426 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November, 
time. A combined dairy and ice-house, which the 
writer is now laying out, in which the Cooley 
creamery is used, is arranged as follows. Fortu¬ 
nately the water-supply is provided by a never-fail¬ 
ing well, which flows over the top, and from which 
a steady stream, filling a two-inch pipe, flows away. 
The dairy is partly underground, for the purpose 
of maintaining an equable temperature, and for the 
convenience of using the flow from the well. The 
part above ground is shown in the elevation, at 
figure 1, and the ground plan at figure 2. It is of 
red Croton brick, with a band course and arch over 
the door of yellow brick, and two band courses of 
black brick, as indicated in the engraving. This 
peculiar style is adopted to match a brick-house 
near by, bnt common brick would answer ordinary 
purposes, or the building might be of wood or 
stone. This upper part is the ice-house. A porch 
on the north side covers steps to the milk room be¬ 
low, which is lighted by two windows on the west 
side. The plan of the milk room is shown at. figure 
3. It is large enough to contain several of the 
creameries ; the feeding-pipe, which conveys water 
to these, is shown at a, a, and the outlet to the 
drain for the overflow is seen at b. The floor and 
sides of the dairy are of concrete, covered with ce¬ 
ment, and a drain beneath the floor keeps the build¬ 
ing dry. If ice should at any time be needed to 
produce a very low temperature, it will be brought 
from the ice-room above, but with a stream of 
water at 45 degrees, ice may be dispensed with. 
In cases where there is no ample supply of cold 
Fig. 2.— PLAN OF ICE-HOUSE. 
water naturally flowing, it would be necessary to 
employ a windmill. But there are many localities, 
where a steady stream may be procured by digging 
a deep drain on sloping ground, to supply a dairy 
Fig. 3.— PLAN OP DAIRY. 
built on the lower part of the slope. Otherwise, 
with such an arrangement of ice and dairy room, 
the creamery may be supplied with water by hand 
from a pump, and cooled with ice. In this way the 
consumption of water would be small, only suffi¬ 
cient boing needed to keep that in the tank fresh. 
After considerable thought and calculation, as to 
floor of the ice-house, it was found that a floor of 
oak, covered with sheet-zinc, turned up a foot on 
the walls, and the walls covered with hydraulic ce¬ 
ment, would be the cheapest and most durable ; a 
leaden trapped pipe from the zinc-floor, drains the 
drip from the melting of the ice into the creamery. 
Storing Sweet Potatoes. 
Sweet potatoes are difficult to store in large bulk, 
unless careful precautions are used. They must 
Fig. 1.— PLAN OP SWEET POTATO HOUSE. 
not be exposed to a temperature lower than 60 de¬ 
grees ; and as they must be kept dry and well ven¬ 
tilated, must not be piled in large quantities. The 
most convenient place to store them is a house 
so arranged, that they can be guarded against ac¬ 
cidents of temperature, and be always accessible. 
A plan of such a house is shown in figure 1, and 
the elevation in figure 2. It may be made of any 
convenient form or size, but a square is most eco¬ 
nomical of space. For the Southern States, where 
fire-heat is not needed to keep up the proper tem¬ 
perature, a one-story building will do ; but in the 
north, it should be of two stories, with perfect ven¬ 
tilation, the upper floor made of slats, placed an 
inch apart, upon.which 
the roots are to be 
stored, and a stove 
should be provided be¬ 
low. The lower room 
may be used as a store¬ 
house, a tool-house, 
a work-room. The up¬ 
per floor, if of two 
stories, or the main 
floor, if but one, should 
be arranged as follows : 
a passage-way, running 
through the building, 
has a door at each end,' 
to be opened when de¬ 
sirable, to air the house. 
The floor on each side 
of the passage is divided 
into bins by slatted par¬ 
titions ; these are double, as shown in figure 1, to 
give thorough ventilation, by keeping the potatoes 
in masses of not over 60 to 100 bushels in each bin, 
with air-spaces all around them. The same pre¬ 
caution as to air-spaces, is observed with the end 
partitions, by keeping the slatted sides of the bins 
one inch from the walls. The lower parts of the 
walls of the one-story house are also slatted, as 
shown in figure 2, but doors are provided to cover 
these, which may be made to either slide up or raise 
up on hinges, as seen in the engraving. The hinged 
doors are preferable, because they may be opened 
an inch or two only, and yet ventilate the whole of 
the bin of potatoes. These doors are not needed 
in the two-story house, because ample ventilation 
is provided by means of the double and slatted par¬ 
titions and the slatted floor. To keep out mice, the 
house should either be raised on posts, or wire- 
netting should be fastened around the base of it. 
The Trade in Skimmed Milk. 
Milk i3 a thing that, to a great extent, is to be 
taken on trust. A large proportion of those who 
consume the milk that is sold in cities, have no 
knowledge of what pure milk Is. There are those 
who have been brought up in cities, to whom the 
cow and the milk-pail are only traditions. They 
procure a white or bluish fluid, as the case may 
be, and take it for granted that it is milk. That 
skimmed milk is ever sold by farmers, is a fact of 
which few are aware, and yet, every one in the 
cities who uses milk is doubtful if what he buys is 
the pure article. As a rule, we are assured that 
whatever adulteration there may be in the milk 
business, is practised in the cities, and after the 
milk has left the farmer’s hands. As a rule, too, 
we believe that the milk-farmers feed only whole¬ 
some and good food. This they cannot help doing, 
because it is out of their power to obtain anything 
else. Distillery slop, aud garbage, are city pro¬ 
ducts, and are not sufficiently portable to be carried 
far into the country. Corn-meal, brewers’ grains, 
green fodder, hay, and pasture, furnish the food 
from which country milk is made. All these are 
healthful, nutritious, and entirely unobjectionable. 
The very best milk that is brought into the great 
cities, is made from these foods, and, as a rule, we 
are sure that the greatest cleanliness and care are 
observed by the milk-farmers in the management 
of their product. The practice of the milk-farm¬ 
ers, who ship pure milk to the cities, is beyond re¬ 
proach, and the wholesale denunciations heaped 
upon them, as a class, are undeserved. But there 
are different classes of consumers to be supplied 
with milk; the poor, who cannot afford to buy 
pure milk, and are contented with wholesome skim¬ 
med milk; those who are better off, and purebasa 
good milk ; aud a select class, who will have only 
milk of extra quality for the use of babes and young- 
children. By dealing with well-known parties in 
the trade, the last mentioned class get the best milk 
to be obtained, and in the best possible condition. 
The greater number of consumers,get what is known 
as “ half skim ” ; but for this they must blame the 
retailors, and not the farmers who send the milk. 
The poorer class of city people, in all cases unfor¬ 
tunately the least able to defend themselves,take the 
refuse of the market. Much of this is wholesome 
skimmed milk, of which very large quantities are 
sent to market 6ince the establishment of cream¬ 
eries, where butter only is made. Some of it is 
grossly watered stuff, no doubt, but this sort of 
adulteration has been clearly shown to be the work 
of dishonest retailers in the cities. The trade in 
skimmed milk is a perfectly legitimate one, and 
can not properly be objected to. It is a convenience 
to the farmer, who finds a market for what would 
< therwise be a waste product, and also for the poor 
diners, who get the worth of their money in 
su n wholesome milk as they can afford to purchase. 
A large amount of choice butter comes to the 
New York market from the Orange Co. (N. Y.) 
creameries, and, as might be expected, it is from 
this locality that the city is supplied with a large 
quantity, in fact, nearly che whole, of its skimmed 
milk. More than 43.000 gallons, daily, or over 15 
million gallons yearly, of skimmed milk is shipped 
by Orange Co. farmers to New York, by two rail¬ 
roads, the Erie and the N. J. Midland. This large 
trade has helped to give a bad reputation to the 
Orange County farmers amongst thoughtless per¬ 
sons, who jump at the conclusion that the traffic is 
objectionable and immoral, and they consequently 
Fig. 2.— VIEW OF DOUSE FOR SWEET POTATOES. 
