CO-OPERATIVE FACTORIES. 125 



as it soon rots and causes a great deal of trouble 

 through leaks and unevenness, making it difficult to 

 keep clean and sweet. The best floor, considering 

 cost, is made of gravel, sand, and cement. The ground 

 should be properly graded so as to give a fall of about 

 one inch in six feet to a gutter in the workroom. 

 (The floor of a cheese ripening-room should be nearly 

 level). On the firmly packed ground should be 

 placed from four to six inches of gravel. This should 

 be well pounded. On this a layer of about four 

 inches of sand and cement, mixed in the proportion 

 of four or five of sharp sand to one of good cement, 

 should be well packed, and then a finishing coat of 

 sand and cement (two to one) of about one inch 

 thickness should be trowelled and nicely finished so 

 as to give a smooth, hard surface to the floor. If the 

 ground slopes very much, so as to require filling, this 

 should be done with field stone, if possible, and the 

 gravel should be washed among the stone so as to 

 make a compact bottom. If stone be not available 

 and dirt is used, it must be pounded in very firmly 

 before putting on the gravel and cement, else the floor 

 will crack. It is important to have all the floor laid 

 in one day if possible, as it is difficult to get a good 

 connection between the hardened edge of the cement 

 laid one day and that of the fresh put down a few 

 days, or even one day, later. It is also important that 

 the drain be properly laid with a good fall to the 

 outlet. It is better, when making the drain, to have 

 a pattern made of proper width (about four inches on 

 top) and having the right slope. If a bell-trap, which 



