DAIRY. 



to the west, and springs of water at 

 hand, the best and coolest dairies are 

 thus prepared by nature. Artificial 

 excavations in the sides of freestone 

 rocks are sometimes formed lor the 

 purpose of keeping milk. Where no 

 such natural advantages exist, the 

 requisite coolness in summer, and 

 equal temperature in winter, which 

 are essential in a good dairy, may be 

 obtained by sinking the floor of the 

 dairy some feet under ground, and 

 forming an arched roof of stone or 

 brick. In cold climates flues around 

 the dairy are a great advantage in 

 winter ; and an ice-house in warm 

 summers is equally useful. But these 

 are only adapted to those dairies 

 w hich are kept more as a luxury than 

 as an object of profit. Coolness is 

 also produced by the evaporation of 

 water, an abundant supply of which 

 is essential to every dairy. It is also 

 a great advantage if a pure stream 

 can be made to pass through the dai- 

 ry, with a current of air to carry off 

 any eflluvia, and keep the air contin- 

 ually renewed. 



" As the milk suffers more or less 

 from being agitated, or too much 

 cooled, before it is set for the cream 

 to rise, the cow-house or milking- 

 place should be as near as possible 

 to the dairy, or, rather, it should be 

 under the same roof The milk may 

 then be brought immediately from 

 the cows without being e.xposed to 

 the outer air. The dairy-house should 

 consist of three distinct apartments | 

 below, with lofts and cheese-cham- | 

 bers above. The principal place is 

 the dairy, properly so called, sunk 

 two or three feet below the level of 

 the ground, with a stone or brick 

 bench or table round three sides of it 

 to hold the milk pans. This table 

 should be a little below the level j 

 of the outer soil. Airholes covered ' 

 with wire should be made in the walls 

 a little above, and on the opposite 

 sides of the dairy ; and they should 

 have shutters sliding over them to 

 open or shut, according to the weath- 

 er. The floor should be of stone or 

 paving tiles, .sloping gently towards 

 a drain to carry otf the water. Great 



T 2 



care should be taken that no water 

 stagnates in this drain, which must 

 be kept as clean as the floor of the 

 dairy, and not communicate with any 

 sink, but run out into the open air : a 

 declivity from the dairy is essential 

 for this purpose. If this cannot be ob- 

 tained, it must run into an open tank, 

 and the water be regularly pumped 

 out. The windows of the dairy should 

 be latticed. Glazed windows may be 

 added for the winter, but they should 

 always be open except in very hot or 

 very cold weather. There may be 

 shutters to close entirely, but this is 

 not essential. If the windows are 

 made like Venetian blinds, the light 

 will be excluded without excluding 

 the air. The utmost purity must be 

 maintained in the air of a dairy ; 

 nothing should enter it that can pro- 

 duce the slightest smell. No cheese 

 or rennet should be kept in it ; and 

 particularly no meat, dressed or un- 

 dressed. Even the dairy-maid should 

 avoid remaining longer in it than is 

 necessary, and should at all times be 

 extremely clean in her person. 



" The next important place is a kind 

 of wash-house, in which there is a 

 chimney where a large copper kettle 

 hangs on a crane to heat water in, or 

 milk when cheese is made. Where 

 wood is scarce, and pit-coal is the 

 common fuel, a copper may be set in 

 brick- work with a grate under it. In 

 this place all the utensils of the dairy 

 are kept, and scalded with boiling 

 water every day. It should have an 

 outer door, which may be to the south, 

 and benches outside, on which the 

 pails and other utensils may be set 

 to dry and be exposed to the air. 

 Between the last two apartments 

 may be another communicating with 

 both, and forming a kind of vestibule, 

 where the churning may take place ; 

 and over them a cheese-room and 

 lofts, or any other useful chambers. 

 A veranda round the dairy is very 

 convenient, or on three sides at least. 

 It shades from the sun, and adds to 

 the warmth in winter ; and the uten- 

 sils may be dried and aired under it 

 even in rainy weather. The follow- 

 ing description of a cow-house and 



221 



