When the curd has consolidated a little, it is cut with the cheese-knife, slightly at first, and more minutely as it hardens, so as to bring off the whey. When the greater part of the whey has been extracted, the curd is taken up from the curd-boyn, and, being cut into pieces of about two inches in thickness, it is placed in a sort of vat or sieve with many holes. A lid is placed upon it, and a slight pressure, say from three to four stone avoirdupois; and the curd is turned up and cut small every ten or fifteen minutes, and occasionally pressed with the hand so long as it continues to discharge scrum. When no more whey can be drawn off by these means, the curd is cut as small as possible with the knife, the proper quantity of salt minutely mixed into it in the curd-boyn, and placed in the chessart within a shift of thin canvas, and put under the press. All these operations ought to be carried on and completed with the least possible delay, and yet without precipitation. The sooner the whey is removed after the coägulation of the milk, so much the better. But, if the curd is soft, from being set too cold, it requires more time, and to be more gently dealt with, as otherwise much of the curd and of the fat would go off with the whey; and when the curd has been formed too hot, the same caution is necessary. Precipitation, or handling the curd too roughly, would add to its toughness, and expel still more of the oily matter; and, as has been already mentioned, hot water or whey should be put on the curd when it is soft and cold, and cold water when the curd is set too hot. Undue delay, however, in any of these operations, from the time the milk is taken out of the coolers until the curd is under the press in the shape of a cheese, is most improper, as the curd in all these stages is, when neglected for even a few minutes, very apt to become ill-flavored. If it is allowed to remain too long in the curd-vat, or in the dripper over it, before the whey is completely extracted, the curd becomes too cold, and acquires a pungent or acrid taste; or, it softens so much that the cheese is not sufficiently adhesive, and does not easily part with the serum. Whenever the curd is completely set, the whey should be taken off without delay; and the dairymaid should never leave the curd-boyn until the curd is ready for the dripper or cheese-vat. The salt is mixed into the curd. After the cheese is put into the press, it remains for the first time about an hour, or less than two hours, until it is taken out, turned upside down in the cheese-vat, and a new cloth put around it every four or six hours until the cheese is completed, which is generally in the course of a day and a half, two, or at most in three days after it was first put under the press.