Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1893-07-13
FARMER AND PLANTER.
THE BUTTER QUESTION.
Summer DaIrylng In Warm Latitudes-A
Subterranean Dairy.

Subterranean Dairy.
The condition of temperature is one
that can not be too strictly attended to.
Dairy houses and dairy rooms should
be fitted up with special reference to
it. 1t is both winter and summer
condition, but douhly important in
warm climates and during the high
heats of summer. A favorable tenn
perature throughout is sine qua non
an in dispensable condition in success
fnl, that is, profitable butter making,
If the condition is not properly OBJ
served, whatever else may be done,
uniform results need not be looked for,
for in profitable dairying everything
hinges or is modified by temperature.
This article is not written for those
who have expensive dairies fitted up
with all the modern appliances for
turning out a gilt-edgc article utterly
regardless of eternal temperature and
unfavorable surroundings, but for all
that large class of farmers whose means
are limited, yet desire to enjoy the lux
ury of firm, golden-yellow butter, not
only in the spring months, but through
ont the whole year, as well as obtain
ing the top of the market for their sur
plus product Throughout the south
and southwest the steady heats of sum
mer neceSsitates, on tire part of the
successful dairyman, some preparation
that the average farmer has not, and
in far too many instances for their
own good does not care to make, viz:
place where milk and butter
may be kept cool during the
long continued high heats of
summer. The heat is no greather south
than in parts of the north. 1t is not
hotter but it is more steadily warm
south than it is north. The soil be-
comes more heated by the direct rays
of the sun, the heat is accumulated,
and the ground does not cool off to the
same extent that it does further north.
Where ice is easily obtainable, it is con-
sidered indispensable, but there are so
many southern farms that are pre-emi-
nently adapted to dairy farming where
ice isinaccessible, therefore, out of the
question. Again where ice is regularly
used, the supply frequently becomes
exhausted just at the time when most
needed. Now we know, from many
years of both experience and observa-
ton, that ice, though both useful and
desirable in the southern dairy, is by
no means Indispensable. Gilt-edgc but
ter can be made on almost every we'll
ordered farm without it.
Our dairy house incloses a spring so
cold as to make ones teeth ache when
they attempt to quench their thirst
from its pure, clear, limpid depths. 1t
is so arranged that the water from the
spring runs directly into trough
eight inches deep. In this trough the
vessels (earthen pans kept tightly cov-
ered) containing the milk are set just
as soon as the milk has cooled and is
freed from the animal odor-about a
half hour after beirg drawn from the
COW. They set in the trough twenty
four hours, when the cream is SKINNED
off and churned Our butter is always
a rich yellow; have never had occasion
to use butter color-we color the but
ter when we feed the cows. Our sur
plus Is all bespoke the year round at
twenty-five cents per pound.
We claimed that ice was not an in
dispensable adjunct to the southern
dairy. We will now, for the especial
benefit of those who have neither ae
nor spring, make a still broader asser-
ton, viz. That just as good, as fine
looking, firm, aromatic and fine-na-
vored-in short, just as perfect butter
can be made throughout almost the en-
tire south without ice, and in the alb
sence of a spring as with either or both.
Several years ago, in an adjoining
county, where springs, like angels
visits, were few and far between, sub
terranean dairies C'storm houses" as
they were termed by some) were used
for various purposes, such as keeping
milk and butter in, keeping canned
fruits and vegetables, pickles, preserves,
jellies, jams, wine, ctc.-in short, any
thing and everything that it was essen
tial to be kept warm in winter and cool
in summer, even to the keeping of fresh
meats, which kept readily in them dur
ing the hot months, pure and sweet for
full week at time without any salt.
| Flies give it a wide berth, and even
ants steer clear of it. 1t is just exactly
too cool for any member of the insect
family. 1t is good place to take an
after-dinner nap; but even on the very
hottest summer day it is actually essen
tial that the sleeper take his ''siesta"
on folding cot and wrap himself in a
quilt or blanket to keep from being
chilled. They likewise make good
storm houses, though not absolutely
safe; they certainly are comparatively
SO, much more so than cellar beneath
a house, as the house is liable to take
fire if blown down, destroying the oc-
cupants of the cellar as effectuallv as
the cyclone could possibly have done.
Now for the excavations: Lay off
ground to be eXcavated in an an open
! spot-a shady one preferred-10 feet
wide and as long as desired, 1Ox15 is a
convenient size. Lay down your sills,
which should be large, Sx12 or 12x12
inches through and of hard, dura BILE
timber, postoak, cedar, mulberry, black
locust or heart-pine, preferred; if wider
one way than the other, fat side down,
before the digging is commenced.
Have the sleepers - feet long so as to
come out even with the outer edge of
the sills. These sleepers should like
wise be of dura bic timber and suffi.
ciently stout to hold up the weight OF
the dirt eXcavated, which, when the
dairy is completed, is all put back
on the flooring covering the excavation.
The flooring should be two inches thick.
matched, or the joints broken with
some thinner, lighter material. A stout
plank should be nailed perpendicular
ly to the ends of the sleepers and ar
other one on the end furthest from
the door; TO thoroughly exclude all
II. ~