No. 216.] 621 



pounds oi salt; we use Onondaga salt, costing about 9s. 6d. a bar- 

 rel generally. At'er salting, mix all thoroughly, and the curd be- 

 comes light and lively, and when squeezed by the hand, expands 

 when the hand is opened, like a honey comb. It is then pressed in 

 the sink by what we call a follower, a thick plank with a cross 

 piece on its back — men sometimes stand on this follower. Thus the 

 whey is pressed out. Then comes the cheese hoops, some 18, 22 or 

 24 inches in diameter, and 8 to 11 inches high. We put the curd 

 in these, and on the top comes a follower which fits the cheese hoop, 

 and on this comes the pressure. For that purpose there has been 

 invented a self-pressing cheese press. This requires no help, for the 

 weight of the cheese is the pressing power, which is regulated by 

 the increased or diminished length of a lever. After pressure for 12 

 hours, we turn the cheese over, then the rims squeezed out by the 

 pressure are pared off, and these are eaten with high relish. Press 

 the cheese twelve hours more, and then take it to a warm room, say 

 about SO degrees. Now comes another operation. 



The whey which has been left in the tub before mentioned, has 

 on its surface by this time an oily matter, called whey cream. Take 

 this off with a skimmer, and use it with perfectly clean rags to rub 

 the cheese hard all over. Once a day for three weeks at least, and 

 four is better still! This keeps all flies and insects from depositing 

 their eggs in the cheese. The shelves on which the cheese is put 

 must also be rubbed with this whey cream. If no cream has been 

 taken from the milk, the cheese is ^as is said) apt to run in hot 

 weather, that is, to bulge out or spread at the sides, this is attributed 

 to richness. Next bandajje cloths are to be used; these cost about 

 seven cents a yard, and are used to bind the circumference of the 

 cheese. This bandage must then be thoroughly rubbed with the 

 butter of the whey cream. Making cheese at eight cents a pound, 

 is rather more profitable than raising grain for market, but at any- 

 thing less, little if anything better than a grain crop. What I have 

 stated is the old method of cheese making. There are now two 

 improvements in this business; they consist of a method of heating 

 the milk and the whey by means of a stove and a new fashioned 

 tub. A tub with an iron bottom, placed on rollers, contains another 

 tub or tin can, of a less diameter by some three inches. This appa- 

 ratus is readily moved with the contents over the stove — the heat is 

 communicated to water contained between the tub and inner can or 

 tub, thus there is no danger of burning the milk and so spoiling its 

 flavor. A machine for cutting up the curd fine has been invented, 

 and is now much in use. It is an apparatus which contains small 



