Curing. 185 
lower than 78° F., a slight amount of pressure 
will cause the particles to unite in a smooth and 
solid mass. The pressure should be uniform and 
continuous for at least twenty hours. Where a 
screw press is used, care must be taken to tighten 
the serews as rapidly as they become loose, partic- 
ularly for the first hour after the cheese is put in 
the press. Those presses that are fitted with ap- 
pliances for taking up the slack and making the 
pressure continuous show excellent results in the 
texture of the cheese. After the cheese has been 
in the press for three-fourths of an hour it should 
be taken out, turned, the bandage straightened, and 
the whole cheese wiped with a cloth wrung out of 
water as hot as can be borne by the hand. This 
warming of the surface aids in the formation of a 
firm, transparent rind, and it improves the appear- 
ance of the cured cheese. Seamless bandage is 
practically the only kind now used, and it should 
be eut of such a length that it will extend over 
each end of the cheese for an inch and a half or 
two inches; when the cheese is put in the press, 
cireular cap cloths should be put between the ends 
of the cheese and the follower. These cap cloths are 
allowed to remain upon the cheese after it is taken 
from the press and while it is curing, aud are re- 
moved just before the cheese is boxed for market. 
Period VII., curing.—The green cheese, when 
taken from the press, if exposed to a temperature 
of about 70° in a pure atmosphere, undergoes a 
series of fermentations which result in breaking 
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