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Wisco   n Daiywmens     Association. 
When our worthy Secretary asked me to muke my report, he 
also asked me to mention some of the things which cause de- 
fecds in our cheese. 
Thee causes are not hard to find and for fear that I should 
conflict with some other paper which I believe covers this ground 
thoroughly, I shall say but little on this, but, briefly, they are 
as follows: Inexperienced cheesenakers; poor curing rooms in 
which the temperature cannot be controlled; poor care of milk 
utensils, etc., on the farm; bad water, both for cows and at fao- 
tories; unclean cheese factories, underground whey tanks, lack 
of proper equipment of machinery at factories. These cover 
most of the causes of defects in our cheese and although they can- 
not be found in all factories, yet, I am sorry to say they can be 
found. 
I cannot say too much in regard to factory equipment; our 
factories lack two of the most important pieces of equipment that 
there are: First the Curd Sink; second, the Curd Stirrer or 
Agitator. While in Canada last spring I was requested by Mr. 
Johnston, of Boaz, one of our most successful i n  , to 
look into the idea of bringing back a set of Canadian Curd.Agi- 
tators. I did 6o and found that whereas they ueed to cost about 
$40.00 per vat, the patent having run out, tley can now be 
bought for $20.00. In order to save freight and customs duty 
I just bought two sets of gearing without the frams or stirrers. 
the gearing for two vats costing $16.00. When they arrived, I 
spent three days at Mr. Johnston's where we mnde the frame and 
the irons and stirrer at a small cost. The first one we put on a 
vat holding about 7,000 pounds of milk and the work done was 
very satisfactory. The advantages of an agitator are, 1st, the 
milk can be stirred continually from the time you start weighing 
in until the desired temperature is obtained; 2nd, one man can 
attend to six vats if need. be, while the milk is warming or the 
curd cooking; 3rd, the curd is cooked uniformly throughout the 
whole vat. Last, but not least, the curd is not broken in the 
least as is the case when rakes are used, but the pieces remain 
the sam shape and almost the size as when first cut. There 
can be no doubt that a better yield is obtained by their use owing 
to tWe careful manner in which the curd is stirred. 
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