146 NOTES ON FIELDS AND CATTLE. 



her dairy ; or a most honest, diligent, and careful 

 housekeeper, or he will most assuredly lose money : 

 trusted to common servants, it will not pay charges." 



To revert, however, to the building : it should 

 have a northern aspect, with a floor sunk a few feet 

 below the surface of the ground, as a more even 

 temperature is produced thereby. It should be 

 away from the slops of the back kitchen, and the 

 fetor of sinks. If there be a walnut or other close- 

 spread tree to overhang it, while it adds to the pic- 

 turesqueness of the spot, it will contribute to the 

 coolness within. The temperature is a secret far too 

 little observed in dairy management. 



The cream should be as nearly 51° as possible in 

 temperature, when put into the churn : to secure 

 this exact temperature, recourse should be had to 

 ice, or a deep-sunk well in summer; in winter to 

 hot water, or the fire. There are churns made now 

 with hollow paddles, to be filled with iced or hot 

 water, according to the season ; while others have a 

 false end behind, in which water can be deposited 

 for the same purpose ; but of the success that attends 

 them we cannot speak from experience. However, 

 the cream put into the churn at 51° will rise in heat 

 through the action of the paddles to 56°, at which 

 temperature the same amount of cream will yield a 

 greater amount of butter than at any other, and the 

 butter will come sooner by several hours in winter. 

 You must expect the churning, however, to be 

 tedious if the weather have been stormy, or cold of 

 late ; or if many of the cows be near calving. A 

 small thermometer, of boxwood and glass, should be 



