222 



THE FARM. 



STEAINEB. — FIG. 3. 



spite of all efforts. The pail has a hook on one side upon which the sponge 

 is carried, and a box on the other, in which an old towel or pieces of 

 cloth are kept. With these the udder and teats are washed and dried before 

 the cow is milked. The time used— not lost— is well spent. 



" The milking pail should be provided ■nith a strainer, and I have found 

 none made for sale free from some objection, 

 either as regards the difficulty of cleaning or dura- 

 bility. I have my pails made to order with the 

 strainer upon the half cover of the pail at the edge, 

 and with a lip at the edge to cause the milk to flow 

 easily. (See Fig. 2.) There is no difficulty in 

 washing this pail, the wire gauze cannot be broken 

 in the washing, and it is perfectly cleaned with 

 ease. Hairs cannot be kept out of milk at some 

 seasons, and a fine hair carried lengthwise wili 

 pass through the finest wire cloth. It is therefore 

 necessary to use precautions in straining. A hair 

 will not pass through a cotton cloth, and in strain- 

 ing milk into a deep pail I use the strainer shown at 

 Fig. 3, which has a piece of washed, somewhat 

 coarse and thin, white muslin, fastened around 

 the bottom hoop. This causes the milk to pass 

 through three strainers at one time, which is sufficient. "Where the milk of 

 several cows is strained, the strainer should bo rinsed after each use, other- 

 wise the after milk passes over all the impurities gathered in the strainer. 

 For shallow pans the double strainer. Fig. 4, is excellent. The middle 

 strainer fits closely into the bottom of the basin over the fixed strainer, and 

 the basin rests in the perforated hoop 

 which stands in the milk pan. A cloth 

 may be tied over the top of the basin if 

 thought proper. With all these precau- 

 tions the most complete cleanliness is 

 within easy reach, and if the cow is 

 healthy and well fed, the most fastidi- 

 ous person may drink the milk without 

 any apprehension. While it is so easy 

 to be clean the conscientious dairyman 

 need have no excuse for violating pro- 

 priety, and excuse himself by the idea 

 that it can't be helped. 



" Every dairy utensil should be of 

 tin. No wooden vessel shoiild be used 

 in millving, as the wood absorbs the 

 milk, which sours in the pores and there 

 curdles, and every particle of curdled 

 milk, whether effected by rennet or by 

 acidity, like the leaven of yeast, is an 

 active agent for souring other milk. As 

 curd of milk is hardened by heat and made insoluble, dairy utensils should 

 first be washed with cold water and soap, and when thoroughly well cltaned 

 they may then be scalded. Curd is dissolved by alkali, and the free alkali 

 of the soap not only roinovcs the grease of the milk, but also any particles of 

 milk which by an accident may have becu retained iu a crevice or corner, 



DOUBLE STRAIXEK. — FIG. 4. 



