306 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND. 



skimming to London .at a good price, and sell the bad 

 in Cork. 



There was a very pretty arrangement, something be- 

 tween a table and a bowl, with a hole at the bottom to 

 let water escape, shown at this dairy. It was like half 

 a tree, of lime or some other white close-grained wood, 

 four or five feet long, and hollowed out very gradually 

 to the middle from near the sides, like a bowl ; it was 

 four or five inches deep, with no joints or crevices to 

 gather dirt, or be hard to keep clean. 



The French System. 



3. The French dairymaid used a large barrel churn, 

 for which it was complained the driving gear was too 

 slow. The churning in it, too, was stopped as soon as 

 the butter came, whilst it was in grains. The butter- 

 milk was washed away by repeated waters, as I have 

 described it, and this washing was trusted to, to remove 

 all buttermilk. The butter-working machine was not 

 used ; the wooden trowels were used. The butter was 

 lifted out of the churn by hand, and altogether the hand, 

 though not much used, was still more used in making 

 up the butter than was desirable. The whole churning 

 was worked up into a large tall cone, with a good deal 

 of plastering by trowel and hand. One plan the French 

 dairymaid had, which approved itself to me as very 

 good. As soon as the butter was washed, before she 

 took it out of the churn, she half filled the churn with 

 cold water, and let it stand for half an hour to harden 

 the butter. The temperature of cream always rises 

 considerably (some 3 to 5 degrees) in churning. Letting 

 the butter thus stand in cold water must remove this 



