5»6 ClJKING OF ChKESE 



tions Mr. Shutt found that the chief factor in determining the 

 quality of the pork of finished pigs was the character of the 

 food given. He found that maize and beans tended to 

 produce softness. The employment of skim milk not only 

 tended to thriftiness and rapid growth, but counteracted in 

 a very marked manner any tendency to softness ; so 

 much so that a considerable proportion of maize, if 

 fed in conjunction with skim milk, might be used in the 

 grain ration without injuring the quality of the pork. Of all 

 the grain rations employed, however, that consisting of 

 equal parts of oats, pease, and barley gave the firmest 

 meat, besides producing a very thrifty growth and an even 

 distribution of the fat. It was also found that rape, arti- 

 chokes, turnips and mangolds could be fed in conjunction 

 with a good ration without injuring the quality of the pork. 

 The results of other experiments demonstrated that the fat of 

 very young pigs and animals of unthrifty growth is softer 

 than that of finished pigs which put on weight regularly and 

 steadily until finished. 



Curing of Cheese. 



Several of the Experiment Stations in America have 

 lately devoted considerable attention to various conditions 

 which affect the ripening of cheese. 



At the Wisconsin Station the influence of temperature and 

 moisture upon the ripening of cheese was tested. Cheese 

 was cured in a refrigerator at a temperature of 50 degs. F., in 

 an ordinary curing room at a temperature ranging from 

 60 degs. to 65 degs., and at an unusually high temperature of 



85 degs. The moisture in the refrigerator ranged from 



86 to 90 per cent., and in the curing room averaged 95 per 

 cent. Five series of experiments were carried out, in each 

 of which from three to five full-sized cheeses were made from 

 mixed milk under similar conditions. All specimens were 

 examined from time to time, and judged by an expert who 

 was not informed of the conditions of curing. 



The value of the refrigerator cheese was placed at 3^-d. per 

 pound, while that cured in the high temperature was rated, 



