MILK. 57 



products undergo, certain rooms must be set apart 

 expressly for the purpose. The milk-room should be cool, 

 for the reasons just stated ; and a somewhat sunken floor, 

 a shaded or thatched roof, and an aspect to the north and 

 east are therefore desirable. 



In it there are shelves on which the vessels to contain 

 milk are to be arranged. The shelf and the floor are better 

 of stone than of wood, as being less absorbent of anything, 

 whether milk or dirt or damp, which may act as a ferment. 

 The room should be away from any drain or dungheap ; it 

 should not be near any store of food, whether the larder of 

 the house or the feeding- stalls of the farmery. The air 

 which enters it should, if possible, be free from the taint 

 which any such neighbourhood more or less produces. The 

 drier, toft, the air is, the better : and therefore it is better 

 that a dairy be kept clean by keeping out the dirt, by 

 rubbing and by brushing, than by washing. Practically, 

 however, the floor and shelves of the milk-room are kept 

 clean by washing. By strict attention to cleanliness and 

 ventilation, and by as far as possible excluding a summer 

 temperature, those causes which tend to the souring of 

 milk are excluded or held in check. And so it is made to 

 yield good butter, and good cheese. 



The Taste of Milk is affected by the food of the 

 cows, and in its turn is communicated to the butter and 

 the cheese made from it. In the latter case, if it can be 

 artificially removed, this must be done before the curd is 

 set : in the former case the attempt at removal is some- 

 times made after churning has been done. In both, how- 

 ever, it is best to attempt the removal of the aroma from 

 the milk. It occurs in the milk of cows at pasture, some- 



