Dairying has been very greatly advanced by the invention and introduction of various kinds of dairy machinery, such as creaming apparatus, notably the separator; hand and power quints, butter-workers, cheese vats and presses, etc. The cream separator, aside from its increased efficiency and reduction of labor, has almost eliminated the disturbing factor of climate from a large part of dairy management, and has alto gether worked a revolution in this industry. See B UTTER.
The numerous by-products of the dairy are now very generally utilized in a variety of ways. The skim milk and buttermilk are, where prac ticable, fed to animals: considerable quantities are sold in towns and cities for household con sumption, and milk-sugar is made from skim milk and whey. The casein of skim milk is also dried and prepared as a bakers' supply and sub stitute for eggs, as the basis of an enamel paint, as a. substitute for glue in paper-sizing, and is also solidified and used for making buttons, combs, and any similar articles.
The value of the principal dairy products of the United States (milk, butter, and cheese) was estimated by the Federal Department of Agri culture for the year 1899 to be over $450,000,000. "If to this be added the value of the skim milk, buttermilk, and whey, at their proper feeding value, and the value of the calves dropped yearly, the aggregate value of the product of the dairy cows exceeds $500,000,000." The leading dairy States are Iowa, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minne sota, Kansas, Michigan, and Indiana. In the Middle and Eastern States the milk is used quite largely to supply the numerous large towns and cities. In the Central West and Northwest butter is the principal dairy product. Dairying is also quite extensively practiced in Canada, where both butter and cheese of good quality are made. Canadian cheese, especially, enjoys an excellent reputation.
Since 1872 oleomargarine (q.v.), known in Great Britain as margarine and butterine, has been used in the United States, and has become a formidable competitor of the true dairy pro duct. Its use in adulterating both butter and cheese led to the passage in several States of laws restricting its use and sale. The manufac ture of oleomargarine cheese, or 'filled' cheese, as it is called, has greatly injured the good name of American eheese.
For further discussion of topics relating to dairying, see : CATTLE—Dairy MAKING; CHEESE-MAKING; _MILK PRODUCTION; CHEESE-FACTORY; CREAMERY.
DAIS (Fr., canopy). This term was used with considerable latitude by mediaeval writers. Its most usual significations are the following: (1) A canopy over an altar, shrine, font, throne, stall, chair, statue, or the like. The term was applied to the canopy without regard to the materials of which it was composed, which might be cloth, Wood, stone, metal, or other substance.
(2) The chief seat at the high table in a hall, with the canopy which covered it, from which probably the word in all its signifivations was introduced, its French meaning being a canopy.
(3) The high table itself. (4) The raised por tion of the floor, or e•trode, on which the high table stood, and by which the upper was divided from the lower portion of the hall. (5) A cloth of state for covering a throne or table. in old writings the word occasionally takes the form of dots, and more rarely that of del:, DAISY (.1ti. &•yes wive, day's eye, referring to the form of the flower). A plant of time genus Bettis, of the natural order Composite. The common isy (/fetli.s In-rcnnis), plentiful throughout Europe, flowers almost all the year in pastures, meadows, and grassy places. For illustration, see Plate of DAnuAs, ETc. What are called double varieties, with flowers of various and often brilliant colors, are very com monly cultivated in gardens. A variety has the flower (head of flower) surrounded by smaller ones, the short stems of which grow from the summit of the seape or leafless stem. The daisy (goican of the Scotch) has long been a favorite with poets and lovers of nature, characteristic as it is of many of the fairest summer scenes, its blossoms gemming the pastures, and recom mended also by its frequent appearance during the severer seasons of the year. Its flowers close at night. It is sparingly introduced in America. A species of Bettis is, however, found in the Unitecl States (Bellis intcyrifolin), but it is con fined to Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, and the Southwestern States. The flower commonly called daisy, or oxeye daisy, in the United States is a species of chrysanthemum (Cl•ysanthemuai. (eucanthentum). A Dumber of other plants are called daisies in the United States, among them lludheckia hirta, also called yellow daisy and black-eyed susan. Erige•on annuus, Erigeron strigosus, and other species are called daisies or daisy fleabane, and a number of species of wild aster are likewise known as daisies.