a boiler over a moderate fire, and the necessary 

 quantity of rennet is stirred carefully into it : as soon as 

 the rennet begins to affect the milk, it is removed from the 

 fire, when the curd very soon acquires some degree of so- 

 lidity : all the whey which can in this state be extracted 

 from it, is removed, and the boiler again placed upon the 

 fire ; the curd is constantly stirred either by the hand or 

 with a slip of wood : this operation is continued, till the 

 cJbts which swim in the whey^ which is expressed from 



