ON DAIRY FARMING,

BY W. K. HULKE, ESQ.

NO. 1 3. — C ONCIiUB ION. On a large number of farms the dairy, or an apology for one, in tho shape of a milk-room, is often found under the roof of the dwelling-house ; the same room doing duty as pantry and general store-room. The floor is of wood, and having absorbed repeated milk-slop, has a most objectionable odour ; and the constant traffic in and out does not tend to improve its cleanliness ; whilst sour milk, so general in warm weather (under the present system of setting milk) fills the room with a tainted atmosphere, both ceiling and walls being strangers to the lime-brush. At the back door a large cask in close proximity to the dairy window will most generally be found — a common receptacle for the thick curded milk to sour for calves, but fit food for pigs. The poisonous gases from this (particularly in warm weather) enter the dairy window freely, and soon taint the milk. Can we then wonder that butter made with such wanton disregard of all sanitary laws, soon becomes rancid, and unfit for food ; its ultimate destination being the soap-pot, or to be used for cart grease. This is no fancy picture, nor is it too highly coloured ; in fact, to the writer's knowledge it is greatly understated. Many more objectionable features could be brought forward, but the above is sufficient to prove that a greater improvement than is at present shown is absolutely necessary, both in the selection of a site and the construction of a dairy. We will therefore give our views as regards site and construction. A dairy should consist of three rooms — milk-room, ante-room, and washup — the latter having a furnace and boiler fixed in it. The building should be detached from the dwelling-house, a dry, airy situation being preferable to a low, damp, or confined one. If situated near a stream or spring, so much the better ; failing that, a well must be sunk, as cool, clear water in abundance is absolutely necessary if good butter is required. Stagnant water from pools, either for the cows to drink or for use in the dairy, is in some cases poisonous, and is under all circumstances injurious. The dairy should stand well to windward of pigsties, cow-sheds, and cattle yards, in close proximity to the dwelling-house, to which there should be a good footpath ; the ground round the dairy should be in grass, to prevent dust ; and no fowls or pigs encouraged near it — cleanliness both inside and outside being the one great object desired. Having fixed on the site, our next step is to mark out the ground plan ; this, of course, will greatly depend on the number of cows proposed to be milked. 27 feet by 12 feet will be found an useful size for dairies under twenty cows. This settled, we have to consider the materials of which it is to bo built. Of these, stone, brick, and concrete are undoubtedly the best. Next to these is clay-pug and timber, the former three being expensive, we will dispense with, rigid economy being absolutely necessary amongst the largest number of small farmers on first starting a new clearing. As clay pug stands next in order of choice, we will use that, and from it a giod substantial house can bo built, at little cost, if tli3 right quality of clay can be found in the vicinity of the site. The best clay for the purpose is of a strong, tough, adhesive nature. This, on being dug, should bo freely exposed to tho atmosphere previous to being tempered, and well puddled. Straw or rushes in pieces of about threo inches long, well mixed with it, the quantity required for one day's use being mixed the previous day. Having prepared tho clay, the first step towards the erection of the walls will be to take out the .surface soil the width of two feet a spit deep, and fill the trench with pug. A four-pronged digging fork is a good useful implement to put pug on with. Should it be summer time throe courses of 15 inches in height may be run up in about 14 days, but it will greatly depend upon the weather, and how the clay is tempered, as, if mixed too soft, it is apt to bulge and give trouble. The top of each course should be left rough, and if rain threatens should have a little straw or boards placed on it to throw off the rain.

All door and window openings should have a slab or board 12 x 2 fixed to keep the pug even, and against this the door jams and window frames can be fixed. The walls should be from 7 to 8 feet high, and previous to the wall plates being fixed should be allowed to settle. As the works pro ceed the rough of the pug may be trimmed, both inside and out, with a sharp spade, and if well made should cut like new cheese if moderately dry. The roof may consist of thatch, sawn timber, or slabs, if the latter should be used they must be neatly trimmed and battened or weather-boarded. Thatch is preferable to all coverings, but in the bush would be dangerous on account of fires. If tiles are procurable in the district we should strongly recommend them, failing these, slabs or boards. A double roof, like a tent fly would tend greatly to equalize the temperature. The roof inside ought to be lined with calico, carried well up the rafters so as to give plenty of height inside above the walls, through which there ought to be ventilating tubes, a thorough ventilation being necessary in hot weather. Presuming now the roof being on, and the walls dry enough to work, our next step will be to pare them down to their proper size, and prepare them for plastering. To do this take a mason's trowel and score them as plasterers do, leaving an indented surface. Then prepare some pug, free from straw, or rush, with a small quantity of cowdung mixed with it, to the consistency of good mortar. Give the walls one or two coatings, as may be required, to bring them even and smooth ; after this is dry, wash inside and out thoroughly with lime. A small verandah, or wide, projecting eves help greatly to protect the walls from both sun and rain. A house well built on this plan will last good for years. The floor ought to have all the top spit removed, and filled up with pug, well stamped in, and then a coating of well-mixed lime, cowdung, and clay. This makes a first-rate floor. The milk-room windows should have wooden shutters, and a broad shelf, fifteen inches wide, having a three-inch ledge each side, should be suspended about eighteen inches from the ceiling. On this charcoal should be placed as a deoderizer, and changed about three times in the year. If the milk is set on the table system, with cold-water pans, from four to six pans will be found sufficient for a dairy of twenty cows. The milk-room should have three windows, and its doors should open into the ante-room, from which a door should open into the washup, vrhich also should have a door in the back. As suitable clay may not be found in every district, it will be as well to show how a dairy of wood can be built on an economical scale, and yet be as effective as one built of more expensive materials. The builder, if residing within easy distance of a saw-mill, can avail himself of sawn timber, which in most cases is procurable at moderate rates. Should his pocket not permit it, slabs or split stuff can always be obtained at a much lower rate than mill timber, and if these are well selected, will do as well, and in some cases better. The height of the walls and general dimensions of the building should be as previously described, the only difference being in the thickness of the walls, which need only be — if wood is used — twelve inches thick. If sawn timber is used, the building can be roughly framed ; if built of slabs or split stuff, let these be sunk into the ground about 15 inches, the trench being filled up with pug, using weather boards, or split pailing neatly trimmed on the outside, and inside batten about two iiiches apart, filling in -with the best pug obtainable, as you proceed. About three courses of a foot in height can be finished per week in summer. Trim as the work proceeds, and finish off the building the same as the one previously described, and be sure to provide good drainage from the milk and washup-rooms, as without sufficient drainage you cannot expect success. Having now, Mr. Editor, brought my letters on dairying to a close, per- j mit me to thank you, sir, for the space so liberally granted me in the columns of the Taeanaki Herald and Budget, and hoping that some of the hints thrown out as regards cleanliness may bo utilised, and so improve the manufacture of dairy produce in New Plymouth as to command the highest market value. — I am, &c, W. K. Hulke.

Propriety. — Light-minded young thing in a bathing-suit : "Surely, Aunt Margaret, you're not going to wear your spectacles into the water ?' Aunt M.: 'Indeed I am. Nothing shall induce me to take off another thing. 1