250 SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF DAIRYING. 



and morning milk is collected, and is poured into the cheese-vat. In cases 

 where the milk, owing to the fact that the evening milk has been cooled 

 below 17 C., appears to be still too sweet for perfect coagulation, from 

 75 to 2 per cent of sour whey is added, and the milk is warmed to from 

 28 to 31 C., a small quantity of annatto being added and mixed into it. 

 In about 20 minutes' time it becomes thick. The curd is then cut with 

 American knives, and as soon as it begins to sink under the whey, it is 

 warmed to from 37 to 39 C., and occasionally even 40 to 41 C., being at 

 the same time stirred. As soon as the curd is reduced to pieces about the 

 size of peas, it is allowed to stand either in a covered cheese-vat for from 

 1 to 1J or even for 4 hours long under the whey, with occasional stirring, 

 or the whey is removed and the curd cut into square pieces, and the pieces 

 laid for a time the one on the top of the other. In every case the curd, 

 before being taken out of the cheese-vat, must be examined to see that it 

 has attained the proper degree of ripeness. This is ascertained with the hot 

 iron. The stronger the degree of sourness in the milk before coagulation, 

 and the quicker the curd is brought up to the prescribed temperature in 

 the subsequent warming, the shorter will be the time required for the curd 

 to ripen. If ripening has taken place under the whey, the use of the curd- 

 mill is often dispensed with, otherwise the curd is always ground in the 

 curd-mill. After salt has been added to the ripe curd in the proportion of 

 from 1 -75 per cent to 2 per cent, and in the proportion of -33 per cent to 

 the milk originally used, the cheese is brought into a tin cheese-mould, 

 placed under the cheese-press, and covered over with a cloth, care being 

 taken that the temperature is not lower than 15 C. At first the pressure 

 applied is slight, but it is gradually increased more and more. It is calcu- 

 lated that the pressure on 1 kilo, of cheese would amount at most to from 

 7 to 9 kilos. After two to three hours the cheese is taken out of the press, 

 the edges are cut, and it is sewn up in broad stripes of white cotton, the 

 edges of which overlap the edges of both ends of the cheese by 2-5 to 5 cm., 

 and they are then firmly stitched on both sides with thread. The cheeses 

 are then brought into the press again, and allowed to remain till the fol- 

 lowing day. They are subsequently brought from the press into the store, 

 and after their covering is taken off they are rubbed with hot melted butter, 

 in which annatto has been dissolved. The next day they are marked with 

 a number and a statement of their weight, and, according to necessity, for 

 a month or even longer they are frequently brushed and oiled. In order to 

 ripen a cheese in from 1 to 1 \ months, the temperature of the store must be 

 kept at 24 C. At a lower temperature (18C.) cheese is ripened more slowly, 

 but it is better. According to Curtis, the Cheddar cheeses were formerly 

 kept too dry. Now even a slight growth of fungus on their surface is 

 permitted. As suitable temperatures for the ripening of heavy cheeses, 



