THE EMIGRANT'S HAND-BOOK. 107 



ling when they are young, they are not apt to kick the 

 milker; their udders should be rubbed gently before 

 calving ; it is quite as grateful to them as carding. But 

 if they are suffered to run wild till after they have calved, 

 they cannot be expected to be gentle when you first at- 

 tempt to milk them : they often acquire bad habits, and are 

 not broken of them through life. 



BUTTER-MAKING IN ORANGE COUNTY 



THE MILK-ROOM. It is all-important that this should 

 be cool, dry, and moderately light, with a free circulation 

 of air. Mine, says a Duchess county writer, is in the 

 cellar of my farm-house, ventilated by means of two 

 windows about two feet square on the north side, and 

 a like window, and a lattice-door on the south side ; all 

 covered on the outside with wire-gauze, fine enough 

 to exclude the flies. The floor is formed by a layer 

 of small stones, six inches deep, well grouted, (that is, 

 a mortar of lime and sand, thin enough to run freely, 

 is poured upon the stones until they are entirely cov- 

 ered with it,) and when dry, a thin covering of water- 

 lime cement is put upon it, and made smooth with the 

 trowel. This costs little, if any more than a plank floor, 

 and effectually keeps out both rats and mice ; and as 

 water does not injure it, it is easily kept perfectly clean 

 and sweet. The milk-pans stand upon marble slabs, 

 raised upon brick- work, about two feet from the floor, 

 and the butter is worked upon a marble table. A pump 

 is placed at one end of the room, bringing the water 

 through a lead pipe from the bottom of the well ; and the 

 water discharged, runs the whole length of the cellar in 

 a channel prepared for the purpose, when the floor was 

 cemented, and escapes through a fine iron grate, cemented 

 into the floor, over the mouth of the drain. The churn 



