DAIRY. 



DAIRY. 



of so much consequence to its preservation. 

 Stone jars we have found superior to any thing 

 else for packing butter. They are sweet, cool, 

 impervious to air, and, from their shape, leave 

 but a small surface to be exposed or covered 

 with brine. The butter, whether packed in jars 

 or firkins, must be beat solid, and the vessel, 

 whatever it may be, should be filled at once. 

 The difficulty attending firkins is, that all wood 

 contains more or less acid, and this, decom- 

 posing the salt, imparts an unpleasant taste 

 and flavour to the butter in the cask. This i? 

 partly remedied by filling the firkin with strong 

 brine, and allowing them to stand a few days 

 before using; but the cause is never entirely re- 

 moved. Experiments made in Scotland proved 

 that the wood of the linden or basswood con- 

 tained the least acid, and this is supported by 

 the fact that, in the Tyrolese salt-works, where 

 water is brought to the point of saturation by 

 percolating through bundles of twigs or fagots, 

 those of the basswood are always preferred to 

 any other. In this country firkins of heart-ash 

 are preferred, and perhaps are as good as any 

 that can be used. We have known a firkin of 

 butter, properly headed, thrown into a well 

 where the water was of the temperature of 

 about 50 to 55, and when taken out, after a 

 submersion of a year, was as sweet as when 

 put in. Perhaps, where circumstances admit, 

 butter might be advantageously kept in this 

 way in vats filled with running spring water 

 of the proper temperature. Jars or firkins, 

 when filled with butter, should have some pure 

 strong brine poured on the top of the butter, 

 and kept there for the purpose of excluding the 

 air until the article is wanted for use. Instead 

 of the brine some use salt, and others prefer a 

 linen cloth saturated in brine for this purpose. 

 But whatever is used, the top of the jar or fir- 

 kin should be carefully covered with a board, 

 or what is much better, a clean, flat stone. 

 They should stand on flat stones, in a cool 

 place in the cellar, and may be occasionally 

 looked to, to see that the surface is properly 

 secured, and the air excluded." 



Some of the defects of American cheese 

 have been referred to under the head of 

 CHEESE. A very common one arises from its 

 being too often sent to market in a very green 

 state, frequently when but three weeks old. 

 The best English cheeses, we are told, are not 

 considered as ripe and marketable until two 

 years old. "A great improvement," says Mr. 

 Colman, "is thought by some to have been 

 made in capping the cheeses, as it is termed ; 

 that is, as soon as they are taken from the 

 press, covering them completely with cotton 

 cloth, sewed over them tightly ; or else drawn 

 round the sides of the cheese and over the 

 edges, leaving the centre partially exposed. 

 Where the cheeses are covered entirely, the 

 cloth itself is completely covered and saturated 

 with the usual unguent of whey-butter and 

 some simple and harmless colouring matter. 

 The effect is to preserve the cheese against the 

 attacks of flies, and to render the daily turning 

 of the cheeses not indispensably necessary, be- 

 sides preventing their spreading and cracking. 

 It is said by some persons that the cheese does 

 386 



not cure so perfectly in this way as when ex- 

 posed, and that the sale is not so ready. Such 

 contradictory statements are made in this case, 

 however, by those who have tried, and those 

 who refuse to try it, that I cannot decide on its 

 expediency. It impressed me favourably. 



" I have much pleasure in saying that many 

 of the Berkshire dairies are most exemplary 

 in respect to neatness ; and in this matter pre- 

 sent beautiful models of domestic management. 

 There are exceptions, however, to this com- 

 mendation. In some instances there is any 

 thing but neatness. The sink and the pig- 

 stye, with all their offensive exhalations, on 

 account of what is called convenience, which 

 is only an apology in such cases for gross lazi- 

 ness, are in much too intimate proximity with 

 the dairy-room ; and there are cases I shall 

 not venture to say whether I saw them or only 

 heard of them where, if the pigs should per- 

 chance mistake their own apartment and go 

 into the next door, they would never suspect 

 their error, unless they were ordered out. Ad- 

 monition, however, seems lost upon- such per- 

 sons. Slovenliness and sluttishness are incor- 

 rigible vices; and the fate of such persons 

 seems, as it were, in despair of reformation, 

 irrevocably pronounced. 



"Wilbur's semi revolving slide cheese shelves 

 is an admirable contrivance to save labour in 

 the cheese-dairy. By it two men can easily 

 turn twenty-four heavy cheeses in a minute, 

 and are enabled to rub them without their be- 

 ing- lifted from the shelves. The model con- 

 sists of an upright frame, suspended by an axis 

 passing through its horizontal centre ; and into 

 which slide eight pair of shelves, the distance 

 of which may be graduated to the size of the 

 cheeses. The cheeses are placed alternately 

 above and below the axis. Slats are fixed upon 

 the back of the frame to prevent the cheeses 

 falling out when the frame revolves. The 

 frame is made stationary by a pin, and when 

 this is withdrawn, it is made to revolve half 

 round upon its axis, which turns the cheeses. 

 The shelves over them, and upon which the 

 cheeses have lain the preceding day, may then 

 be withdrawn, and left to dry till the next day, 

 when they may be returned, the turning pro- 

 cess repeated, and the other shelves cleaned 

 and dried in turn. The improvement is a valu- 

 able one in large dairies. Henry Wilbur, of 

 Richfield, Otsego Co., N. Y., is the inventor. 



" The saving in labour and risk of the cheese 

 is great, and the expense of fitting up a new 

 room on this plan would not greatly exceed 

 {hat in common use, as the room may be much 

 smaller. One rack with six shelves, six feet 

 long, twenty-four inches wide, set eleven inches 

 apart, will hold eighteen cheeses weighing from 

 100 to 140 Ibs. each, suspended by a wooden 

 shaft two inches square, resting on two rails 

 extending the whole length of the room, three 

 and a half feet high, or if only a single rack, 

 on two posts ; each rack requires about four 

 feet on the length of the rails to turn well, 

 and its cost will not exceed six dollars, includ- 

 ing the materials of which it is made. On 

 this system the cheese dries much faster, as it 

 is turned on the dry side of the shelf every day, 



