The complete Indian housekeeper & cook

Milking should also be as regular as possible, and the hours so fixed that the intervals may be nearly equal. There can be no doubt that it largely increases the supply of milk if the cow is milked three times in the twenty-four hours, say at 5 a.m., 1 p.m., and 8 p.m. Some cows always require to be hobbled, but if a generally quiet cow gives trouble in milking, look at her udder yourself at once, and if it seems hot and tender, rub in gently camphor and butter ointment, and cut down her grain. Finally, remember that a cow, though hardy, will not stand neglect. On the other hand, she well repays care ; and where, with her food merely flung to her, she will give one quart of milk, she will give two if she is properly fed. It will perhaps interest the reader to know that wheat straw and cotton-seed are only now coming into repute in England as the best dairy food. The authors are sure that sweet til cake would also make its mark as a butter producer. It is, however, only procurable in England at prohibitive prices. Dairy Management. — The cow's udder should always be wiped with a damj) cloth before milking is commenced, and tlie most scrupulous cleanliness is necessary, both in regard to the milker’s hands and the pail. As cream never rises so well after being once disturbed. Housekeeper and Cook 109 and the rising commences at once, milk that is to be set for cream should always be put into the cooler whilst still warm. It mustj of course, be strained through a hair sieve into the cooler. Opinion is divided as to whether cream rises best in shallow or deep vessels ; but it certainly keeps sweeter in deep jars, where less surface is exposed to the air. In warm American climates milk is set in stone jars, immersed in cold water, and the cream is said to rise splendidly, even through eighteen inches of milk. But if the weather be cool, nothing can be better than shallow tin pans capable of containing about three inches deep of milk. These should be set on a scrupulously clean shelf, if possible in a room set apart as a dairy ; at any rate, in some place where the milk shall be beyond the possibility of contamination. There is scarcely anything so easily tainted as milk, and nothing which, when so tainted, is more dangerous to health. Yet it is no uncommon thing in India to see it set in a dirty scullery where the floor reeks like a sink, or side by side with raw meat in a safe. In such a place, and left to the native’s capacity for uncleanliness, milk will not keep sweet for three hours, unless it is boiled ; whereas, in a proper dairy, and properly treated, it will keep good for thirty-six. As a rule, however, twenty-four hours will be found most convenient, as the skim milk will then be available for the calf. Of course, during the hot months milk must be scalded or treated witli boracic acid ; but in the cold weather the English routine can be carried out. The cream separator is revolutionising dairy work at home, but as yet the machines are on too large a scale for private use in India. Next to it, the Devonshire plan of scalding the milk after twelve hours’ setting seems most productive of cream butter.