THE FARMERS' CABINET, 

 AMERICAN HERD-BOOK, 



DEVOTED TO 



AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, AND RURAL AND DOMESTIC AFFAIRS. 



" The Productions of the Earth will always b» in Dropnrtion to Iho culture bestnwpd upon it. 



Vol. VII — No. 12.] 



7th mo. (July) 15th, 1813. 



[Whole No. 102. 



JOSIAII TATUM, 



PROPRIETOR AND PUBLISHER, 



No. 50 North Fourth Street, 



PHILADELPHIA. 



Edited by the Proprietor and James Pcdder. 

 Price one dollar per year. — For conditions see last pnrre. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



The Milk Cellar. 



It is a curious fact, but by no means un- 

 accountable, that in many parts of the coun- 

 try the milk cellar is superceding the spring 

 house,' — an appendage that has always been 

 considered indispensable for the production 

 of good butter, be the other qualifications of 

 a farm and its appurtenances what they 

 might. While on a visit to Wilmington, 

 Delaware, I had occasion to remark the ex- 

 cellence of the butter at my friend's table, 

 when he replied, he always selected the 

 best cellar butter at market, for the use of 

 his family, giving it as his firm conviction, 

 that butter made in a cellar, was far prefer- 

 able to that made in a spring-house, its 

 great recommendation being, in keeping 

 sweet and good much longer, and retaining 

 its fine flavour and colour to the last, which 

 spring-house butter would not do. And he 

 observed, it is customary to account for the 

 greater price which some dairymen obtain 

 lor their butter in the market, by saying it j 

 is cellar batter; instancing the fact, in "the 

 high character of that made by Mr. Bryan 

 Jackson, near Newcastle, who never fails to I 

 obtain the top price of the market, for butter | 

 of the finest quality; he having a cellar that' 

 might be taken as a pattern for all that part 1 

 of the country. Of course, it is readily ad- 1 

 milted that much depends on the mode that | 

 is adopted in the management of the dairy, ' 

 ronrmencing with the breed and feed of the ! 

 ■■ >ws, and ending with the manipulations of 

 the butter; but the idea is gaining ground,! 

 that the best butter is to be made in a cellar, : 

 all other circumstances being equal: a re-j 

 markable revolution in public opinion, truly. 



On reconnoitering amongst my friends, I 

 Sound that several of them had substituted 



Cab.— Vol. VII.— No. 12. 



the cellar for the spring-house; and I do not 

 know one who is not satisfied with the ar- 

 rangement, except it be where the cellar is 

 dug in a damp soil, or has been most injudi- 

 ciously opened to the well, the evaporation 

 from which fills the room with constant 

 moisture, which may be found adhering to 

 the walls, the ceiling and the wood-work, 

 the shelves, and particularly the inside of 

 the door, causing a damp and clammy feel, 

 and a nauseous, mouldy smell, which the 

 butter imbibes, to its lasting injury : indeed 

 no good butter can be made in such places. 

 But another revolution is taking place, even 

 amongst the advocates for the cellar: it is 

 no longer thought necessary to dig the cellar 

 very deep, or to arch it over with stone or 

 brick, with an air passage through it for 

 ventilation- — a vault, as it is more properly 

 then termed : it is found sufficient, if the 

 cellar be sunk a few feet below the surface 

 of the earth, with a wide and shallow win- 

 dow on each side, the bottom of it level with 

 the ground outside; well protected with a 

 wire guard to keep out vermin, large flies, 

 &c, and provided with a close glazed sash, 

 which can be opened and closed at pleasure, 

 by lifting it up to the ceiling, which ought 

 to be no higher than the top of the windows; 

 so that the air of the cellar can be ventilated 

 by opening the windows of the two opposite 

 sides, according to the way the wind sets at 

 the time, shutting them quickly when ne- 

 cessary; for in cold, windy, or damp wea- 

 ther, the sooner the windows are again 

 closed, the better. Indeed, to the manage- 

 ment of the cellar in this particular, much 

 of the success of dairying is to be attributed; 

 cold and damp air being unfriendly to the 

 secretion of cream, and its proper and entire 

 separation from the milk. Hence, therefore, 

 it is a bad practice to set the pans on the 

 brick floor of the cellar; they ought always 

 to be placed around on shelves, about three 

 feet in height, and these, after being well 

 washed with hot water, should be wiped 

 quite dry, that no mouldy evaporation might 

 take place to spoil the butter. The air near 

 the floor of a dairy is always impure, being 

 loaded with acid vapours and putrid exhala- 

 tions, the density of which confines it to the 



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