descends into the boiler without any natural fermentation taking place and it retains its natural acidity unchanged.

2) Before the addition of the rennet, the selected lactic ferments (lactic bacilli) are added to the milk in the proportion of I per 1000 by volume; these micro-organisms possess the maximum fermentative power (virulence), obtained by growing them in a suitable sterilized liquid prepared on a basis of peptone and lactose neutralized with carbonate of lime. To ensure vigorous action, fresh ferment should be added regularly, without interruption, at 24 hours interval, and developed at a temperature of 32 to 35oC. (90 to 95oF.). Before each ferment is used the quantity necessary for the succeeding inoculation is set apart in the proportion of 5 per cent.

3) The form, on leaving the boiler, passes into a warm chamber at 37 to 40°C. (99 to 104° F.), the optimum temperature for the development of the bacillus forms of lactic ferments; here it remains for 12 to 14 hours, until the lactic fermentation is complete; this is recognized by the plasticity of the curd.

The experiments undertaken by Prof. Samarani have begun favourably, since about forty forms of Grana, which have been partly made from centrifugated milk, i. e. with milk which is difficult to work, have been kept during the summer months without signs of swelling.

Before, however, passing a definite judgment, it is necessary to wait two years longer and then carefully examine the qualities of cheese made according to the new warm-chamber method.

746 Bankrote "Cheese (1). - TEICHERT, KURT in Molkerei- Zeitung, Year 27, No. 26, pp. 489-490. Hildesheim, April 4, 1913. The writer has of late examined many "bankrote " Emmental and Münster cheeses, and has ascertained that their condition is not due to bacteria. If such cheeses are grated to a powder and the latter is mixed with an alcoholic solution of phloroglucin in hydrochloric acid, a red discol oration is seen. The cheese rinds showed a very strong reaction, which decreased as the centre of the cheese was approached. Cheeses which were not affected gave no red reaction with phloroglucin and hydrochloric acid. The writer, therefore, concludes that the red colour is principally due to the sap of the wood of the shelves having penetrated into the cheeses placed upon them. Cheese-shelves made of white spruce wood imparted the characteristic deep brown-red colour to the cheeses stored upon them. 747 The Microflora of Stilton Cheese. PERCIVAL, J. and [MASON, G. HEATHER, in The Journal of Agricultural Science, Vol. V, Part 2, pp. 222-229+ figs. Cambridge, March 1913.

After a description of the methods adopted in the investigations, a detailed account is given of the micro-organisms found in Stilton cheese. The number of these is large in fresh cheese (I 090-3000 million per gram

(1) This epithet is applied to cheeses in which the rind has assumed a brownish-red colour from long storage on damp shelves. The colour is quite distinct from that obtained with the phloroglucin reaction.

in the first week), but there is a gradual fall in the numbers up to the time 2 of ripeness (100 to 150 days old), when 50 to 100 millions only are found.

Five characteristic organisms were found in all Stilton cheeses examined, viz: 1) Streptococcus lacticus, 2) a short-rod form of Bs. acidi lactici, 3) a species of Tyrothrix, 4) Penicillium glaucum, and 5) a round form of Torula, sometimes accompanied or replaced by an oval form.

748 The Cattle Market and Cattle Trade at La Villette in 1912 (1). ROLLIN in Bulletin des séances de la Société Nationale d'agriculture de France, Vol. 73, No. I, pp. 47-54. Paris, 1913.

The following tables show the importance of the cattle trade at the La Villette cattle market in 1912, and give the prices as compared with those of the preceding year.

Number of animals taken to the cattle-market.

MEAT INDUSTRY

From a table for 1912 given in the original article, it is seen that the prices of first-class cattle are above the average for the year in the months of April, May, June, July and August. The prices are below the average in the last quarter of the year and in January and February. Cattle of the

(1) See Nos. 93 and 180, B. Feb. 1913, and No. 594, B. May 1913

(Ed).

WINE-MAKING

Average, Maximum and Minimum Prices at the La Villette Market.

third quality fetch higher prices than the annual average in April, May and June, and lower in January, February, September, October and December.

The price of sheep is above the average in February, March, April, August, September, November and December.

The highest price for first-class calves was reached in January, February, March, April and May. Otherwise the price was always below the yearly average. The price fetched by calves of third quality was higher than the yearly average on January and April, and lower in the other months. The price of pigs was higher from February to September; in the other months it was below the average price.

749

Cold and Ferments in 1912. ASTRUC, H. in Revue de Viticulture, Year 20 Vol. XXXIX, No. 1009, pp. 541-545. Paris, April 17, 1913.

It is the firm conviction of the writer, based on his observations in 1913 in the vineyard and upon his laboratory notes, that the alcoholic fermentation of the vintage proceeds badly, or is prevented from taking place at all, when the temperature is below 18 to 20o C. (64 to 680 F.); this is the case even in the south of France, especially when the ferments are all sporulate to begin with, as occurs generally on healthy grapes at the beginning of the season, if the vintage is placed in a recently opened cellar in clean vats, as it always should be.

If it is desired to avoid the difficulties due to low temperature and to obtain the necessary fermentation without having recourse to a mustwarmer, which is a costly apparatus as it is seldom used, the writer considers the only economical method is to initiate fermentation artificially by adding ferments in full budding, which would give the necessary heat to the liquid. These ferments could, if wished, be obtained from a native must, and their preparation would only entail the early gathering of a

=

La small quantity of grapes, or else the use of pure-culture or selected trade yeasts. The essential point is that they should be very. active and bud rapidly; this entails the use of young yeasts and usually necessitates the addition of some starter (pied de cuve) made on the premises, or got from a neighbouring starter-establishment (zymogène).

Another very important point is to avoid drowning these yeasts in a large quantity of chilly must and thus paralysing their activity. Contrary to what is usually recommended, it is necessary, in years when the temperature is below 20oC. (680 F.) or thereabouts, to throw the starter simply on the surface of the pomace, or the must, without stirring it up; by this means the yeast will lose as little heat as possible and will produce actual centres of fermentation, whence the activity will radiate through the mass.

The must should only be aerated at the time of pressing, and all other customary aerations should, in this case, be avoided. The temperature of the upper third of the liquid alone need be watched, but when this exceeds 32o C. (90o F.) or thereabouts, it can be regulated by mixing in the lower third, avoiding all unnecessary aeration. If, at the same time, the necessary amount of sulphurous acid is reduced to the minimum, and if its hindering effect is corrected by introducing into the vat from 10 to 15 gr. of ammonium phosphate per hectolitre (about 2 1⁄2 oz. per 100 gallons), which is an excellent nutrient salt for yeasts, the best measures have been taken to prevent any deleterious action on the fermentation which might be produced by early cold.

750

The Maturation and Clarification of Wines by Means of Cold. · CARLES. in Bulletin de la Société des Agriculteurs de France, p. 274. Paris, April 1, 1913. The writer has already advocated for some time the use of low temperatures, either natural or artificial, in the maturation of wines. He shows in this article that the effect of the cold can be increased during refrigeration by putting the wine in active motion. This can be done in various ways, e. g. by beating the contents of the vats with a wine-shed broom, rocking the barrels containing the vintage, or by any other practical method.

If a solution of potassium bitartrate in artificially cooled pure water is subjected to similar mechanical action the deposition of the salt is more rapid and more complete. Should it be dissolved in wine, and especially new wine, or a mixture into which new wines enter, the relative amount of tartar deposited is still greater. This is due to two totally different causes, which have, however, the same result.

The first, which is entirely physical, depends on the property of the tartar of removing other substances. New wine is, in fact, a super-saturated solution of tartar. The cold releaves this super-saturation and diminishes the capacity of solution, especially if the temperature is very low and the cold is prolonged. When the tartar is thus insoluble in a medium containing substances in a state of unstable equilibrium, or in pseudo-solution, it has the power of combining with them and removing them. This union is known under the name of "laques ".

The second case is chiefly chemical. When chilled new wine, in a barrel three-quarters full, is beaten vigorously or when a large surface of the chilled wine is exposed to the air, a certain quantity of oxygen is introduced into it. This oxygen is more soluble in wine near freezing-point than at ordinary temperatures. In dissolving, therefore, it combines by preference with those elements of the wine which are most readily oxidized; of these the blue pigments are the chief. By oxidation these pigments progressively lose their solubility, and thus from being pseudo-soluble they become wholly insoluble. The tartar possesses an especial affinity for these pseudo-soluble substances, which it abstracts from the wine till it itself reaches the equilibrium of saturation. But the reciprocal action is such that it is impossible for these oxidized pigments and ferruginous tannoids, which have individually been rendered insoluble, to separate out from the wine without, in their turn, removing part of the normally dissolved tartar even in the oldest wines.

It is for this reason that the first lees form after racking, which is a simple mechanical process, and that the sediment is so abundant.

The action of cold is thus only apparently physical and can be increased two-fold by the chemical action of the oxygen of the atmosphere, and even more by imparting motion to the wine in different ways.

The first result is, not only the elimination of the tartar and similar acid salts, which are present in excess, but also the removal of all the potentially insoluble compounds forming the blue pigment of new wine. The complex products of this separation form the first lees, and this general precipitation produces a self-clarification of the first order.

Herein lies the secret of the maturation of new wines by means of cold and the general elimination of their pseudo-soluble compounds. The experiment shows that these two processes are followed by a state of equilibrium and stability equal to that possessed by old wines. Further, it demonstrates that if wine kept at this low temperature is frequently racked off, it assumes the extraordinary limpidity and ruby colour so much admired by wine-makers and which is otherwise attained by exposing the product to the long-continued cold of many winters.

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