CURING MILK. 351 



UTicovered in the spring, where they are to stand until the milk is 

 ready to be sent to the I'ailroad station. 



Now comes a question upon which there is some disagreement. 

 Shall this milk be stirred until it is cool, or shall it be allowed to 

 stand perfectly quiet ? I received my instructions from an excel- 

 lent dairyman, who had sent milk with perfect safety, who advised 

 me not to stir it at all, but to let it stand perfectly quiet. I pur- 

 sued that course for a time, until some charged me with being 

 somewhat dogged in my determination to adhere to that practice. 

 I have somewhat changed my opinion, and I advise the stirring of 

 the milk, moderately, until it is nearly or quite cool. I do not 

 consider that it is essential to stir it until it is cool, because I know 

 my man docs not always stay there to do it. I direct him to stir 

 the milk until it is cool, but I know he does not always do it. But 

 if it is stirred until it is cool, no separation of the cream takes 

 place in the milk ; it is all mingled with it, and when presented on 

 the table it is an entirely different article from the milk placed in 

 pans on your shelves and the cream allowed to rise in the ordinary 

 way. It is not skimmed milk at all, there is no separation of the 

 cream from it ; it is milk in its finest possible condition. 



Wanting this appliance of a convenient spring, some cool their 

 milk by letting it down into a cold well. Some put it in a tank of 

 water kept near the house, and place ice in it among the cans. 

 But there is no perfect substitute for a good flowing spring, with 

 an abundance of cold water to flow around the cans and carry 

 away the heat. There is no necessity for stirring the milk ; it will 

 "cure," as we call it, perfectly, and very little cream will rise ; 

 but as the temperature of the water rises, or the quantity of water 

 is less, it becomes necessary to stir it, that the cooling may 

 take place as perfectly and directly as possible. If the milk in 

 your cans stands an inch above the water, and you do not stir it 

 thoroughly, that milk will spoil. The water must he higher than the 

 milk in the cans. I thought that was a very small matter, but you 

 examine the temperature of that water in your vat, with five or six 

 of those forty-quart cans of warm milk in it ! It is milk warm on 

 top, for the warmer portion rises ; down below, it is cold still ; 

 but it is carrying upon the surface the heat of all those cans of 

 milk, and this inch of milk on top, that is above the water, does 

 not cool ; it remains warm, while the portion below cnols 

 sufficiently. Now, mingling warm milk and cold milk must 

 never be done. After the milk is thoroughly cooled, it may be 



