218 



SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF DAIRYING. 



cheese-making. The attempt did not, however, meet with con- 

 spicuous success. Even had it succeeded, it is scarcely likely that 

 there could be obtained in these vats a curd of a similar composition 

 throughout its entire mass; and it is absolutely impossible to treat 

 the curd in them subsequently in such a manner as to keep it of a 

 uniform nature. The American cheese- vats are admirably adapted 

 for dairies in which the object is to obtain cheese by means of daily 

 work carried out on a large scale of manufacture, and where the 



Fig. 63. Cheese Tub. 



largest possible quantities of milk are handled, rather than for the 

 preparation of a cheese of the best possible average quality. 



112. The Treatment of Curd before it is Moulded. In the pre- 

 paration of certain kinds of soft cheeses, the curd, after being 

 coagulated, is only allowed to remain a short time in the cheese- 

 vat to become thick, and is then immediately pressed into its shape 

 by means of flat scoops, without having been previously cut into 

 small pieces. In the preparation of most kinds of cheese, however, 

 the curd is cut gradually into pieces, of such a size as is desirable 

 for the properties of the cheese to be manufactured. It is advis- 

 able that all the pieces should be of a uniform size. In the curd 

 which is cut into pieces for the different kinds of cheeses, the pieces 

 vary, for example, from the size of an apple or a cherry-stone to 

 that of peas or hemp-seed, &c. In the cheese-kettles, the curd can 

 be cut easily, by means of a scoop, cheese-knives, or stirrers (figs. 

 64-65), into any size of piece that is required. This cannot be 

 done in cheese-vats, where it is not possible to stir the curd. With 



