248 COWS AND DAIRY. 



continued cold with unsellable cleanliness and perfect 

 dryness the essential properties of a milk-house. 

 The very air in the chamber in its coolness and trans- 

 parency associated charmingly with the purity of the 

 milk. The hand of taste was conspicuous in the ar- 

 rangement of the materials. There was much that 

 was of a white colour, and pure as it always was in 

 ivory hue, as reflected from the wall, the marble, the 

 dishes and the milk, these snowy hues were harmo- 

 nized by the light of the sun passing through the 

 greenness and freshness of the plants around the 

 veranda; while the warm colours of the floor and of 

 the rich patterns on the china jars, relieved the whole 

 scene from monotony. In short, this apartment was 

 the most delightful thing of the kind I ever saw. Its 

 sweetness and beauty, derived from its fitness of pur- 

 pose, are indescribable. It is not necessary here to 

 enter into the dairy economy. Suffice it to say, that 

 both the milk and butter from this dairy have acquired 

 a high character, of which the public have at times 

 opportunities of judging ; for when the noble family 

 are absent from Alnwick, the produce of the dairy is 

 permitted to be sold in the public market, where it is 

 bought up with avidity. 



" There is a simple instrument used here for 

 measuring the relative quantities of cream which, the 

 milk of different cows, at the different seasons of the 

 year, affords. It consists of a stand of mahogany, 

 supporting a number of glass tubes of equal length 

 and diameter, graduated into degrees. New milk 

 from different cows is poured in equal quantity into 

 each tube, and the graduated scale marks the number 



