FOREIGN DAIRYING. 121 



work. The curd is next taken out with spoons, and placed 

 in small cylindrical metal moulds, some four inches in dia- 

 meter, in which the cheese is shaped. These are open at 

 both ends, and stand upon small rush mats which are laid 

 upon sloping tables with gutters at the ledge for carrying 

 off the whey as it runs down from the cheeses. As a rule 

 2 litres of milk are required to make each cheese. After 

 remaining all day in the moulds, the cheeses can be removed 

 with ease. They are then turned, and the faces placed 

 upon clean mats, the new faces being powdered with fine salt, 

 and the cheeses left to drain until the next day. They are 

 now taken out of the moulds, rapidly salted, placed upon 

 wooden shelves, and left for two or three days until they are 

 ready to send to the drying-room, where they are laid upon 

 shelves covered with straw. This drying room, or hdloir, 

 is specially designed to admit as much air as possible, the 

 more energetic the current the better, although it must not 

 be carried straight through from window to window but 

 arranged so as to affect the whole apartment, as shelves are 

 placed from top to bottom. The windows must also be 

 covered with fine wire gauze to prevent the entrance of 

 insects and dust. The cheeses must be daily examined 

 while under the drying process, and turned or removed as 

 may be required. They remain in this apartment from 

 20 to 25 days according to the season. If the weather is 

 damp, the process must be hastened by admitting more air, 

 otherwise they become too soft and are likely to spoil. 

 During the first week, they are turned daily, and afterwards 

 every other day. About the third day, small brown spots 

 are seen upon the surface or skin, and in another week 

 they become covered here and there with fine white patches, 

 and as further days pass these change to a yellow, and then 



