DAIRY BUILDINGS. The adaptation of buildings to the special wants of the farm is one of the departures that has gradually grown up, and which, within the last fifteen or twenty years, has been so improved that, now, barns and dairy houses for the special manufacture of butter and cheese, or both ; improved sheds for the feeding of calves, and convenient buildings for feeding swine are found in all dairy districts; even dwell ings adapted to the use of the family, with a dairy room attached, are often found in the East, where couiparatively few cows are kept in single dairies, but which in the aggregate count most largely. This plan, however, is not to be com mended even on the score of economy, and cer tainly not, where the highest grade of manufac ture is to be' accomplished ; the difficulty, in so isolating the room from outside temperature and especially in holding the requisite coolness in summer, would render the cost, when from twenty to thirty cows are kept, more than that of a proper dairy building. (See Ice Houses ) Ice is of the first importance, in the manufacture of prime butter, and in preserving it intact; and the cheese maker, who finds it economical to make butter at some seasons, will fully understand its importance. Where a stream of very cold water is supplied by a spring or where the water can be raised from a deep well, ice may be very well dispensed with, if a deep, dry, cool, well venti lated cellar naay he provided. (See Sub-earth Ven tilation.) To return to the subject of ice for dairy purposes, as in any case, the ice house should be a building by itself. It should also be on ground higher than the dairy and provided with a pipe to carry the cold water of the melting ice to the dairy room. The dairy house need not be an expensive building; it must however be built with special reference to the required use. A. room simply intended for raising cream and making butter, under the present improved processes, need occupy but little space for ten to fifteen. cows. For making butter simply for home use, a sweet, cool cellar answers well. When the butter and cheese is for market, the building should be of brick, with double walls, and if partly sunk in the ground, or built in a bank, so much the bet ter. The foundation walls should, if possible, be of stone, the floor of cement, with ample drains both for water and the waste liquids of the milk, etc. These drains should have ample fall, those f or skimmed milk, whey, etc., leading directly
to the calf and pig pens, and emptying into vats that may be easily cleaned. These drains must be water tight, except the drains for surface water, which may be of tile. The drains for the wastage of the factory—the pipes leading to and from the dairy house—should be laid before the floor is The floor to be of flags or brick laid in cement, or a floor of cement, this to be laid on a surface of pounded glass or tin shavings, six inches thick, as a protection against rats. The top and side walls of the house should be finished with plaster. Thus cleanliness, economy, perfect ventilation and an equal temperature are secured. We give below an illustration of a small factory, which. is simple in construction and which, with the explanations, will be easily understood. If built as we have suggested, and with sub-earth ven tilation, (see article on this subject) with the use of ice, it may be used for both butter and cheese..
The building, say thirty by twenty-four feet may be arranged as follows. The ground floor is extended to a piazza, shown in the elevation, leading into a milk room twelve by fourteen feet, provided with a heater and vat, a cheese press, an eleVator, and stairs to second story. To the. left a door leads to a store room ten by twelve feet lighted by two windows. Another door leads to. a ware room with windows, and also folding doors, as shown, wide enough to admit a team, also with stairs leading to the upper floor. The upper floor is all in one room with tables on three sides, and passage ways,. openings on two sides, provided with ventilators as shown in the eleva tion, with windows at each end. This is the curing room and should be provided with the most modern improvements. If an extra story be desired, for additional store room, stairs, and an elevator, must be provided with easy entrance.. The barns, piggery, and calf stables need not vary from those used for other purposes, except that the dairy barn should have storage roorn for roots in winter, if possible. (Sec article Barns, and Hog House.) The American associ ated system of dairying and the multiplication.
of butter and cheese factories here, has so cheapened and improved our products, that in self defense, especially in England, the adoption has become imperative. The plan has -worked as well there, as in the United States, although in England, buildings especially designed for• dairying, have long been common.