The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1869-08-26
A CALIFORNIA DAIRY.

a letter from Monterey, in Southern Cali
lornia, to the San Francisco Bulletin. shows
what intelligence and enterprise will accom-
lplish under seemingly y unfavorable circum-
stances. Three years ago c. 5. Abbott emil
grated to the valley of the Salinas with a few
head of stock, mostly milch COWS. and very
little money. He purchased a league of land
mortgaged it for the payment, and Went to
work. People wondered what he was going
to d. for it was the tradtionary belief that
the land of the Salinas plains was of no ac-
count, and many predicted utter ruin to the
enterprise. But Abbott went bravely to work,
lencln@ and ditching and building and boring
lor water. An army of mechanics and labor
els was employed and great changes were
soon wrought on the rancho. At the eXpira-
ton Of q year Mr.. A. sold thousand acres
OF his league and realized sufficient 10 pay of
his mortgage and retain 5000 acres unincum-
bered. This is the "Abbott Dairv,n where
900 COWS are now milked, though not all at one
place. There are three separate daires ON
the rancho two of them running 25O COWS
apiece and the other 400. The main dairy
employs % men and turns out 300 pounds of
butter per day. The branch dairies employs
L men each The dairy house on the home
dairy is two and a half stories high, the base
ment OF stone, with cement flooring, and the
upper portion filled in with concrete. The
building is 75 feet long by - wide.
The milking yard tdons the dairy house,
and III 1t is hopper with a connecting pipe
running to the reservoir in the dairy house
Into this hopper the milk is poured Us fast As
drawn from the COWS. This reservoir is made
OF zinc, and is incloSed in another Of like ma
terial, with space ofabout two inches inter
venng. This space is filled with water from
two stop-cocks, which furnish warm or cold
* ny,
heater-a temperature rc@ulatol-reducng
the milk to Il certain necessary temperature
before it is placed in the pans To secure the
proper temperature at all seasons steam pipes
run all around the house. while Il foot of saw
dust lays in the ceiling of the pan room to
keep out the heat or cold, as the case may be.
The upper part of the building is used for
storing butter lirkins, butter cloth, &c The
basement is divided into two apartments. one
the churning and packing, the other occupi-
ed by Il steam engine, circular saw, grind
stone, wheels, shafts, belts. etc. A furnace
and boiler are built outside and the steam is
carried inside by pipes, where the cnginc(a
4-horse poWcr) is located, which turns the
chnrn, saw or grindStone, as the case mayre
qure. The management of the milk and the
making Of the butter are thus described:
The cows are coIralcd, and each milkman
milks his 20 COWS The milk is poured into
the hopper, where ii filters through a fine
sieve, and is carried into the regulator A
rubber hose is attached to the regulator, and
when the milk is cool enough il is carried
rouud to the pans. which are already placed
ready to receive it in the following manner:
Perpendicular quadrangular beams, extend
ing from floor to ceiling, stand all around the
pan room, al distances Of about five feet. In
each Of the four sides of the beams, wooden
pins, about four inches apart, are driven par
allel with each other. These horizontal pins
are driven rs above, all the way up the beam,
at intervals Of about 10 inches apart, and up
on these projecting pins the pans are placed.
Each pan stands ON two pins on all sides. and
one above the other from floor up. These
beams are so placed as to reyolyc, and the
pans are placed ON their respective pins, and
the hose from the regulator turned ON. As
soon rs the row OF pans in front are filled the
beam is revolved and another row is present
ed, and 50 on till all are filled. This plan
saves Il deal of time and trouble. When the
milk is set the floor is washed down and scald-
ed with steam the regulator, tubes, hose, etc.
washed and scalled, the old pans removed To
the Wash-roOm, where they are washed
three separate times in hot water, and then
scalded by steam, which is turned om from 4
hose.
A sufficient time having elapsed, the skim
ming process begins. For this purpose a
kind Of trough with two ftnncls-onc IN each
ends wheeled along by the pan racks the
pans are taken down. Slimmcd and the cream
poured into one funnel and the milk into the
other. TO these tunnels are attached rubber
hose, which extend along the floor and empty
the cream into the churn, in the basement,
and the milk into the waste pipe, which latter
conducts it about 4 hundred yards to the 4will
vat, forthr hogs. The chlru, 4 nearly square
slightly oblong box, capable of making 500
pounds Of butter ut u chuming is SET in mo
ton by the little engine, the cream daShr-
and pungrN and -Washcs, and in Il little while
the churn stops, and we see two on three hun
drcd pounds of delicious butter.
The butter is taken from the chItrn to the
hncadig table, where it is ilnclded and rolled
and Satel, and finally pressed rolled in but
ter cloth, and packed away in boxes, kil+ or
kegs, to be hauled to Market