300 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK n. 



holding their milk, and which, if it be not properly prevented, will soon 

 cause them to become dry. 



In this country, it is the general practice to milk cows twice in the 

 course of twenty-four hours throughout the year ; but in summer the 

 proper periods may be three in every day, and at intervals as nearly 

 equidistant as possible, viz. very early in the morning, at noon, and a 

 little before the approach of night. It is a well-known fact that cows, 

 when milked thrice in the day, yield more in point of quantity, and 

 milk of as good, if not better quality, than they will give under the 

 common mode of milking them only in the morning and evening. 

 Very particular directions should be given that the cows be driven 

 slowly to the place of milking. If they are hurried in ever so slight a 

 degree, the separation of the milk into its constituent parts will not so 

 readily or perfectly take place. On this account, if the pasture is at a 

 considerable distance, it may, perhaps, be better to milk them in the 

 field than to drive them home. If cleanliness were attended to as much 

 as it ought to be, the udder and teats would be washed with a sponge 

 and water, or preferably dry-rubbed, before the milking commenced. 



After the milk is drawn from the cow, it should be carefully strained 

 through a gauze or linen cloth, stretched on an open-bottomed wooden 

 bowl or milk-sieve, into the cream-pans, which should never exceed 

 three inches in depth, although they may be made so wide as to contain 

 any quantity required. The milk-pail should then be rinsed with 

 about a quart of cold water, which also may be poured through the 

 sieve into the milk- dish. If any ill flavour is apprehended from the 

 cows having eaten turnips, &c., the addition of one-eighth part of boiling 

 water to the milk, before it is strained into the dishes, will in a great 

 degree tend to remove it, or the solution of nitre may be used, as 

 already recommended. These pans, when filled, should be set upon 

 the shelves, there to continue until the cream is removed. 



" The question of temperature naturally influences the absorbent 

 capacity of milk, for so long as the milk is warmer than the atmosphere 

 of the room, it gives off rather than attracts odours. Cold air coming 

 in contact with warm milk is expanded and rises, and its capacity for 

 holding gases, vapours, and odours is increased, so that it attracts 

 volatile odours from the milk, and may even be made to purify it to 

 some extent, particularly when the milk is stirred about a good deal. 

 And hence it follows that a low atmospheric temperature is the best for 

 the milk-room ; but when the temperatures of the milk and of the room 

 are equal, or when that of the milk is the lower, the milk-pans are better 

 covered over to shut off free contact with the air. Milk that has been 

 cooled by water or ice should not be exposed to an atmosphere ten or 

 twenty degrees warmer, for it then becomes a facile condenser and ab- 

 sorbent. While the air is seldom pure enough not to injure milk that 

 is ten degrees colder, it is seldom so impure as to vitiate milk that is 

 ten degrees warmer. It is of course expedient to remove milk at once 

 from the odours of the cow-house to the comparatively pure air of the 

 milk-room, yet there is no special need to do so to avoid contamination, 

 so long as the air is colder than the milk. Yet the odours of the cow- 



