264 SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF DAIRYING. 



where they are submitted to a somewhat laborious cleansing (le redage), 

 i.e. they are scraped twice with sharp knives. The material which is first 

 scraped off, which is known as "pegot", is used as food for pigs, and what 

 is subsequently scraped off, and which is known as "ribarbe blanche", is 

 sold at 32 to 40 pfennig per kilo. After the scraping operation is finished, 

 it is possible to judge of the individual excellence of the cheeses. They 

 are separated according to quality into three classes, and are placed three 

 deep in the grotto, the hardest cheeses being placed on the straw-covered 

 floor, while the others are placed upon wooden stands arranged round the 

 walls and in the middle of the room, arid provided with straw. In the 

 grottoes, into which cold air is constantly passing through numerous clefts, 

 the temperature of the atmosphere varies throughout the whole year 

 between 4 and 8 C. The air contains only about 60 per cent of its 

 average moisture. Eight days after the cheeses have been removed to the 

 grotto, they are placed on their sides, in order to promote the circulation of 

 air over their surface. The cheeses are covered during the ripening at 

 first with a reddish or yellowish crust, on which is developed, subsequently, 

 a thick white substance. As soon as the covering of mould has reached 

 a thickness of 5 to 6 cms. the cheeses are again scraped, this scraping (le 

 revirage) being repeated at intervals of from 8 to 14 days, until the cheeses 

 become ripe and are removed from the grotto. The scrapings (reverum) 

 are used for feeding pigs. During the whole process, from the time the 

 fresh cheese is brought into the cave, up to the time it is ready for the 

 market, it loses 28 to 30 per cent in weight, and the loss of weight due 

 to repeated scraping in the grotto amounts to 23 to 25 per cent. The 

 cheeses which are prepared during the early months of the year should 

 become ripe and ready for sale in 30 to 40 days, and those made later in 

 a somewhat longer period. 100 kilos, of milk yield 18 kilos, of fresh cheese 

 ready for salting, and 12 to 14 J kilos, ready for the market. 



The treatment of Roquefort cheeses in grottoes, which up to 1873 

 was almost exclusively effected in a clumsy way by hand-labour, was very 

 much improved in the year 1874 by the director of the United Cellar 

 Company, who introduced two special machines driven by steam, which 

 thus replaced to a certain extent the slow and laborious methods pre- 

 viously employed. One of these machines was the brushing machine, 

 which effects the scraping of the cheese, and which can be worked by two 

 women. The cheese are brought at first between two circular-shaped 

 horizontal brushes, which clean the bottom and the top of the cheese, and 

 then between vertical brushes, which clean the sides of the cheeses. They 

 are so constructed that they can clean per hour 4800 cheeses, or as many 

 as could be undertaken in the same time with difficulty by 20 women. At 

 the same time the machine only causes a loss of 10 per cent, instead of 23 



