No. 10. 



77/1? Dairy. 



309 



cate and barbarous practice — a practice which 

 no t.idy and reputable fanner would ever 

 permit. 



Some persons employ cold water in tliis 

 operation, which they pour upon the butter, 

 and thus, as tiiey say, wash it; but tliis prac- 

 tice IS not only useless, as the butter can be 

 perfectly cleared of the milk without it, but 

 also pernicious, beciiuse the quality of the' 

 butter is thus debased in an aslonishino- de- 

 gree. Nothing is so hurtful in a dairy as 

 water improperly used, which, if mixed in 

 any way with either milk or butter, tends 

 greatly to debase the quality of the last. 



When the butter is entirely freed from thei 

 milk, if it is to be sold sweet, it may be madel 

 up into any form that is most gcnerallv liked 

 at the market where it is to be sold, 'if the 

 heat should be so great as to render it too soft 

 to receive the impression of the mould, it may 

 be put into small vessels which may be al- 

 lowed to swim in the trough of cold water 

 under the table, but without allowintr any of 

 that water to touch the butter ;* there it will 

 in a short time acquire the neces.^rv decree 

 of firmness, (especially if a little bit ot"ice 

 shall have been put into the basin,) afler 

 which it may be taken out and moulded into 

 proper form. It should then be put down, in 

 proper dishes, upon the stone border that sur- 

 rounds the trough, where it may be kept cool 

 and firm till it be packed up to go to market. I 

 In every part of the foregoing process it is' 

 of the utmost importance Ih-it the vessels, and 

 every thing else about the dairy, be kept' per- 

 fectly clean and sweet, for without this pro- 

 caution there neither cnn be pleasure nor 

 profit derived from it. Tiiis is a circumstance 

 so universally admitted, that it may seem su- 

 perfluous to take notice of it in this place.— 

 Yet though this be generally known and ad- 

 mitted, and though every person who attempts 

 to manage a dairy of any sort may intend to 

 have things clean and proper, they may nev- 

 ertheless be, in some cases, at a loss for thf> 

 proper way of effecting their intentions, or 

 of guarding against certain evils, wiiich, if 

 once allowed to take place in the dairv, will 

 not be easily removed. Some hints, "there- 

 fore, are subjoined that may be of service to 

 those who are not well aciiuainted with this 

 department of business. 



HINTS, &c. 

 [As soon as the cream is separated from the 

 milk, the dishes should be carried out of the 



* Thi; practice that prevails in many private fami 

 lies, of keeping the sweet butter amoni; vvatpr in -i 

 crystal vessel, and thus servinj; it up to table is for 

 the same reason much to bo censure.!. If coolness oiUv 

 is wanted, it were better to put the hntter in a drv 

 glass, and put that into a Iar>,'erojie anion" water If 

 it were taken out of that immediately be?ore it were 

 put upon the tahln, it would always liave Hrniucss 

 enough in our climate. 



[milk-house, and immediately emptied, and 

 the skimmed milk applied to the uses that 

 the owner of the dairy jud?e3 to be most ad- 

 vantageous to him. As soon after the dishes 

 are emptied as possible, they must be well 

 washed with scalding hot water, which should 

 be kept in readiness fbr that purpose; and as 

 the naked hand cannot be put among the 

 soaldmp water, a scrubbinjr brush of a proper 

 construction must be kept in readiness for 

 that use. This may be made of a bunch of 

 wire, hrmly bound up with strong pack-thread 

 where other materials cannot be had ; but the 

 stumps of an old heath-besom, aHer the small 

 twigs have been worn olf, firmly bound to 

 gether, are found to answer this purpose re- 

 markiibiy well, nor ouirht anv thinrr else to 

 be sought for when that can be hat?, for this 

 IS both firm and tough, so as to stand the work 

 extremely well. 



[After the dishes have been thus perfectly 

 scalded, and thoroughly .scrubbed in every 

 part, they must be carefully rinsed with blood- 

 warm water, and well scoured by hand with 

 a coarse linen cloth. They are then to be 

 turned down one by one, as they are finished, 

 bottom upwards, upon a clean shelving board 

 to drip. When the whole are gone over in 

 this way, the dairy-maid returns to the first 

 done, and with a dry cloth wipes them one 

 by one as clean as possible. They are then 

 placed in ranges, so as to be exposed fully to 

 the action of the sun and air on the inside, 

 that the whole of the moisture may be dried 

 np as quickly as may be; for nothino- tends 

 so soon to destroy the sweetne.ss that is so de- 

 sirable lu dairy vessels as for the moi.sture to 

 be al lowed to remain long about them. There- 

 tore, in dull, foggy weather, when this can- 

 not be quickly dried up by the external air, 

 it IS necessary to do it by the aid of fire in the 

 house. As soon as the dishes are thorouo-ldy 

 dried, they must be carried into the shade, 

 and placed in order on shelves to cool, to be 

 in readiness for use when they shall be arain 

 wanted. 



[But should the milk have been sufll-red ot 

 any time to remain so long in the dish as to 

 become sour, the wood instantly becomes 

 tainted with that aciditv, so as to act as a 

 leaven upon any milk that shall be afterwards 

 put into It, which never fails to coarrulate 

 without separating any cream, and can nei- 

 ther be employed in making butter nor cheese, 

 and IS consequently lost in the dairy. The 

 scilding above described is by no means suf- 

 hcient to remove this destructive taint; and 

 as the dishes are totally useless till that be 

 removed, the following more efficacious pro- 

 cess must be adopted. 



[Fill the vessel with water scaldino- hot, 

 and into that put a considerable quantay of 

 hot ashes and small red embers from the fire. 



