106 THE DAIRY OF THE FARM. 



such a pitch of celebrity. While it is the custom to house 

 the cattle in winter, and to feed them upon hay, which is 

 seldom huilt in ricks, hut placed in the barn in small 

 bundles of about lOlbs. each, with mangolds, turnips, and 

 even carrots, they have a great idea of summer pasturing ; 

 and, to such an extent is this conducted, that we have seen 

 herds of cattle turned into meadows with two feet of 

 grass, almost ready for the scythe, and into which the dairy- 

 maids went three times a day for the purpose of milking. 

 This is, indeed, a common custom ; and in large dairies, 

 with the aid of the deep brass Cannes, holding from four to 

 eight gallons, which are carried upon the head of the girl, 

 or placed in panniers, two upon either side of the back of a 

 donkey, the milk is all obtained without the necessity of 

 driving the cattle home. The dairy-maid, like the labourer, 

 is a hard-working and invaluable servant, whom it would 

 be difficult to equal in this country. When the milk is 

 taken to the farm, it is first strained, and then poured into 

 earthenware pans, which somewhat resemble in shape the 

 galvanised iron pail used in this country, being much 

 larger at the top than at the bottom. Sometimes, however, 

 these pans are almost oval in shape, and similar in 

 diameter at the top to the bottom, with a handle on 

 either side, so that the system of setting the milk is quite 

 different from that adopted in England, and is rather a deep 

 than a shallow one. The milk room, too, is entirely 

 different from those common in England. It is generally 

 a plain apartment with a flagged floor, and a drain down 

 the centre. The milk pans are either set upon a small 

 raised stone or brick shelf upon two or three sides, or 

 within a wide gutter, which is formed by brickwork being 

 set about twenty inches from the wall, this being either 



