CARE OF CHEESE.
Take cheese from the hoops after they have been under pressure about eighteen hours. If they have been properly made and thoroughly cooked, and the cap cloths are sweet and clean, the latter will peel from the ends without making an abrasion of the rind. Allow them to stand an hour or so on the shelves before greasing; the surface moisture will then have evaporated, and the rinds will deepen to a golden color and become crisp and slightly rough under the touch. Heat whey butter as hot as you can bear your hand in it, and, using a large piece of bandage cloth (no other cloth is as good), dip it in the hot grease and apply by a thorough rubbing-in to the cheese surface. The butter being hot will strike in and lend toughness and elasticity to the rind. Date the cheese after they have been on the shelves a day. The bandage cloth will then have become dry, and the dates can be made to show clear and distinct. Turn cheese over every day and rub them thoroughly with a sponge of bandage cloth, well oiled. Dealers, retailers and consumers insist on a good, perfect rind, and, as makers, we must give it to them. Appearance sometimes goes farther than quality, but we want both, and want them united. Sometimes cheese will mould on the sides during damp, muggy weather in summer. It will not do to drive out the dampness with fire, so establish a free circulation of air through the room and the mould will cease to accumulate. In a curing room it is easier to keep temperature where you want it during cool than in hot weather. If the mercury gets to running up above 75° Fahrenheit, sprinkle the floor vigorously with cold water, take out the window sashes, and on the south side keep the blinds closed, or a shade down. Good cheese can endure a temperature of 80° for a while without deteriorating, but such a heat is not desirable; keep it below that if possible during a hot wave. The shelves on which the cheese rest should be of sound lumber, smoothly planed basswood or pine, and each board a little wider than the diameter of the cheese. Care should be taken to have the bandages the exact circumference of the inside of the hoop. If the band is contracted, the cloth will split open under pressure and expose the cheese to the attack of skipper flies; if too large, the cheese will expand on the shelf and make it difficult to be jammed into a box for shipment. The reason the curing room should not be over the make apartment, or in a loft, is that in the former the vapor and odors generated below are not desirable curing factors, and in both cases excessive heat is unavoidable, due to the elevation and the direct rays of the sun on the roof. When cheese get so warmed up that the butter starts, the flavor is deteriorating also. While curing, cheese need ventilation, draughts of air should be avoided, as thereby the surfaces are dried up and checked. Too much light is not desirable in a curing room; shades should be used at the windows to regulate this. It is now customary to ship cheese as soon as they cease to be curdy, which occurs in from ten to fifteen days from the hoop.