92 THE DAIRY OF THE FARM. 



nearly as can be ascertained, enough for one cheese ; it 

 requires to have one or two dry cloths applied to it, and in 

 two days it may be taken out of the vat and placed between 

 two pewter plates and turned every day, the plates being 

 wiped dry. It will generally be fit for use in a week or 

 nine days. 



Utensils for the Cheese Dairy Besides the ordinary 

 milking-pails, and sieve through which the milk is 

 poured from them, a deep cheese-tub, to stand on the 

 floor of the dairy, in which the curd is set, is required, 

 holding 4 gallons, or thereabouts, for every cow in the 

 dairy. It costs Id. to 9d. per gallon. A " ladder " is 

 needed to rest across this tub for carrying the sieve 

 through which the milk is poured. Curd-breakers, double or 

 triple knives, and an open wire-work sieve, to be thrust to 

 and fro, are required. A curd-mill, costing from 20s. 

 upwards, being simply a hopper, at the bottom of which 

 is a cylinder studded with short radial arms revolving 

 between corresponding pins fixed in the sides of the trough, 

 and passing the curd placed in the hopper in a crumbled 

 state, is also needed. Keevil's curd-breaking and cheese- 

 making apparatus is, as we have said, largely used. Vats or 

 leads of sufficient capacity to hold the whey, where it is set 

 for cream, are also needed. Cheese-vats, in which the 

 curd is pressed into the form of the future cheese ; and 

 cheese-presses, either direct masses of stone lifted by 

 winch and rope and pulley, or lever presses, are needed. 

 The heaviest of the former consists of a block of stone, of 

 nearly 3 feet cube, and weighing 20 to 30 cwt. The latter are 

 of various forms, and produce, by the action of a small weight, 

 whatever pressure is desired. They cost about 50s. ; or, 



