REVIEW OF PREVIOUS EXPERIMENTS. 11 
cheese, and that it has a tendency to develop any latent undesirable 
flavors ; in fact, there are but few respects in which heat does not have 
an unfavorable influence. And yet it would appear that the cheese 
maker of those days entirely overlooked these things. It is likely that 
he considered these evils as more the result of the season than the 
effect of any conditions that were within his control. 
The first scientific theories worthy of consideration in connection 
with the curing process did not tend to help matters to any extent. 
As soon as the science of bacteriology had grown to any importance the 
ripening of cheese was studied from this point of view, and it was very 
generally concluded that the process was almost entirely due to bac- 
teriological changes. It was believed that these changes could not 
take place in a temperature below that at which the germs developed 
to the best advantage. This would require from 60° to 80° F., and it 
was naturally supposed that anything within these limits was proper 
and necessary. 
REVIEW OF PREVIOUS EXPERIMENTS IN COLD AND COOL 
CURING. 
The first work to determine the influence of lower temperatures on 
the ripening of cheese was undertaken by the Wisconsin Experiment 
Station in 1895.° In this experiment cheese was cured at three tem- 
peratures, 50°, 60° to 65°, and 85° F. It was found that the cheese 
cured at 50° F., though requiring a much longer time than the cheese 
cured at the higher temperatures, broke down fully as well. It was 
considered by the judges to have about the same quality and value as 
the cheese cured at the temperature of from 60° to 65° F. It was 
found in this experiment that the cheese cured at 85° F. was very- 
strong and almost unfit for use. 
This proof that cheese could be cured satisfactorily below 60° F. 
had in it the germ of a revolution in ideas and practices concerning the 
process. Two important facts were brought out; the first, that cheese 
could be cured at a temperature much below that at which bacteria, 
supposed to have so much influence on the curing, could very well 
develop; the other, in connection with the bacteriological study which 
was conducted at the same time with the cheese under experiment, 
that the bacteria persisted in large numbers much longer in the cheese 
kept at a low temperature than in that kept at a higher temperature. 
These experiments were soon followed by similar work in Iowa, 6 in 
Canada, c and by the New York State Experiment Station at Geneva. d 
These experiments, which were along parallel lines and gave similar 
results, will be mentioned again. 
a Annual Report, Wisconsin Experiment Station, 1897. 
b Bulletin No. 57, Iowa Experiment Station. 
cAnnual Report, Ontario Agricultural College and Experimental Farm, 1900. 
d Bulletin No. 184, New York Experiment Station. 
