534: HANDY-BOOK OF HUSBANDRY. 



" is put at each milking-time. Each cow has her own place, 

 '' with her name, age, and pedigree over her manger, and she 

 *' always goes to it as though she could read. Their names have 

 " been put up in the order in which they come from the pasture, 

 " the * master ' cow entering first and the least plucky last. 



" The milking is done by women, the same one always attend- 

 *'ing to each cow, and it is done rapidly and quietly, no unneces- 

 " sary talking and no skylarking being allowed. We measured 

 *' ' Niobe's' yield and found it to be eleven quarts, (she gave nine 

 " the next morning — making twenty for the two milkings,) not 

 '' bad for a butter-making Jersey cow. The others gave less, — 

 " the smallest not more than eight quarts at two milkings, — but 

 *' the whole herd of eighteen cows could not have given less than 

 " two hundred quarts a day, and this of milk that yields over 

 *' twenty per cent, of cream. 



*' Near by the milking-house is the ' spring-house,' the institu- 

 " tion of this region, about twenty-four feet long and eighteen feet 

 '* wide, built of stone, with its foundation set deeply in the hill- 

 " side, and its floor about four feet below the level of the ground 

 '' at the down-hill side. The site is that of a plentiful spring, 

 " which is allowed to spread over the whole of the inclosed area 

 '' to a depth of about three inches above the floor of oak, laid 

 " on sand or gravel. At this height there is an over-floor by 

 " which the water passes to a tank in an open shed at the down- 

 *'hill end of the house. On the floor of the spring-house there 

 *' are raised platforms or walks, to be used in moving about the 

 *' room, but probably three-quarters of the space is occupied by 

 '' the slowly-flowing spring-water. The walls are about ten feet 

 '* high, and at the top, on each side, are long, low windows, 

 " closed only with wire-cloth, which gives a circulation of air at 

 *■'■ the upper part of the room. The milk is strained into deep 

 " pans of small diameter, that are kept well painted on the 

 " outside, and are provided with bails by which they are 

 " handled. The depth of the milk in the pans is about 

 "three inches, and they are set directly upon the oak floor, 

 " the water, which maintains a temperature of fifty-eight degrees 



