The front door is protected by a light porch, (_a_,) entering by a door,
(_b_,) the main dairy room. The cheese presses, (_c_, _c_,) occupy the
left end of the room, between which a passage leads through a door,
(_l_,) into the wood-shed, (_h_,) open on all sides, with its roof
resting on four posts set in the ground. The large cheese-table, (_d_,)
stands on the opposite end, and is 3 feet wide. In the center of the
room is a chimney, (_e_,) with a whey and water boiler, and vats on each
side. A flight of stairs, (_f_,) leading into the storage room above,
is in the rear. A door, (_b_,) on the extreme right, leads into the
ice-house, (_g_.) There are four windows to the room--two on each side,
front and rear. In the loft are placed the shelves for storing the
cheese, as soon as sufficiently prepared on the temporary table below.
This loft is thoroughly ventilated by windows, and the heat of the sun
upon it ripens the cheese rapidly for market. A trapdoor, through the
floors, over which is hung a tackle, admits the cheese from below, or
passes it down, when prepared for market.
The cheese house should, if possible, be placed on a sloping bank, when
it is designed to feed the whey to pigs; and even when it is fed to
cows, it is more convenient to pass it to them on a lower level, than to
carry it out in buckets. It may, however, if on level ground, be
discharged into vats, in a cellar below, and pumped out as wanted.
A cellar is convenient--indeed, almost indispensable--under the cheese
dairy; and water should be so near as to be easily pumped, or drawn,
into the vats and kettles used in running up the curd, or for washing
the utensils used in the work. When the milk is kept over night, for the
next morning's curd, temporary tables may be placed near the ice-room,
to hold the pans or tubs in which it may be set, and the ice used to
temper the milk to the proper degree for raising the cream. If the dairy
be of such extent as to require larger accommodation than the plan here
suggested, a room or two may be partitioned off from the main milk and
pressing-room, for washing the vessels and other articles employed, and
for setting the milk. Every facility should be made for neatness in all
the operations connected with the work.
Different accommodations are required, for making the different kinds of
cheese which our varied markets demand, and in the fitting up of the
dairy-house, no _positive_ plan of arrangement can be laid down, suited
alike to all the work which may be demanded. The dairyman, therefore,
will best arrange all these for the particular convenience which he
requires. The main plan, and style of building however, we think will be
generally approved, as being in an agreeable architectural style, and of
convenient construction and shape for the objects intended.