Spons' Household Manual: A treasury of domestic receipts and a guide for home management
General
Spons' Household Manual: A treasury of domestic receipts and a guide for home management
Home economics
covered with it), and, when cold, cork them tight and tie a parchment
over every one. You must not try to hurry the preserving, or you will
get a bitter jam. These walnuts may be eaten immediately, or they
will keep for 10 years; but, as in course of time the fruit sucks up
the syrup, they should be filled up with fresh. You might use loaf
sugar in preference to brown.
_THE DAIRY._
The dairy should either be an isolated building or attached to the
farm-house. It must be built with a view to keeping it dry, airy,
light, cool, and above everything clean. Nothing absorbs the taint of
bad odours more quickly than milk. The best aspect for a dairy is the
north, and while the windows admit plenty of light (which develops
colour in the cream) they should be shaded with evergreens to exclude
sunshine and heat. The temperature should range between 60° and 65°
F., never exceeding 65° nor descending below 55°. In a temperature of
40° F., milk keeps fresh for a very long time, but the cream becomes
bitter before it can be skimmed. In a temperature of 70° to 72° F.,
the milk sours readily and yields less cream, which latter will make
a soft butter very prone to rancidity.
Where the dairy is isolated, provision must be made in the building
for washing the utensils. This will need much care to avoid
conflicting with the conditions just mentioned. The dairy site must
be well drained. The walls may be of brick, built double with an air
space between, on concrete footings 12 in. thick, with a damp-course
as described on p. 5. The best material for flooring is well-laid
Portland cement concrete; the floor should incline gently to one
corner, where an outlet can be fitted so that the floor can be
thoroughly flushed at intervals. All sharp corners, and edges, and
mouldings must be avoided, as they form nests for the collection of
dirt. The walls may be plastered throughout with material that will
make a smooth surface capable of being washed, or they may be covered
with glazed tiles. Shelves for holding the milk dishes should be
about 5 ft. from the floor and preferably of enamelled iron or thin
slate or stone slabs. Perforated shelves afford better circulation of
air. The shelves should in any case be quite independent of the walls
of the room.
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