42S Tlie Pradice of Cheshire Cheese Making. 
brass taps, draining cylinder, syplions, covers, and draining racks 
in three pieces, on which the curd is placed during making. The 
greater facility and economy of labour with which curd can be 
worked in such a vessel, as compared with the old-fashioned 
cii'cular cheese-tub which was once universal, is very obvious. 
The curd knives are either horizontal or vertical, and made 
of the finest steel, with sharp edges, the blades being half an inch 
apart ; the breaker, which combines the action of the two knives 
in one, is sometimes used in their place. The curd mill, fitted 
with spiked rollers, is made of either iron or wood, and capable 
of reducing the curd to the size of large peas. The cheese hoops, 
of either wood or steel, are from 12 to IG inches in diameter; 
they are fitted with tin and wooden followers. The cheese 
presses are of either the single, double, or triple chamber type, 
on the double lever system, and capable of applying a pressure 
of from 1 cwts. to 1 ton. 
Yyg. I.— Milk Vaf. 
The agents employed in making cheese from milk are rennet, 
salt, annatto (when the cheese is coloured), heat, and pressure ; 
and it is in the pi'oper combination and application of these 
that the perfection of making consists. In addition there are 
atmospheric influences to be considered. These begin to act on 
the milk as soon as it is drawn from the cow, and continue 
their action until the cheese is brought to the consumer's table. 
They effect the ripening of milk, and it is on the degi-ee of ripe- 
ness present in the milk before the rennet is added that success 
in making cheese largely depends. This ripeness is produced 
by the action of a certain ferment received into the milk from 
the atmosphere, known as the lactic ferment, which causes a 
chemical change and transforms the sugar of milk into lactic 
acid. Its activity is greatly influenced by temperature ; it is 
most active about 98° F. ; above and below that point its acti- 
vity is slower. Milk ripens more quickly in a moist atmosphere 
than in a dry one. Other ferments act on the constituents of 
