THE DAIRY. 565 



scrupulous attention to that cleanliness on which complete success 

 in all dairy operations must inevitably depend. 



This chapter cannot be more appropriately closed than by in- 

 troducing the following extracts from Mr. Flint's " Letter to a 

 Dairy Woman " : — 



^' I need not remind you that any addition, however small, to 

 " the market value of each pound of butter or cheese, will largely 

 *' increase the annual income of your establishment. Nor need I 

 '' remind you that these articles are generally the last of either the 

 " luxuries or the necessaries of life in which city customers are 

 " willing to economize. They must and will have a good article, 

 '' and are ready to pay for it in proportion to its goodness ; or, if 

 *' they desire to economize in butter, it will be in the quantity 

 " rather than the quality. 



" Poor butter is a drug in the market. Nobody wants it, and 

 " the dealer often finds it difficult to get it off his hands, when a 

 " delicate and finely flavored article attracts attention and secures 

 " a ready sale. Some say that poor butter will do for cooking. 

 " But a good steak or mutton-chop is too expensive to allow any 

 " one to spoil it by the use of a poor quality of butter ; and good 

 *' pastry-cooks will tell you that cakes and pies cannot be made 

 " without good sweet butter, and plenty of it. These dishes re\- 

 " ish too well, when properly cooked with nice butter, for any one 

 '■'■ to tolerate the use of poor butter in them. 



" I have dwelt on the necessity of extreme cleanliness in all the 

 *' operations of the dairy ; and this is the basis and fundamental 

 " principle of your business. I would not suppose, for a moment, 

 " that you are lacking in this respect. The enormous quantities 

 " of disgusting, streaky, and tallow-like butter that are daily thrust 

 " upon the seaboard markets must be due to the carelessness 

 " and negligence of heedless men, to exposure to sun and rain, 

 " to bad packing, and to delays in transportation. Many of these 

 *■'■ evils you may not be able to remove, since you cannot follow 

 " the article to the market, and see that it arrives safely and 

 " untainted. But you can take greater pains, perhaps, in some 

 *' of the preliminary processes of making, and produce an article 



