Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1873-09-16

smell, il the milk is pure. A sm Ill instru'
ment called lactometer hangs close at
hand. by which. il he thinks III" milk is
watered no is at once enabled tC detect it.
and tell accurately just how much water
is init. All the milk belonging to one
farmer is weighed together. ~ the bot
tom OF this receiving can is a la sc faucet
leading into tin conductor through
which the milk flows into the vat. As
soon as one lot OF milk is weighed 1t Is
let into the vat, and the receiving can
is ready for another By this method
each farmer receives daily is proper
credit for the milk he brings. The ac-
count is kept by pounds. The vat into
which the milk is run from tho receiver
rests upon the floor, 1t is double vat
The inner one containing the milk, IS
made of tin, Il feet inches long, feet
wide and 70 inches deep. The width nj
the bottom is less than at tie top, the
sides being shelving. The outer vat is
Of wood lined with zinc. strongly made
and rests firmly upon the floor. The
space between the two watts is filed with
pure water. so that the vat containing
the milk really sets in the water except
at the bottom where it rests on two
boards raised few inches from the in.
side OF the outer vat. The object Is to
prevent the milk from burning, and to
give a Uniform heat 10 il. A furnace
pipe Iuns through the length o. the out
side vat, and under the bottom of it.
The fire is built in the furnace pipe aud
the water between the two watts is heated
by coming in contact with the upper sur.
face of the furnace. The milk vat will
contain Coo gallons. The milk is heated
until the floating thermometer placed in
it indicates temperature of So degrees.
This occupies about twenty minutes.
The milk ordinarily requires heating.
On excessively warm days, IN summer,
however, il sometimes needs cooling
which is done by running cold water
through pipes passing through the en-
closed water. The object in heating is
TO raise The temperature OF the milk TO n
point NJ which the rennet placed in it will
operate upon it most effectively. The
quantity Of rennet put into the milk dc.
ponds upon the strength Of the rennet.
This can only be known by little eNpe
rience. About three gillS OF The liquid
rennet is put into 1000 pounds OF milk.
The rennet is thoroughly stirred into the
milk. The process OF setting occupies
about twenty minutes When the set
ting is sufficiently hardened 80 - TO
break evenly under the pressure OF the
finger, it reaches 10 the dignity of 4 curd.
/ The curd Is then cut with a gang OF y
peculiarly constructed knives in eight diC-
ierout ways. so that when the cutting Is
\ finished The curd is about the size OF I
1 beechnut. The whey immediately separ.
ates from the curd Tne fires are again
started and the curd is heated gradually
to temperature oi 9S degrees. This
occupies about an hour aud all the while
the curd is being stirred to keep it from
masSiug. II then il allowed to remain
until i, is thoroughly cooked, which
means when The whey i well separated
from the cured. The test OF its being
done is to take the curd in the hand, and
press it in.o the shape OF a ball; il il al.
heres together it is not done; if it c'um'
/ bles il is ready for the next process. The
whey is then drawn off by a syphhon in
to Il large cistern and from this il is dcliv-
cred TO the patrons of the factory in the
proportion of two.thirds of a gallon Of
whey TO gallon of milk The farmers
| feed the whey to their hogs. The curd
is then is then dipped out of the vat into
q sink made on purpose 10 receive 1t,
when il is strained and sailed. Two and
half pounds OF salt are added to every
thousand pounds milk. The curd re-
mains in the sink until il is sufficiently
cooled. It is then ladled into the hoops
and put under the presses. The hoops
are made of galvanized iron and arc Is
inches in diameter. The presses are set
at o'clock p NJ. and the cheese taken
out at o'clock A. II. the next day.
An occasional turn is given 10 the
presses during this interval. The curd
is put into the press without cloths and
after an hours pressure is taken out and
bandaged. the cheese turned and replac.
ed. When the pressing is completed,
the cheese is taken up stairs into the cur
ing room. Here it is dressed with The
saimmings oil the whey into which is put
some annotto Tor the purpose of giving
ich color 10 the outside OF the cheese.
This room should be kept at from 60 to
20 degrees of temperature and properly
ventilated. Each cheese when placed in
in the curing room has marked OF it the
ta:e on which placed there. The first
two weeks the cheese is turned every day,
after that every other day.
THE MARKET.
According to the best estimates, there
are at least 5000 pounds of cheese
annually imported into Maine. At y IL
cents per pound the average price at
| which il j. sold from the factory IL
amounts to the snug sum of SlS7 900.
This amount is yearly drained from our