ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 25 



shillings sterling per cwt. more than that from our best whole-milk factories, 

 and if Holland can make a skimmed cheese that competes in price with our 

 best whole-milk cheese on English market, then there is room for us to 

 improve our goods. 



Mr. Willard further says that it is almost impossible to convince cheese 

 dealers and dairymen that a rich, mellow, palatable cheese, having the taste 

 and appearance of much fat in its composition, can be made from milk not 

 particularly rich in butter, though this has been proved over and over 

 again. 



Mr. Willard says the defect complained of in American Factory Cheese 

 (when well made,) is its tendency to dryness ; that there must be thirty to 

 thirty-three per cent, of moisture in all cheese of desirable quality and 

 flavor, or else an excess of fat to supply this deficiency of moisture. As 

 moisture in the form of water is cheaper than butter, it is important to 

 ascertain, if possible, how this moisture may be retained in the cheese. 

 This is to be done in the process of curing. 



Mr. Willard remarks, "One of the prominent faults in cheese making 

 is a too rapid evaporation of moisture in the early stages of curing. The 

 water does not have a chance to assimilate with the other parts before 

 passing off, hence dryness and apparent lack of butter." 



Uniformity of temperature and good ventilation in the curing room are 

 necessary in order to achieve the best results in cheese making. 



Mr. Harding, of Somertshire, told Mr. Willard that the success of 

 Cheddar cheese was due quite as much to the curing as to the making, and 

 that in their curing rooms great care has been taken to secure good 

 ventilation and a uniform temperature of 70° to 75°. 



In addition to this Mr. Willard insists that all factories should be 

 provided with a refrigerator room, where the temperature should be 60° or 

 below, and we think the temperature should be below 50°, and that when 

 the cheese that is made in hot weather has sufficiently cured, it should be 

 removed to the refrigerator room and then kept at so low a temperature 

 that fermentation and all change should be prevented. It would then 

 retain the flavor it had when it left the curing room, and as soon as the 

 weather would permit might be sent to market without injury. This 

 method adopted, ill-flavored cheese would disappear, the consumption of 

 cheese would be increased, and all classes benefited. 



Who, and how many of our manufacturers will adopt such methods in 

 the manufacture of cheese as will secure to our dairy farms results equal to 

 those realized by our English friends. 



