1878. J 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
377 
Cooling Milk, or Milk Coolers. 
Daily men know, or should know, that it is nec¬ 
essary that milk should be cooled rapidly as soon 
as drawn from the cow, and kept cool until 
disposed of. Many methods have been devised for 
this purpose. We recently saw a plan, an improve¬ 
ment on the old-fashioned spring house, which has 
some useful points. A small building was erected 
a short distance below a strong permanent spring, 
from which water was led into it by a pipe. The 
floor was sunk below the level of the spring, and 
cemented water-tight. A tank of brick-work, 
cemented inside and out, was made, 12 feet long 
and four feet wide, or large enough to hold 40 cans, 
18 inches deep and 8 inches in diameter, each hold¬ 
ing 15 quarts or 83 pounds of milk. The capacity 
Fig. 1.— TANK FOR FORTY CANS. 
of this trough was therefore about 600 quarts, or 
sufficient for a milk dairy of 50 to 60 cows, yielding a 
daily average of 10 quarts each, or for a butter dairy 
of half as many, allowing the milk to set 48 hours. 
The water flowed into and through the tank, escap¬ 
ing at the lower end. Two lids of plank, covered 
with zinc, closed the tank and protected the milk 
from contact with the air. The delivery pipe 
grees or less. A still lower temperature may be 
reached by putting salt into the pan. By this means 
the milk may he cooled to 35 or 40 degrees. At 45° 
all the cream should be raised in 24 hours. To 
test the temperature, a thermometer may be 
plunged into the milk when skimmed. In a trial 
of this apparatus during the hot weather of August, 
50 pounds of ice per day was consumed ; and the 
milk having been reduced to a temperature of 60° 
before putting it into the cooler, was brought 
down to 45 degrees in less than three hours. 
Fig. 2. 
FURNACE FRONT. 
Fig. 2.— THE HARDIN COOLER. 
is shown in fig. 1 by the (lotted lines. Where flow 
ing water can not be had, and where butter-making 
is practised, some other method must be employ¬ 
ed. Of late, excellent results have been obtained 
by “ cold setting ” of the milk in refrigerating 
closets. Some time ago, we described the Hardin 
Cooler, which has been in use for some years, but 
has recently had several improvements added. It 
consists of a refrigerating closet, which is made of 
different sizes ; that here illustrated (fig. 2 ), being 
for 10 cans, which are 18 inches deep, and 8 in 
diameter. The inside of the closet is lined with 
zinc, and a zinc tray, a, is suspended in the upper 
part to hold the ice. The drip from the ice escapes 
by a pipe, 6 , to which a piece of rubber hose is 
fitted. Formerly, the ice was placed upon a shelf, 
instead of a tray, and the water dripped upon the 
1.—FURNACE FOR BURNING STRAW,'CORN-STALKS, ETC. 
milk cans below. This change reduces consump¬ 
tion of ice ; and this may be still more reduced by 
cooling the milk somewhat before putting it in the 
closet, when it is rapidly brought down to 45 de¬ 
Grass, Straw, and Corn-stalks for Fuel. 
A method of utilizing coarse grass, straw, and 
corn-stalks, and other similar light combustible 
matters for heating, has been 
introduced into the Western 
States by the Mennouites re¬ 
cently settled there. These 
people come from Southern 
Russia, the country of the 
“ Steppes ’ ’ or treeless plains, 
which are similar in many re¬ 
spects to our extreme western 
prairies and plains. Thus 
they find themselves quite 
at home, and adapt themselves to their new cir¬ 
cumstances with ease. Among others of their 
peculiar customs, their mode of heating their 
houses is certainly novel, and is one that may well be 
adopted by their neighbors. No more plentiful 
fuel than coarse prairie bay, straw, and corn-stalks, 
exists in many newly settled sections west of the 
Missouri river, and other kinds of fuel are scarce. 
Hitherto, means for conveniently burning such fuel 
have been unknown. The Russian plan, which is 
to make use of an enormous brick furnace occupy¬ 
ing much room, is cumbrous and inconvenient; but 
the same principle may be applied in a somewhat 
different and unobjectionable manner. We give 
herewith a sketch of a furnace for burning light 
fuel of the kinds mentioned. It should be built of 
hard bricks laid in cement. The fire place A, figs. 
1 and 2 , should be large enough to take in a sheaf 
of straw, or a bundle of hay, or corn-stalks, and the 
cast-iron furnace door be of a corresponding size. 
The ash-pit B, figs. 1 and 2, is arched at the front 
and closed at the sides. The furnace should be 
built upon the ground and have a floor of hard 
beaten clay, or cement. The oven O, fig. 1, is of 
brick, in the usual form and heated separately, or it 
may be of castor sheet iron plates like the ordinary 
stove. Dampers, D, D, T), direct the heat either to 
the top or to the bottom of the oven. Walls of 
brick are built to bring the flame to the roof of the 
furnace and to retain the heat as much as possible. 
Openings are made in the top at E, E, upon which 
to place kettles or cook¬ 
ing pots where they will 
receive the most heat. 
Arches, under the oven 
and the rear of the fur¬ 
nace,provide warm closets 
for various useful pur¬ 
poses. The furnace con¬ 
nects with the chimney 
through a throat which 
may be closed by the 
damper shown at A 1 , which 
would cause the heat to 
pass up the pipe in front of 
the chimney into a sheet- 
iron drum in the room or 
central hall above. The 
heat is shut off from this 
drum, by the damper G. 
Two openings are left in 
the front of the furnace, 
one at each upper corner: 
and are supplied with 
sliding doors through 
which a small amount 
of air is admitted when the drafts elsewhere 
are closed, as they should he at night or when 
a moderate heat only is needed. The arch 
under the fire-place should he closed by an iron 
door, with a grated damper in the lower part. 
For the iron work of the furnace, the ordinary 
castings of the largest cooking stoves may be 
used, and can be procured from a dealer or stove 
foundry. If it is desirable to heat several rooms, an 
arrangement of pipes and drums, with dampers, may 
be made to circulate through the house, entering the 
chimney on the upper floor. Oue chimney only, 
in the center of the house, will then he required. 
Gutting and Drying Peat, 
Peat has been a very common fuel, in some coun¬ 
tries, for centuries past. Its accessibility, its easy 
preparation, and its cheapness where 
abundant, give it value. Where peat 
swamps are convenient, and where the 
supply is sufficient, it compares favora¬ 
bly with either wood or coal for man¬ 
ufacturing purposes. We speak of it 
now, however, as household fuel. It is 
cleanly in use ; it gives great heat, or it 
will smoulder slowly when desired if 
properly managed, ready to be quickly 
enlivened and burn briskly, ft makes 
little smoke, and that light and free 
from soot; and the odor is pleasing to 
many ; the “ peat reek ” from a Scotch 
or Irish cabin, being one of the things 
that a traveller in those countries re¬ 
members agreeably. It’s one fault 
is, that the ashes are very light, so that when 
it is burned upon an open hearth they are floated 
out into the apartment with the least irregularity 
of draft. Many farmers who now procure wood or 
coal with difficulty, have an inexhaustible supply 
Fig. 2.— ORDER OF REMOVING BLOCKS FROM BOG. 
of this fuel at hand. Swamp-muck, as it is known 
with us, when consisting mainly of the half de¬ 
composed remains of roots and stems of woody 
shrubs and coarse grasses, furnishes excellent 
peat. When it is softer 
and more decomposed, 
it is not so easily han¬ 
dled in the drying, and 
there is some waste. 
As fuel, however, this, 
when dry, is equal to 
any. When the muck 
is mixed largely with 
clay or sand, it is less prjg. 3 , drying the peat. 
valuable. When these 
foreign matters exceed 50 or 60 per cent, the peat 
makes a poor fuel. When it is desired to work a 
peat bog or swamp, a drain is first made to carry 
off the water, the moss and upper stratum of 
Fig. 4.— THE DRY FEAT STACKED FOE USE. 
spongy matter are removed, and the surface of the 
solid peat laid bare. A tool known as a skean (fig. 
1 ), sliaped like a spade, with the sides turned up 
about 3 inches at a right angle, and with a sharp 
Fig. 1. 
