The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-10-23
AGRICULTURAL.
In a MILK Cellar.


Oh, your milk cellar is damp and mouldy
is it? Well, you make it damp by airing it
wrong. Fresh air is a good thing, but you
have too much of it, as the man said who
raced his COW around his cabbage patch one
stormy night, just as he got out of bed, and
with only his shirt on. You open the win
dows sometimes in the day time and always
at night don't you? thought so; that makes
a damp cellar. How's that? Why, this way.
The cellar is cooler than the air, you see.
Then you let in the air on a warm night, or
forget to shut the windows on a hot day,
and the warm air, which is always damp,
comes in and settles like dew on the walls,
and runs down in little streams. That
makes it damp, and damp makes mold.
And mold and damp will spoil any cellar for
keeping milk in. Why, I've seen the cream
In damp cellar like this all covered with
spots of blue mold and red too; but it all
went into the cream crock just the same.
And then it runs all through the cream just
like the white threads in mushroom bed.
was in Tom Peters's cellar once. II was
about cider time, and Tom was getting the
casks out. They we're covered with mold an
inch thick. l wanted some casks, but not
that kind. Then Tom began to growl be-
cause some one else got the butter premium
away from him at the Centerville fair. ooh,
kissin' goes by my favor" says Tom, Sand
the way prizes is given at the fairs goes the
same way" Don't you believe it, Tom. The
Autter that got the first prize was made in a
nice clean milk house, where-and just then
in the dark, my feet slipped from under me
and l came down hard and sat in some kind
of slippery stuff which smelled awful, and /
kept slipping about in it until Tom helped
me up. "Thats too bad" says Tom; that's
where we had lot of cabbages last winter
and forgot to clean out" tell you what
1t is, Tom, said /, such hog-pen of cellar
as you've got isn't fit to keep milk in-don't
scrape so hard, Tom, you'll tear the cloth
phew! how can you expect to get good but
ter when there is such lot of nastiness as
there Is here-rotten cabbage and mouldy
barrels, and harness, and bless mel here's
some feeces, and not washed either If Pm
judge on butter, Tom, this year you bet
your lite you won't get any prize on yours,
although your wife can make as good but
ter as any woman can, and did before you
married her. You don't give her chance,
Tom; and when the woman don't get
chance to do their best, | don't blame them
for doing just as the men do. Never mind
any more scraping, Tom, said l; if any folks
ask me where Pve been, I'll say in Tom
Peters's cellar, and so lett. And if you
want to keep cellar in nice order for milk,
have no cabbages or dirty fieeces in it; nor
any ruuplsn 10 gamer mold3 ana nave III
whitewashed twice year; and air it on dry
nights and cool dry days; and keep it shut
up in the dry weather; and if it gets the least
damp, put in barrel of fresh lime in it;
that will keep it as dry as bone all summer;
for 300 lbs. of of lime will take up 100 lbs.
of water and then be dry, and when it is all
Stacked down to fine powder it can be used
for whitewsshipg or put around the apple
trees, or busted on the cabbages or turnips,
to keep off the flies and worms And then
you won't have any mold in it and no mildew
and tine cream, and your butter will keep the
year round if you want it to.-The Dairy.