THE PANS. THE SKIMMER. 223 



One of the most convenient forms for shelves in a 

 dairy-room designed for butter-making is represented 

 in Fig. 73, made of light and seasoned wood, in an oc- 

 tagonal form, and capable of holding one hundred and 

 seventy-six pans of the ordinary form and size. It is so 

 simple and easily constructed, and so economizes space, 

 that it may readily be adapted to other and smaller 

 rooms for a similar purpose. If the dairy-house is near 

 a spring of pure and running water, a small stream can 

 be led in by one channel and taken out by another, and 

 thus keep a constant circulation under the milk-stand, 

 which may be so constructed as to turn easily on the 

 central post, so as often to save many footsteps. 



The pans designed for milk are generally made of tin. 

 That is found, after long experience, to be, on the whole, 

 the best and most economical, and subject to fewer 

 objections than most other materials. Glazed earthen 

 ware is often used, the chief objection to it being its 

 liability to break, and its weight. It is easily kept 

 clean, however, and is next in value to tin, if not, indeed, 

 equal to it. A tin skimmer is commonly used, some- 

 what in the form of the bowl of a spoon, and pierced 

 with holes, to remove the cream. In some sections of 

 the country, a large white clam-shell is very commonly 

 used instead of a skimmer made for the purpose, the 

 chief objection to it being that the cream is not quite 

 so carefully separated from the milk. 



A mode of avoiding the necessity of skimming has 

 long been used to some extent in England, by which 

 the milk is drawn off through a hole in the bottom of 

 the pan. This plan is recommended by Unwerth, a 

 German agriculturist, who proposes a pan represented 

 in Fig. 74, made of block tin, oblong in shape, and hav- 

 ing the inside corners carefully rounded. The pan is 

 only two inches in depth, and is made large enough to 



