406 



BRITISH HUSBANDRY. 



[Ch. XXXVII. 



below the ground, with very tliick brick and limestone rubble walls, stand- 

 ing ten feet high ; thus admitting of a cheese-loft over it. The building is 

 also constructed diflerently from that we have already described,' — the milk- 

 house having three fronts, encircled by a verandah ; thus affording a strong 

 draught of air from the windows, with only one door, while the other rooms 

 are of timber rising up to the roof, and the wash-house forms the only 

 mode of communication between both. The plan, as at foot, 



has, indeed, the advantage of having the milk-house entirely separate 

 from the churning and scalding room, as well as of its being, perhaps, 

 somewhat cooler in summer; but what it gains in the latter respect it 

 loses in the constant equality of temperature, and its construction is more 

 expensive than the other. 



With respect to the construction, we have not yet alluded to the materials 

 of the roof and Jlooring ; both which are essential in point of temperature 

 and cleanliness. The roofing with tiles is, in every instance, either so hot in 

 summer or cold in winter as to be destructive to every thing like equality 

 in the former ; and therefore the roof most generally employed is formed of 

 either straw, fern, or rushes. Tiiese unquestionably answer the purpose ; 

 but then they should be made full three feet thick : thus occasioning a great 

 expenditure of materials, which are subject to early decay, besides harbour- 

 ing vermin, and in the course of time creating a musty smell within the 

 interior, which communicates itself to the milk, and consequently becomes 

 injurious to the butter. The roofing with slates of sufficient thickness is 

 therefore much to be preferred, as being more impervious to the weather, 

 as well as decidedly more durable ; but it has been seldom used by farmers 

 out of the slate districts, in consequence of the difficulty of working it, and the 

 rate of duty. This has been now removed ; and the facility afforded by saw- 

 ing machinerv has rendered it much cheaper in the long run than any other 

 material which can be employed. An improvement in floors and roofing, 

 well adapted for dairies, has also been lately made by Messrs. North and Co. 

 of Stangate Wharf, Lambeth, and Shadwell Dock Basin, London Docks, 

 whereby ihree-fourths of the timber generally used in the old method is 

 saved, and the slates form a neat ceiling *. 



* The roof may be either nearly flat or much sloped, accoiding to the plan nquired. 

 The cost of this description of roofing averages 5/. per 100 feet superficial, including the 



