444 
The Practice of Stilton Cheese Making. 
morning. It is now ready to put in the mould (or hoop), but, 
before doing so, the pieces must be broken to the size of a walnut, 
mixing salt in the proportion of 8 ozs. of salt to 30 lbs. of curd. 
When the hoop is being filled, the curd in the hoop should be 
occasionally lightly pressed with the hand, and when full it 
must at once be taken to the draining-room and put in the 
drainer. Befoi'e commencing to fill the hoop it will be necessary 
to place it (the hoop) upon a piece of board, on which to carry it to 
the drainer ; a sinker made of wood, and just sufficiently large to 
pass easily inside the mould, being placed on the top of curd. 
As a rule, no other weight should be used, though sometimes it is 
necessary to do so. No directions as to weights can safely be 
Fig. 6. — Ctord tied up in Draining Trough.] 
given : the knowledge must be gained by experience and ob- 
servation. 
After standing three hours, the mould containing the cheese 
must be turned over on its opposite end, the sinker again being 
placed on the top. This must be repeated at regular intei-vals 
three times a day. At each time of turning on the second and 
two or three succeeding days the cheese must be skewered 
through the perforations in the sides of the hoop with a steel 
skewer about twice the thickness of an ordinary knitting-pin : 
the outside of the mould containing the cheese must be washed 
with tepid water, and the drainer thoroughly brushed and washed 
with hot water every morning. 
If the temperature (65°) has been kept even, and the turning 
