THE DAIRY. 633 



rically. As each may be presumed to think that he has hit 

 upon the plan that is hkely to produce the best results, I 

 can hardly do better than to detail here the various processes 

 of my own system of butter-making, which is attended with 

 highly satisfactory i-esults, my butter usually selling for consider- 

 ably more than the average of the highest market-prices. 



The milk-room plays a very important part in the manufacture 

 of butter. It should be airy and cool without being too cold, and 

 should be so arranged that it may be kept at all times scrupulously 

 clean. 



The spring-house, in common use in the dairy regions about 

 Philadelphia, and which is almost peculiar to that part of the 

 country, is admirably adapted for the purpose, and although 

 opinions vary as to its necessity for the attainment of the very 

 best results, the results which, in good hands, are obtained with 

 its use, are a strong argument in its favor, and it certainly offers 

 some advantages over the system of dry rooms. A description 

 of one of these spring-houses is included in the following commu- 

 nication that I made in 1868 to the New York Evening Post^ 

 after a visit to several dairy farms in Chester and Delaware 

 counties : — 



" Philadelphia Butter. — We took an evening train for the farm 

 '' of Mr. S. J. Sharpless, whose herd of pure Jerseys feed on the 

 " rich pastures of Chester County, and arrived in time for the 

 " evening milking. It was a pleasant ending to our journey to 

 "see the fine-skinned and deer-like creatures marching in regular 

 " procession through the long grass to the milking-house, imported 

 " ' Niobe ' swaggering along with her enormous orange-colored 

 " udder, at the head of the troop ; and we were disposed to think 

 " that with such a farm and with such a herd, we too could make 

 " ' Philadelphia' butter. 



*' The milking-house is a light, wooden structure, with so many 

 *' open doors and windows that it is hardly more than a shed. In 

 " winter it is closed up and used as a stable for young stock. In 

 " size it is about twenty-two feet by thirty-six, with a row of 

 " stanchions on each side, and with mangers in which a little bran 



