New YorkK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 41 
sent in by these experts the result is a collection of odors often 
having little in common and representing all gradations from a 
well-marked odor of pineapple to the beginning of putrid decom- 
position. | . 
Partly because of this evident confusion in the use of terms 
among practical men and partly because of the general nature 
of the information which we, are now able to give concerning 
the matter, the flavors of this group will be here considered to- 
gether. ' 
NO CAUSE FOR THE TROUBLE PREVIOUSLY KNOWN. 
At the beginning of the investigation we faced the problem 
of a serious trouble so obscure in its origin that not even a 
plausible explanation had been suggested, and the maker was 
handicapped in his attempts at combating the trouble by the 
lack of anything tangible against which to direct his efforts. 
METHOD OF WORK. 
From the fact that this trouble appears after the cheese has 
been some time in the curing-room the idea that it is in some 
way connected with life seemed to offer a starting point for work. 
Samples were secured from a number of cheeses considered to 
be typical examples of this trouble and a careful separation of 
the flora of each cheese was undertaken. It was assumed that 
if there was any specific organism or class of organisms causing 
the trouble they would be found in all the samples examined. 
A comparison of the results of a number of such examinations 
showed nothing unusual in the flora, except that in every case 
there was a considerable number of yeasts present. 
YEASTS NOT COMMON IN GOOD CHEESE, 
The subject of yeasts in cheese has been studied incidentally by 
a number of investigators when going over the cheese flora, and 
while it is not improbable that they may function in the ripening 
of some of the soft cheeses® no one seems to have seriously con- 
‘Wreudenreich H. von. Bakteriologische Untersuchungen itiber den Reif- 
ungsprocess des HEmmenthalerkises. Cent. fiir Bakt., II Abt., 1: 232, 1895, 
