14 



The Story of Cheese 



Curing Room 



Form, Size and Packing. The old style American cheese is 

 cyclindricaL about 14 inches in diameter, and varying in depth 

 to weigh between 60 and 80 pomids. Various other forms are 

 now often made, square and long or in fancy shapes, such as 

 a ball or a pineapple. Aside from such freaks, which have 

 never become very popular, other deviations from the large, stand- 

 ard, American Cheddar, are also made to a considerable extent. 

 People who have visited the beautiful National Dairy Shows held 

 in turn in Chicago, Springfield, Mass., and Columbus, 0., the 

 National Milk and Dairy Farm Expositions of New York City, the 

 Ontario Provincial Fair held each year at Toronto, or the annual 

 State Fairs in New York, Wisconsin, Michigan and other cheese 

 making sections will have in mind first the prominent exhibits of the 

 regular Cheddar, showing a uniformity in texture, form and taste 

 that is really remarkable. But one will also admire the variety of 

 other forms. There are the "Flats" or "Twins", packed two in a 

 box and weighing together the same as one "American" ; the "Young 

 Americas" packed four in a box; the "Longhorns" of six to eight 

 inches in diameter; others made like a loaf of bread and creased so 

 that a pound or two may be cut off fairly accurately, etc. . 



The Giant Cheeses, weighing five to six tons, occasionally ex- 

 hibited and cut up at World Fairs and on similar occasions are, like 

 the pineapjjle cheese, a curiosity rather than an industrial product. 



