50 STORRS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 
plaint-is constantly made by the dealer, and consumer as well, 
that common brands of some of the soft cheeses are utterly 
unreliable. In the purchase of a cheese, except by an expert, 
it is little more than a lottery whether it will be mostly a sour 
curd or might be eaten through a straw. It is clear then that 
although there is a good market for uniform and reliable goods, 
radical changes must be made in the methods of production 
before these soft cheeses will obtain the large place in the 
American market which their real merit deserves. For the 
American dairyman the development of this almost new in- 
dustry well deserves consideration. It is true that more diffi- 
culties are involved in the manufacture of the soft than of the 
hard cheeses, but the returns are correspondingly greater and 
quicker. Experience, however, in other lines of dairy work 
shows that thorough scientific study of the conditions, the 
problems, and the results sought, is rewarded by the develop- 
ment of successful practical methods of controlling the entire 
process. The soft cheese will be shown to be no exception to 
this rule. é 
CAMEMBERT CHEESE. 
Camembert cheese was selected as the first type of soft 
cheese to’ be studied, for several reasons. It is one of the most 
delicate and expensive of the soft cheeses, selling on the market 
usually for 4o cents a pound. It has been successfully pro- 
duced by but one large factory in our eastern states. A few 
other factories have made cheese called ‘*Camembert,’’ but 
their product has not made for itself a place in our market in 
competition with the imported varieties. The marketable period 
of this cheese is so short that the domestic brand should 
have a great advantage over the imported. The shortness of 
the ripening period—q to 5 weeks—together with. its high 
price, insures a good return upon the investment and com- 
mends its manufacture to the dairyman located too far from 
the city to sell his milk as milk. Camembert cheese is already 
sufficiently well known in this country to insure the ready sale 
of any brand which shows itself to be always reasonably reli- 
able. Considering the lack of uniform quality in the Camem- 
bert cheeses seen on sale in half a dozen of the large cities of 
the United States, the wonder is not at the smallness of the 
