The curd is then cut, using the horizontal knife first and cutting lengthwise of the vat. The cutting is finished from this point with the perpendicular knife, the curd being thus cut into cubes one half inch in diameter.

Without waiting for the curd to settle, we begin stirring very carefully with a wire basket, and rub the curd off from the sides of the vat with the hand. As soon as this is done we turn on the heat carefully and raise the temperature slowly to 98° F.; when the curd is firm enough a wooden rake is used to stir it. The temperature is raised at the rate of one degree in four or five minutes.

As soon as the temperature of 98° F. is reached we begin trying the curd on the hot-iron for acid. We must have the curd firm enough when the whey is drawn, so that a double handful pressed together will fall apart readily. This is the test for a proper cooking. When fine threads one eighth of an inch in length show on the hot iron the whey is ready to draw. This should be two and a half hours from the time the milk was set. The whey is drawn off by means of a whey gate and a whey strainer, and the curd dipped into a curd-sink or on racks placed in the vat. There should be racks in the curd-sink over which a linen strainer-cloth is thrown. The curd is dipped onto this cloth and the whey drains through. The curd should be stirred, to facilitate the escape of the whey, and is then left to mat together. In fifteen or twenty minutes it can be cut into blocks eight or ten inches square, and turned over. After turning several times these blocks can be piled two or three deep. The acid will continue to develop in the curd; when it will string about an inch it will have assumed a stringy or meaty texture, so that it will tear like the meat on a chicken's breast.

It is then run through the curd-mill and cut up into small pieces. These pieces are stirred up every little while to air. In the course of another hour and a half there will be two inches of acid on the curd; it will smell like toasted cheese when pressed against the hot-iron, and when a handful is squeezed, half fat and half whey will run out between the fingers. It is then ready to salt. It is cooled to 80° F. be

fore salting. If a fast-curing cheese is wanted we use two pounds per hundred pounds of curd; two and a half pounds are used for a medium cheese, and three pounds for a slowcuring cheese. The curd should be spread out at an even thickness and the salt applied evenly. It should then be thoroughly stirred several times.

As soon as the harsh feeling has left the curd it is ready to go to press. The screw should be turned slowly, but fast enough so that a stream of brine is kept flowing. The full pressure should not be applied for ten minutes. In an hour the bandages can be turned down, and full pressure is then applied. The continuous-pressure gang-press made by D. H. Burrell and Co., is the most satisfactory, as the cheese will not loosen during the night. The next day the cheese are placed on the shelves and the rinds greased. They should be turned and rubbed every day. The temperature of the curing-room should be 60° to 65° F., moisture should be supplied in dry weather. are boxed and shipped in about a month.

B. Cheese Made on the Farm.

and The cheese

For a farm dairy it will be much easier to make up sweet-curd cheese than sour-curd cheese, described in the preceding. For this purpose it is necessary to have a curdknife, a cheese-vat, and a cheese-press; the method of procedure is as follows:

The milk, which must be clean and sweet, is heated to 90° F., and if any artificial color is required it is added at this time. Set the milk with enough rennet extract to coagulate in 20 to 30 minutes. About four ounces of Hansen's rennet extract per 1000 lbs. of milk will prove a sufficient

amount.

As soon as the curd will break over the finger cut it fairly fine; then raise the temperature one degree in 3 minutes until 108° F. is reached, at the same time stirring carefully to keep the curd particles apart. Hold at 108° F. till the curd is firm, that is, till the pieces do not feel mushy. Then draw the whey and stir till the whey is well drained out. Salt at the rate of 2 lbs. of salt to 100 lbs. of curd, and when the salt is well worked in. put it to press. The cheese should be cured in a room (preferably a cellar)

where the temperature can be kept at 60° F., otherwise it will spoil. The cheese should be cured for two to three months before it is sold.

CAUSES OF TAINTED MILK.

The causes of tainted milk have been classified as follows, by the Swiss scientist, Dr. Gerber:

1. Poor, decayed fodders, or irrational methods of feeding. 2. Poor, dirty water, used for drinking-water or for the washing of utensils.

3. Foul air in cow-stable, or the cows lying in their own dung.

4. Lack of cleanliness in milking; manure particles on udder.

5. Keeping the milk long in too warm, poorly ventilated and dirty places.

6. Neglecting to cool the milk rapidly, directly after milking.

7. Lack of cleanliness in the care of the milk, from which cause the greater number of milk taints arise.

8. Poor transportation facilities.

9. Sick cows, udder diseases, etc.

10. Cows being in heat.

11. Mixing fresh and old milk in the same can.

2. Rusty tin pails and tin cans (Böggild),

THE FERMENTATION TEST.

At cheese factories there is often, especially during hot summer weather, a need of some test to discover the cause of abnormal fermentations which show themselves in tainted, pinholey, gassy, or floating curds. The trouble will generally be found to lie in the milk furnished by one or a few patrons who do not properly care for their milk, or who allow diseased or tainted milk of any kind to be mixed with the milk sent to the factory. The problem then is to detect the origin of the "off" milk, so as to refuse taking it and thus prevent it spoiling the whole day's make of cheese. The experienced careful cheese-maker will be apt to find out such milk from its odor or general appearance when pouring it into the weighing-can, but it may some

times escape attention. The Gerber fermentation test (modified by Monrad) furnishes a convenient method for discovering tainted milk. The test consists of a tin tank which can be heated by means of a small lamp, and into which a rack fits holding a certain number of cylindrical glass tubes; these are all numbered and provided with a mark and a tin cover. In making the test the tubes are filled to the mark with milk, the number of each tube being recorded in a notebook opposite the name of the particular patron whose milk was placed therein. The tubes in the rack are put in the tank, which is two thirds full of water; the temperature of the water is kept at 104-106° F. for six hours, when the rack is taken out, the tubes gently shaken, and the appearance of the milk, its odor, taste, etc., carefully noted in each case. The tubes are then again heated in the tank at the same temperature as before for another six hours, when observations are once more taken of the appearance of the milk in each tube. The tainted milk may

then easily be discovered on account of the abnormal coagulation of the sample.

Gerber concluded from over 1500 tests made by this method:

1. That good and properly handled milk should not coagulate in less than 12 hours, nor show anything abnormal when coagulated.

2. If it does, it shows the milk to be abnormal, either on account of its chemical composition or because it is impregnated with too much ferment (rather, abnormal ferments, causing an undesirable fermentation).

3. Milk from sick cows, cows that are strongly in heat, or cows with diseased udders will always coagulate in less than 12 hours.

4. Only about 20 per cent of the tests coagulated within 12 hours.

Monrad proposes the following rules for the adoption of this test by cheese factories:

I.

2.

A proper journal is kept of all the tests.

The patrons whose milk is tainted have to pay the cost of making the test.

3. "The patrons whose milk is tainted will be kept track of, and in case there is any loss caused thereby they will have to stand it.

4. "Patrons having tainted milk shall be notified at once, and another test made three days later. If then the milk is still bad, a test of each cow's milk is made on the farm and otherwise the reason sought to be discovered, and until then the milk will be refused."

Another test published in the twelfth report of Wisconsin Experiment Station will prove very satisfactory for the purpose of detecting gas-producing bacteria in milk. The method, which calls for no special apparatus aside from a number of pint fruit-jars, is operated as follows:

"Pint milk-bottles are sterilized in order to kill out any adherent germ-life, and then filled two-thirds full with milk from each patron. To each of these is added a definite amount of rennet extract (ten drops), and the bottles then immersed in warm water (98°-100° F.). After the milk has set, the curd is cut and cooked in the usual manner. The whey is then poured off and the curds are allowed to mat, their condition being noted from time to time. In this way the normal conditions practised in cheese-making are adhered to quite closely, so that practically the various stages of making Cheddar cheese up to the point of putting to press is carried out, and the development of gas in the curds can be noted with exactness. Observations are usually recorded after the lapse of about 4-6 hours and then again on the following day."

DETERMINATION OF HUMIDITY IN CHEESECURING ROOMS.

The proper degree of humidity in the cheese-curing room will vary with different kinds of cheese and at different stages of the curing process. Green cheese should be placed in a somewhat drier curing-room than older; the latter kinds, according to Fleischmann, require a relative humidity of 90°-95°, against 85°-90° for green cheese.