302 TREATMENT OF MILK. 



of a cow. Of the cows of Gelderland, Overyssel, and 

 Utrecht, the yield cannot be reckoned higher than six- 

 teen cans daily, and that only during the first half of 

 their milking season. 



Treatment of Milk for Butter. — To get good 

 butter it is quite necessary that the fresh milk be 

 properly cooled before it is set for cream. In the great 

 dairies of North and South Holland, which not only 

 possess the best cattle, but may be given as models in 

 dairy husbandry, they manage as follows : 



The milk, as it is brought from the pasture, is poured 

 from the buckets, cans, and casks, through a hair 

 strainer, into one vessel, the milk-kettle. These milk- 

 kettles are not everywhere of the same size, or of simi- 

 lar form, but are always riveted together with strong 

 brass or copper bands, and lined with tin inside. The 

 most common milk-kettles hold sixteen cans ; yet they 

 are found so large as to hold three barrels, or about six 

 hundred quarts. The peculiar kettle form is very rarely 

 found, but more frequently the cylindrical, or vase- 

 shaped. They are held either by two handles or one. 

 The number required depends on the number of cows 

 and the quantity of milk expected. 



The milk-kettles, when filled, are set into a basin 

 with cold water, called the cool-bath, for the purpose of 

 cooling the milk. The cool-bath is frequently in the 

 kitchen, sometimes in the bauer-house, so called, or 

 directly before the cow-room, near the spring. The 

 latter is the most common and the most convenient 

 place. The water reservoir is dug in the ground, and 

 an oblong four-cornered form is preferred for it ; the 

 sides of the excavation being walled up with hard-burnt 

 building-stones and cement, but the bottom is laid in 

 tiles, either red, hard-burnt, or white glazed. Richer 

 dairvmen take finely-hewn blue stone or white marble 



