224 
On Lard Cheese. 
paid being regulated on the basis of 10 lbs. of milk for 1 lb. oi 
cheese, and at the highest market value for cheese at the Little 
Falls market. This gives the farmers, on an average, better 
receipts for their milk than by working the factory on their own 
account, since there can be no loss at any time on account of im- 
perfect cheese, which sometimes occurs to the best of factories 
managed on the co-operative plan. 
The milk, after its delivery at the creamery, is run into large 
vats provided with an arrangement for cooling quickly with cold 
spring water, after the plan of the Whitman and Burrell milk- 
setting vats. The temperature of the water, of which there is 
an abundant supply, is 50° Fahr. The milk remains in the 
vats in summer (June and July) from 24 to 36 hours, and in 
September and October often 72 hours, the object being to get 
all the cream possible from the milk, as the "bluest skimmed 
milk " works best in its manipulation with lard for cheese- 
making, an account of which will be given further on. The 
quantity of butter taken from the milk during the summer is at 
the rate of 4 lbs. to the 100 lbs. of milk. In the month of 
October, when milk is richer, the average was 4J lbs. of butter 
to 100 lbs. of milk. 
The cream is churned in one of Blanchard's large factory 
churns, and the buttermilk is added to the skimmed milk, which 
is then converted into cheese. In this process 1^ lbs. of lard to 
100 lbs. of milk is added to the skimmed-milk and buttermilk, 
in order to compensate in part for the butter-fat removed. 
Butter-oil is also employed instead of lard when prices for a 
low grade of butter are low enough to make its use profitable. 
The butter-oil is made by clarifying poor butter, and the loss 
on such butter, on account of its purification, is from 25 to 30 
per cent. This waste or loss consists of water, salt, and casein 
contained in the butter. Mr. Burrell stated to me that when 
lard is employed the very best quality of kettle-rendered lard is 
obtained, as it is essential to have a pure odourless fat to ensure 
a good flavour in the cheese. 
One notable circumstance in adding lard or butter-oil to 
skimmed milk is that the weight of cheese from a given 
quantity of milk is increased, not only by the weight of lard 
added, but nearly as much more weight is gained by the 
tendency of the curds, after the fat is added, to retain the 
moisture. In other words, if li^ lbs. of lard is added to 100 lbs. 
of skimmed milk, it makes'nearly 3 lbs. more product than could 
he obtained from the skimmed milk if made up without any 
addition of fat. The trouble heretofore in making a " thorough- 
bred blue skim " cheese was the difficulty in its retaining a 
proper amount of moisture to assimilate in the curds while 
