Cheese Factories in Derhyshirc. 
55 
curd. The salt is now applied and the curd turned carefully over 
bv hand several times, and the large lumps broken. In order to 
insure the salt being distributed as evenly as possible through the 
mass, some makers apply the salt as soon as the curd is dipped 
or put into the dry vat ; others endeavour to reduce the tempera- 
ture by turning over several times before salting. The former 
method insures the most even flavour, but it requires the use of a 
greater quantity of salt, as a portion is drained off in the whey. 
The quantity of salt used is 2^ lbs. to each hundred pounds of 
curd when the curd is cold, and 3 lbs. when hot. Old cheese- 
makers, from practical experience, have long since discovered 
that the salt of one district is much better suited to their purpose 
than that of another, and that, in fact, by using certain salt, they 
cannot make good cheese. This question of salt is one of vital 
importance to the interests of the cheese-producer ; the quality 
of the cheese may be sufficient to satisfy the most fastidious, 
yet if the flavour be rank and strong it is at once ignored, and its 
value in the market depreciated accordingly. Curd cannot be 
dissolved by the action either of cold or hot water ; but add a 
portion of soda, and it immediately returns to its liquid state. 
Salt contains a greater or less quantity of free soda ; this soda, 
acting on the curd, sets up a chemical action which permeates and 
taints the whole mass, and to this cause may also be attributed 
the flecked or spotted appearance so often met with in coloured 
cheese. In all industrial occupations the first element of success 
is to produce an article suited to the ruling taste and fashion of 
the customers. With the cheese-eating public the present taste 
is for mild clean flavour: to accomplish this the whole of the 
salt used in curing cheese must of necessity undergo a chemical 
purification ; afterwards there can be no objection to using it in 
a liquid form. When the curd is salted and cooled it is put 
into the hoops : these are open at both ends ; they are 15 inches 
in diameter and 20 inches deep, and are made of strong gal- 
vanised iron in order to resist the great pressure to which they 
are subjected. A square movable board fits on to the bottom 
of the press. This board, when drawn out, is supported in front 
by two legs, whilst the back rests on the bottom of the press ; 
upon this the hoop is placed, and a square of thin cloth placed 
over it. The cloth is about 2 inches wider than the diameter of 
the hoop ; the curd is now filled in by means of a filling tube, and 
carries the cloth with it to the bottom of the hoop ; and when 
full a similar cloth is placed on the top, under the bed or fol- 
lower; and the board, with the hoop now filled, is slipped into its 
proper position in the press without the hoop being moved. The 
pressure is then applied — slightly at first and increasing by 
•degrees for about the space of two hours, when a pressure of three 
