THE DAIRY. 541 



Probably there is no point on which practical dairymen and 

 writers on the subject of butter-making, are so much at variance 

 as that of the depth of the pans or vessels in which the milk is to 

 be set away ; and from a careful investigation I have been unable 

 to detect any marked evidence of superiority in either system. 

 Perhaps there may be a slight advantage in favor of shallow setting. 

 At all events, this custom is generally practiced where there is 

 ample shelf-room at command ; while, where the milk is all to be 

 set on the floor of a spring house, which is often of limited area, 

 the deep pans, as accommodating more milk within a given super- 

 ficial area, are almost universally adopted ; and, as a rule, devia- 

 tions from either custom may generally be traced to the traditions 

 of former usage that different dairymen have brought from their 

 original homes. There is no advantage in using glass or earthen- 

 ware, and the extra weight and greater liability to break are a 

 serious objection to the use of either. The best material is tin 

 plate, which is in almost universal use all over the country. A 

 very great improvement in tin pans has been made within the past 

 few years, by their being struck up in a mould from a solid sheet 

 of the plate. This has the great advantage over the old .plan of 

 making the pan in parts and soldering it together, that there is no 

 crevice, inside or out, at the setting on of the bottom, where milk 

 may accumulate and by its decomposition do harm. These pressed 

 pans, after being struck to their form, are redipped in melted tin, 

 which completely covers any abrasion of the previous coating at 

 the angle between the sides and the bottoms, and makes it perfectly 

 easy to keep them clean and sweet. While they are no more 

 expensive than the old-fashioned hand-made pans, they are in all 

 respects preferable for use in butter dairies. 



The milk having been set at a proper temperature and in shal- 

 low pans, at a depth of not more than one and a half inches, it is 

 allowed to remain unskimmed thirty-six hours. At the end of 

 that time (the period being somewhat shortened in very hot 

 weather, so as to avoid the souring of the milk) the cream is re- 

 moved with a perforated, tin skimmer, as little as possible of the 

 milk itself being allowed to accompany the cream, which is put 



