Punctuality, order, and cleanliness must be observed in all dairy work.

The dairy-maid should be an early riser, for, in the summer months especially, much of her work will have to be done before breakfast. In preparing the dairy for use the walls must be whitewashed, the windows cleaned, and the shelves scrubbed with cold water and a brush kept for that purpose, and never used for the dairy utensils, and the floor nicely cleaned. Having heated the copper she must next take her best scrub-brush and thoroughly scour every part of the dairy utensils with cold water, rinsing them well, and if they are to be used for milk, cream, butter, curd, or cheese, afterwards scalding them and placing them in the rack and on shelves outside the washhouse door, for the purpose of sweetening them, as the air is a great purifier. Next carry them into the dairy and place them on the shelves conveniently for use, taking care to keep "a place for everything and everything in its place." The milk pans (earthenware preferred) may be piled in a stack and taken down as wanted.

Fuller's earth or wood ashes are sometimes used for scouring with cold water, but soap must never be used, for it would surely spoil the cream and butter.

Should the herdsman milk the cows, it is necessary to see that they are milked perfectly dry, as the richest part comes last, and the dairy-maid should be particular to have her clean pans ready to receive the milk, which must be set or emptied into them at once. Next she should rinse the pail with cold water, and scrub it, and afterwards scald it and wipe it with the dairy cloth. The dairy cloth must then be carefully washed in cold water, scalded, and hung to dry. This must be done once a day. In the evening rinse the pail with cold water and wipe it with the dairy cloth. If either the pail or cloth were neglected, it would spoil all the cream and butter.

After the milk has been standing twenty-four hours, the dairy-maid will take a skimmer and basin with a spout and proceed to skim the cream off, first loosening it round the edge with her finger. Then put in the skimmer and take up as much cream as it will hold, allowing the milk to drain off before putting it into the basin. This is repeated until all the cream has been carefully removed. As the small basin is filled, it is transferred from time to time to the cream-pot, into which a piece of saltpetre, about the size of a nut, is dropped with the first lot of cream only, and stirred with a flat wooden stick, which is left in, as it will be required to stir the cream every time any is added. Should the cream be more than three days gathering for butter-making, it should be put into another clean pot and stirred daily as before. This process gives it ventilation and it keeps better.

The skim milk may be used for domestic purposes, bread making, puddings, etc, and the remainder (if not sold) may be given to the calves, pigs, and poultry with advantage.

After the milk pans have been emptied, they should at once be carefully washed with the scrub-brush and cold water (hot would only set the grease) and well rinsed and dried, and then put away till churning day, when they can be thoroughly done with the rest of the things, as they must be properly scalded before being used again. There are many varieties of churns, such as the barrel, box, air. The latter is the most difficult to use, as it requires the milk to be at a certain temperature, and if either hotter or colder the butter will not come. The American box churn, sold by Messrs. Burgess and Keys, is here recommended as easy to use and easy to clean.