SKIPPERS.
One of the most annoying things in the drying-room is the cheese-fly. It
is very small but very effective in its way; and as it has the power to
so rapidly increase its numbers, it sometimes gives a good deal of
trouble. To a beginner, its ways seem almost past finding out, yet its
path often becomes disgustingly visible.
We know of no sovereign remedy for these pests of the drying-room. The
best preventive is perfect cleanliness in all the surroundings. No pools
of whey or slops of any kind in, under or around the building, should be
allowed to furnish the first broods. But few factories are so arranged
as to leave no putrid whey-spouts or other receptacles for the eggs of
the fly. When hot weather comes on, the flies, therefore, swarm all
around the building; and most curing-rooms are so open as to afford them
easy access. Once in the room, the trouble and warfare begin, and cease
not until the dog-star no longer rages.
The cheese-fly is not very particular where it deposits its
eggs--whether in the cracks in the benches or turners, in wrinkles in
the bandage, in the checks in the rind of the cheese, or on the smooth
face. If the weather is warm enough and there is the least bit of
moisture, the eggs will hatch anywhere around the cheese. As soon as
hatched, instinct leads the skipper to burrow in the cheese at once. It
is a mistaken idea, we think, that the fly inserts the eggs. It drops
them in clusters, wherever it is convenient. It may be on a turner,
which is standing idle. It is taken up thoughtlessly, clapped over a
cheese, which is turned on it, nicely covering the eggs, which hatch
between it and the rind, and the brood is soon found thriving nicely in
the cheese. Perhaps the eggs are laid on the smooth face of the cheese,
in plain sight, if one looks carefully enough for them. The next time
the cheese is turned, the eggs are in the same situation as those laid
on the turner. They may be laid on the bench, and the cheese set on
them. A careful hand, who is used to hunting eggs as well as skippers,
will look closely for them everywhere, and be sure that the face of no
cheese that has them on is turned down, and that no turner is used
containing them. In all these cases, care and neatness have their
advantages, and pay.
If a cheese is leaky, look out for it. We have seen the eggs of the
cheese-fly deposited on the best cheeses; but sour, stinking, leaky
cheeses attract them most. Here they are in their natural element. The
eggs dropped on the moist cheese anywhere, even on the bandage, will do
remarkably well. They no sooner hatch, than the tiny worm works its way
through the bandage or rind into the cheese, and there he feasts,
fattens and grows.
It is almost traditional that a skippery cheese is invariably a good
one. We admit that good cheese may be skippery--it is so, sometimes; but
the leaky, greasy, rank smelling and strong-tasting cheese, is the
skipper's delight. In such a cheese, he luxuriates in all his disgusting
glory.
When skippers get into a cheese, we know of no better way than to dig or
cut them out as soon as possible. Their presence is at once indicated by
a moist spot, when the bottom face of the cheese is first turned up.
Greasing a piece of paper over the hole in the cheese, which is the
entrance of the skipper, will bring him to the surface after air, but it
does not kill him nor free the cheese from skippers. We say, cut them
out. Cut freely, and make sure work. If the spot is near the edge, a
wedge-shaped piece may be cut out, and a piece of another cheese--there
is usually one cut for patrons of a factory--can be fitted in, a second
bandage drawn over, and the cheese slipped into a hoop, when a little
pressing will smooth down all roughness and heal all scars.
Some put cayenne pepper in whey-butter used for greasing cheeses. But,
though it may help keep flies off, it will not prevent trouble. They
will work their way wherever there is a chance for them. Dryness,
cleanliness and watchful care, are the only sure preventives of
skippers, in hot weather. To one who has had experience, it is not so
very difficult to guard against serious loss from skippery cheese. But
beginners need to be put on their guard--and for their benefit we have
penned this article on skippers.