Report on the Dairy-Farming of the North-west of France. 317 
vary from under half a hundredweight to more than three times 
as much. 
M. Lecomte has four cheese-tubs placed round a central 
pillar in the middle of his cheese room. Each of these tubs 
holds nearly 70 gallons of milk, and is heated by means of 
steam injected into a coil of pipes in the space beneath the 
false bottom. The whey is drawn off by means of a siphon, 
and runs through pipes into one of the three whey-tanks, 
which have a total capacity of nearly 9000 gallons. One 
man has charge of each tub, and if the supply of milk is 
sufficient he can make five cheeses per diem ; and at the 
time I visited the factory, seventeen cheeses per day were 
being made. Each cheese is numbered, and is also branded 
with the distinguishing mark of the dairyman, who receives a 
bonus for each really good cheese that he makes, in addition to 
his daily wages. Considering the rapidity with which such 
heavy cheeses — weighing at M. Lecomte's about 66 lbs. each, — 
can be turned off by one man without any attendant, the follow- 
ing brief sketch of the modus operandi may be interesting. 
The milk, measuring as nearly as possible 66 gallons, having 
been put into the tub, the temperature is raised to 95° Fahr., 
when about 21 oz. of rennet are added and carefully mixed with 
it, and the tub is covered. The curd comes in about 40 
minutes, and the whey is then raised to a temperature of 138° 
to 140", at which it is kept for another 40 minutes to cook the 
curd. Towards the end of this period, a large flat wooden 
shovel (Fig. 9) is placed carefully upon the top of the curd, 
the progress of which is now and then 
tested by the attendant gently moving the 
shovel over its surface. If the shovel sticks 
or hangs to the curd, the cooking process 
is still incomplete, but when it glides 
smoothly along, the attendant commences 
cutting the curd gently into horizontal 
slices which he removes towards the rim 
of the tub. After this has been done suffi- 
ciently, in his judgment, he uses one of 
various forms of curd-breakers. Amongst 
others, I noticed a wooden pole armed with a number of pro- 
jecting slanting spikes, which cross one another along about 
two feet of its length, also a hoop and band arrangement, such as 
is shown in Fig. lO. Great practice appears to be necessary in 
order to acquire skill in this part of the operation, and the object 
in view appears to be to break up the curd as evenly but as 
ruggedly as possible. Towards the end of the breaking, the 
dairyman, by varying the movement of the breaker, collects all 
Fig 9. — Curd - shovel 
used in making Gru- 
yere cheese. 
