COMPARISON OF COLD AND COOL CURING. 23 
One of the arguments in favor of the cool rooms and which has been 
urged in this country against the employment of cold storage for cur- 
ing cheese is based on the fact that perhaps the best cheese made in the 
course of the season comes from the factories in the latter part of Sep- 
tember and during October. In this connection English Cheddar 
cheese, to which reference is often made, is cured at about the same 
temperature as would prevail in the American cheese districts in 
October, which would be about 60° F. This argument is very 
unscientific to say the least. There are other probable reasons for 
the superiority of our September and October cheese. This season is 
especially good for the production of very fine milk ; nights are cool and 
the milk easily kept, and the cows have advanced in lactation until 
there is a relatively high percentage of fat in the milk. The English 
Cheddar, the superior qualities of which are probably much due to 
imagination, is made under almost the same conditions of climate as 
prevail in this country in the early autumn. The English summers 
are very cool, giving a fine opportunity for producing good milk; and 
the quality of the English cheese, if as good as claimed, is undoubtedly 
due to this fact rather than to any superiority of curing temperature 
over the regular cold storage- 
It is doubtful if the argument advanced concerning the comparative 
cost of "cool-curing" rooms and "cold-curing" rooms has any material 
foundation. In theory it would, of course, cost more to hold a room at 
4O F. than at 55° F., but considering the amount of cheese that even 
a small cold-storage house will hold and the relatively small cost per 
pound for this storing, it is doubtful if the comparative cost would 
have any great influence. It seems that no figures have been com- 
piled to show what has been the actual cost of storage in the cool rooms 
per pound of cheese. The Dairy Division of this Department re- 
quested such information from the Dominion government, but was 
told that it was not available. However, prices charged for the stor- 
age of cheese in various cold-storage houses in this country were 
obtained. One storage firm quotes one-fourth of a cent per pound for 
five months from June 1 and one-half a cent per pound for nine 
months from June 1. A large Chicago house charges 16 cents per 100 
pounds for the first sixty days or any part thereof and 8 cents per 100 
pounds for each succeeding thirty days. This amounts to about one- 
twentieth to one-eighth of a cent per pound per month. This would 
appear to be such a reasonable charge that it would be difficult for any 
other system to show any appreciable advantage. 
The contention that the comparative difference in the time of curing- 
is considerable does not appear to have any real foundation. In gen- 
eral terms it was claimed that the cheese in the cool-curing rooms 
required but about one week longer for curing than would be necessary 
under factory conditions, while it was further claimed that cheese 
