88 
Recent Imj>roi'cments in Dairy Practice. 
its perforated brass untler-surface, and is thus conveyed down 
tlie tube to the brass tap at the bottom of the tub, the tubes 
sinkings into each other as the whey subsides. This separator 
costs about 40,f. ; it is the best thing of the kind I have ever 
seen, as it takes the whey from the surface, where it is most 
free from curd, and prevents tlie mass of the curd from being 
disturbed by the whey on its passage to the outlet. 
The curd-breaker generally in use for breaking up the coagu- 
lated mass is either the shovel-breaker or the revolving-breaker. 
The former is made of wood in the shape of a shovel with a bent 
handle ( v!!^^ — ) ; through the lower end of the handle, at right 
angles to it, D or 10 brass rods are inserted, extending about 6 in. 
on either side, and secured at each end by a strip of wood 
about 14 inches in length. The revolver is made of rods of 
iron, set in a framework fitted to the inside of the tub, where it 
is made to revolve upon a vertical axis by a handle at the outside 
of the tulj like that of a churn. 
The vats, which were formerly made of turned wood, are now 
made of staves like a cask. In not a few instances tin is em- 
ployed for the purpose, but I scarcely think it will come into 
general use for our thick cheeses. The stave-vat has recently 
been improved by being made to open at the side at one of the 
joints between the staves, corresponding to opposite joints across 
the top and the l)ottom ; the opening is sufficiently wide to allow 
of tlie cheese being easily liberated from the vat when reversed for 
the purpose. To accomplish this, there are four projecting screw- 
holes : one at each end of the two severed iron hoops Avhich 
encircle the vat, one at the top and one at the bottom. When 
the vat is closed, two of these screw-holes will be opposite each 
other, and through them a screw-bolt is inserted which keeps 
the vat together ; by loosening these bolts the vat is enabled to 
expand and the cheese is easily liberated.* 
An apparatus has been invented for cheese-making by Mr. 
Keevil, of Wiltshire, and is in use in that and some other dis- 
tricts, which, though not applicable to the Somerset or Cheddar 
mode of making, is, I believe, of service in making the Wiltshire 
cheese. It consists of a tin tub, down the side of which there 
runs a strip of gauze wire, 3 or 4 inches in width, which allows 
the whey to escape to a brass tap at the bottom. A breaker is 
used, similar to the revolver above described, but Mr. Keevil 
has altered the round rod to a flat knife-shaped piece of iron, 
thus altering the principle of hreaMng the mass to that of cuttinr/. 
Instead of a vat into which weights were put for the purpose ot 
pressing the curd in the tub, a perforated circular piece of tin is 
* See illustration, p. 92. 
