Book VII. 



DAIRY-HOUSE AND FURNITURE. 



1039: 



and cheese-press (/), boiler for heating milk {g), store closet or butter-room (A), cheese-room (i), passage 



surrounding the whole (A), water-closet (/), and windows to cheese-room {m). 



^7; y 7004. A section iJig.815.) taken across the milk-room 



{Jig. 874. n n) exhibits the ventilating funnel in the roof (), 

 projecting eaves (6, c), cheese-room (</), passage on the 

 north side (e), raised part of the roof for ventilation 

 iffg), fountain in the centre of the dairy (A), and south 

 passage (/). 



7005. The elevation {fig. 876.) presents a simple shed 

 roof, varied, however, by projections and recesses : it pre- 

 sents no windows or doors to the south, and therefore 

 that side, if other circumstances permit, may be covered 

 with vines or other fruit-trees, or with ornamental 

 creepers. 



7006. The fixtures of the dairy are, in the scalding-room, a copper boiler fixed over a 



fire-place, for boiling water to wash and scald the utensils ; next, some benches and 

 shelves in this room and the cheese-room ; and a bench or table not more than two feet 

 wide surrounding the milk-room. It is very desirable, also, that there should be a jet, 

 or fountain, or pump, or spring, in the centre of the milk-room, in order to cool down 

 the air in summer, and to supply clear water at a moderate temperature at all times. 



7007. The utensils of the dairy are, pails for milking into ; sieves of hair-cloth or 

 silver wire-cloth for passing the milk through, to free it from hairs and other impurities ; 

 milk dishes, or coolers, for holding the milk till it throws up its cream ; a cream-knife 

 of ivory for separating, and skimming dishes of willow or ivory for removing, the cream ; 

 bowls and barrels for holding it, or other preparations of milk-churns, butter-makers, 

 butter-prints ; one or more tubs for hot or cold water, in which to immerse vessels that 

 require extraordinary purification ; and a portable rack for drying dishes in the open air. 

 All these utensils are requisite where butter only is to be produced. 



7008. The utensils requisite if cheese is to be made, are the cheese-tub, in which the curd is broken, and 

 prepared for being made into cheese ; the cheese-knife, generally a thin spatula of wood, but sometimes 

 of iron, used for the purpose of cutting or breaking down the curd while in the cheese-tub. The cheese- 

 cloth is a piece of thin gauze, like linen cloth, in which the cheese is placed in the press; the cheese- 

 board is circular, and on it the cheeses are placed on the shelves of the cheese-room ; their diameter must 

 be somewhat less than that of the interior or hoop part of the vat. The vat is a strong kind of wooden hoop 

 with a bottom, which, as well as the sides, is perforated with holes to allow the whey to escape while the 

 cheese is pressing : the size of vats must depend on that of the cheese and the number required, as of most 

 of the other implements on the extent of the dairy. The cheese-press {fig. 877-) is a power generally 



obtained by a screw, though sometimes by a dead weight, 

 and is used for forcing the whey from the curd while in 

 the vat. The cheese-tongs is a wooden frame, occasionally 

 placed on the cheese-tub, when the vat is set on it in order 



878 



to drain the whey from the curd. To these implements 

 some add a lactometer, one kind of which {fig. 878.), is a 

 glass tube a foot long with a funnel at top. 

 The upper two inches of the tube are 

 marked in small divisions, and when the 

 instrument is filled to the height of one foot 

 with milk, the depth of cream it yields is 

 noted by the gradations on the upper part. 

 Another lactometer " for ascertaining the 

 richness of milk from its specific gravity, by 

 its degree of warmth taken by a thermometer, 

 on comparing its specific gravity with its 

 warmth," was invented by Dicas, of Liver- 

 pool, but never came into use. Another 

 invention for the same purpose was made by 

 Mrs. Lovi, of Edinburgh, in 1816. It con- 

 sists of aereometric beads, by which the 

 specific gravity of the milk is tried first when 

 new-milked, and next when the cream is 

 removed. When milk is tried as soon as it 

 cools, say to 60, and again, after it has been thoroughly 

 skimmed, it will be found that the skimmed milk is of 

 considerably greater gravity ; and as this increase depends 

 upon the separation of the lighter cream, the amount of 

 the increase, or the dift'erence between the specific gravity 

 of the fresh and skimmed milk, will bear proportion to, 

 and may be employed as a measure of, the rehitive quan- 

 tities of the oily matter or butter contained in different 

 milks. The specific gravity of skimmed milk depends 

 both on the quantity of the saccharo-saline matters, and 

 of the curd. To estimate the relative quantities of curd, 

 and by that determine the value of milk for the purpose 

 of yielding cheese, it is only required to curdle the skim- 

 milk, and ascertain the specific gravity of the whey. The 



