356 THE dairyman's manual. 



given. It will be easily understood that as heat tends to 

 encourage rapid souring, a less amount of it will equalize 

 the excess of acidity in the milk and bring the curd to 

 the required degree of sourness for the best condition of 

 preparation for the salting and pressure. 



It sometimes happens that the milk becomes tainted, 

 or contains putrefactive germs, in the hottest part of the 

 season. This condition of the milk is doubtless due to 

 some abnormal state of the cow by overheating, and 

 sometimes it is known to occur from the use of impure 

 water. When such milk is curdled there is a produc- 

 tion of gas in the curd which causes it to float, and this 

 interferes very much with the work of the cheese maker. 

 To overcome this defect in the milk, some of the best 

 cheese makers do not cool the night's milk, but permit 

 it to develop incipient acidity and then proceed as with 

 good milk until the whey is separated from. the curd. 

 The whey is left on the curd, and the separation post- 

 poned until acid is distinctly developed, when it is drawn 

 off and the usual process is completed. Curd made from 

 such milk will swell up and emit an offensive odor ; this 

 odor, however, is neutralized by the gradually increasing 

 acid, by which the putrefactive germs seem to be de- 

 stroyed, and in the end, by the most skillful management 

 in the final handling of the curd, a very fair quality of 

 cheese can be made. 



A long experience and close observation and study are 

 requisite to make an expert cheese maker, but a knowl- 

 edge of the principles involved in the art will very much 

 facilitate the gathering of the necessary experience. With 

 such a complex substance as milk, and with so many in- 

 completely understood changes and results of fermenta- 

 tion, oxidation, and heat, it is not surprising that no 

 precise rules can be laid down for the guidance of the 

 beginner. All that can be done by the most enthusiastic 

 and painstaking learner is to study the preliminaries and 



