Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1886-07-23
Farm and Household.
DEEP CANS FOR MILK.

years since we adopted the plan Of
deep setting milk, and we have
never seen the time when we would
be willing to 60 back to the old
plan of open shallow pans or crooks
When we first began deep setting
we were milking eight cows, and ]
had the cans made eight inches IN
diameter and twenty inches deep
but now that we are only keeping
cows for family use, we use cans
ten inches deep. The cans are
made with bail, but the ears to
which the bail is attached are set
low enough so that the lid fits over
the top of the can instead of inside
as lids usually do; this is to pre-
vent water from entering the cans
when they are used in a chest with
ice above them. A few inches
from the bottom, one handle 10
soldered to the side Of the can, to
use in tipping it to pour out the
milk. These cans should always
be made of heavy tin, as it will be
much cheaper in the long run,
though costing more at first. My
cans have been in constant use Tor
the past ten years, and several OF
them have not been repaired at all;
but part have needed new bot
toms, as they have been used on a
cement floor, which wears them
much more than a wooden shelf.
"Deep cans for milk may be
used in cool weather in an ordinary
cellar, but for the hot months there
must be either an abundant sup
ply of cold water, or of ice. a
running spring though a convent
ence is not a necessity, for well
that will furnish an unlimited sup
ply Of water, with a good pump,
will answer as well, and if there is
a wind engine to pump the water,
it is better than a spring from the
fact that the water can be run
where you want it; bnt even with
a hand pump 1t is not very laborl-
GUS to pump water to cool the milk
from six OF eight COWS. The trough
should be an inch deeper than the
cans. and divided near the bottom
with strips into squares Just large
enough to allow the cans to set IN
them without any binding, and
there should be at the top an ar
rangoment by which the cans can be
fastened down, or, as milk is light
er than water, the cans will float
and project above the water. This
can be easily arranged by a pin fit
ting loosely across the top of the
box, or hook at the side to fasten
into a handle or loop sOldered to
the cans for the purpose.
'If the dairyman puts up his own
ice, be will find it cheaper, and less
trouble and more satisfactory than
water. A little room should be
partitioned off from the ice-house,
or built adjoining it, so that the ice
can be slid on a board, without
lifting, directly into the chest. My
chest is simply a strongly made
box of dressed inch lumber, with
doors at the side two feet high, to
open and set the cans on the lower
floor. AS these doors swell and
shrink more or less, they are made
with a space of half an inch be-
tween them when shut, and a bat
ten is screwed to one door to pro
iect and cover this crack when
they are closed. The upper floor
ON which the ice rests is made Of
hard wood Stats smoothly dressed,
one by three inches, and an inch
and a half apart. These are not
fastened, but drop into notches cut
to receive them in strips nailed to
the inside of the chest, and any
time that we wish to clean the
chest they can be lifted out in a
moment. From the top Of the chest
to the slat floor is fifteen inches
and the top is trap door made
double and hung with a weight and
pulley so as to nearly balance,
which makes it easy to open and
shut. The ice slides on a board
directly from where it is packed to
the top of the ice chest, and is laid
on the slat floor, and there is al
ways room on and around the cakes
TO set in a pitcher Of cream and
milk, and any fruit or vegetables,
dish of meat, or anything we
wish to keep. In all ordinarily
warm weather two cakes Office alone
, will be sufficient to cool the milk,
but in the hottest weather when we
put in several cans of warm milk,
we set cake of ice on edge below
between the cans. Such an ice
chest requires more ice than some
of the patent arrangements, though
If one puts up MS own ice, IL makes
but little difference. Even though
i bad neither ice nor a supply Of
water, and were on this account
obliged to adopt shallow setting OF
milk in hot weather, l would use
the deep cans for the remainder OF
The year. With cans ten inches
deep and only cows to supply the
family, the milk can be cooled in a
tup, and then set on the cellar bot
tom, and it will give better satisfac-
ticn than to use open pans orcrocks'
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