Book VII. 



DAIRY-HOUSE AND FURNITURE. 



1037 



the butter is white and soft, and equally copious, and so is the curd, which is of a firmer consistence than 

 that of the cow, and retains less whey. 



6987. Mare's milk produces a very fluid cream, similar in colour and consistence to good cow's milk 

 before the cream appears on the surface; the butter made from it has but little consistence, and is readily 

 decomposed. The curd is similar to that obtained from woman's milk, and the whey has little colour, and 

 contains a large proportion of saccharine matter, and of saline substances. 



6988. Canters milk throws up little cream, which is whitish and thin, affording insipid whitish butter; 

 the curd is small in quantity, and contains but little whey, which is colourless and somewhat saccharine. 



6989. Sotfl's milk. In China, especially about the city of Canton, no other milk can be had but that of 

 the sow. It is rather sweeter than cow's milk, but very similar in all other respects. 



6990. In the use of these milks, that of the camel is chiefly confined to Africa and China, and that of the 

 mare toTartary and Siberia. In India the milk of the buffalo is preferred by the natives to that of the 

 domestic cow. The milk of the goat is more generally used in Italy and Spain than in any other coun- 

 tries in Europe; thev are driven into I>eghorn, Florence, Madrid, and other towns, in flocks early in the 

 morning, and milkedin the streets. The goat will allow herself to be sucked by the young of various other 

 animals, and a foal which has lost its mother has been suckled by a goat, placed on a barrel to facilitate 

 the operation. As the butter of goat's milk contains a larger proportion of gelatine, and less oil than that 

 of the cow, it is recommended by physicians as nearly equally light as ass's milk ; it is the most prolific of 

 all in curd, and forms excellent cheese; but it is an error to suppose that the Parmesan (a skim-milk 

 cheese) is made from it Ewe's milk is gradually wearing out of use, though it makes excellent cheese, 

 and some milking ewes as well as goats might be kept for that purpose, by those who have extensive up- 

 land grass-lands. The milk of the ass comes the nearest to that of the woman, and being the lightest of 

 any is much recommended in pulmonary and hepatic affections. Soda water and warm cow's milk is 

 taken as a substitute, and found almost equally light. The milk in universal use, as an article of food in 

 Britain, is that of the cow. 



6991. Lactometers for ascertaining the value of milk, relatively to butter and cheese, will be described 

 among the utensils of the dairy in the succeeding section. 



Sect. II. The Dairy House, its Furniture and Utensils. 



6992. The dairy house, for general purposes, consists of at least three separate apart- 

 ments, the milk room, the dairying or working room, and the cheese or store-room. 

 The two former are generally separated by a passage or lobby ; and the latter is very 

 frequently a loft over the whole, entered by a stair from the lobby. 



6993. The properties requisite in a good milk-house are, that it be cool in summer, and moderately warm 

 in winter, so as to preserve a temperature nearly the same throughout the whole year, or about 45 de- 

 grees ; and that it be dry, so as to admit of being kept clean and sweet at all times. For these reasons a 

 northern exposure is the best, and this as much under the shade of trees or buildings as possible ; if it 

 can be so situated that the sun can have no influence either on the roof or walls, so much the better. 



6994. A well constructed butter dairy should consist of three apartments; a milk-house, a churning, 

 house, with proper boiler, as well as other conveniences for scalding and washing the implements, and a 

 room for keeping them in, and for drying and airing them, when the weather will not permit of its being 

 done without doors. 



6995. The cheese dairy should likewise consist of three apartments ; a milk-house, a scalding and press- 

 ing-house, and a salting-house. It is essential to the cheese dairy to have a command of heat during the 

 cold season. When milk is exposed to a degree of cold below 50 at any time, from the moment it is drawn 

 from the cow, till the cheese is not only pressed, but, to a great extent, dried, the cheese will not be good. 

 ' It is not enough that the milk be again heated ; it must never be allowed to become too cold at any 

 time, not even in the press ; or if it is, the quality of the cheese will be much injured." {Aiton's Dairy 

 Husb. p. 82.) To these should be added a cheese-room or lofl, which may with great propriety be made 

 above the dairy. This is, however, generally separate from the dairy. But a milk dairy requires only a 

 good milk-house, and a room for scalding, cleaning, and airing the utensils. The size of the milk-house, 

 according to Alton, ought to be sufficient to contain one day's milk of all the cows belonging to it. 



6996. A dairy for the private use of any farmer or family need not be large, and may very economically 

 be formed in a thick walled dry cellar, so situated as to have windows on two sides, the north and east in 



E reference, for ventilation ; and in order that these windows may the better exclude cold in winter, and 

 eat in summer, they should be fitted with double sashes, and on the outside of the outer sash should be a 

 fixed frame of close wire netting, or hair cloth, to exclude flies and other insects. 



6997. Of dairies for dairy farmers there are different sizes and shapes. 

 6998. A dairy-house connected with a cow-house, and mill for preparing food for the cows, churning, 

 and washing the family linen, is thus arranged. (Jig. 871.) The dairy (a, b, c, d) is at the north end, has 



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hollow walls, double doors, double sashed windows, and an ice-house under. The milk room {a) is sur. 

 rounded by milk coolers, and has a butter slab and jet in the centre. The jet is supplied from a cistern 

 over the steaming house (/, g), to which the water is raised from a well by a forcing-pump worked by the 



