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CYCLOID

Volume 501 · 4,694 words · 1797 Edition

(see *Encycl.*) is a curve, which is thus generated: Suppose a wheel or circle to roll along a straight line till it has completed just one revolution; a nail or point in that part of the circumference of the circle, which at the beginning of the motion touches the straight line, will, at the end of the revolution, have described on a vertical plane a cycloid.

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**DAGELET,** the name given by La Perouse, the celebrated though unfortunate navigator, to an island on the coast of Corea (see *Corra Encycl.*), which he discovered in the year 1787. It is little more than three leagues in circumference; and our author almost made its circuit at the distance of a mile without finding bottom. This small spot is very steep, but covered with the finest trees from the sea-shore to the summit. A rampart of bare rock, like a wall, encircles the whole outline of it, with the exception of seven little sandy creeks, where it is possible to land. In these creeks the Frenchmen saw upon the rocks some boats of a construction altogether Chinese; but the sight of their ships frightened the workmen, who fled from their dock. DAIRY

dock-yard into the wood, which was not more than fifty paces distant. As a few huts were seen, but neither villages nor cultivation, La Perouse concluded that the island is without inhabitants, and that the men whom he saw at work were Corean carpenters, who during the summer months go with provision to Dagelet for the purpose of building boats, which they sell upon the continent. He places the north-east point of this island in N. Lat. 37° 25' and E. Long. 129° 2' from Paris.

DAIRY is a word which signifies sometimes the art of making various kinds of food from milk; sometimes the place where milk is manufactured; and sometimes the management of a milk-farm. On the dairy, in the first and second of these senses, enough has been said in the Encyclopedia under the titles BUTTER, CHEESE, and DAIRY; on the management of a milk-farm that work contains nothing.

When a dairy is established, the undertaker may sometimes think it his interest to obtain the greatest possible quantity of produce; sometimes it may be more beneficial for him to have it of the finest quality; and at other times it may be necessary to have both these objects in view, the one or the other in a greater or less proportion; it is therefore of importance that he should know how he may accomplish the one or the other of these purposes in the easiest and most direct manner.

To be able to convert his milk to the highest possible profit in every case, he ought to be fully acquainted with every circumstance respecting the manufacture both of butter and of cheese; as it may in some cases happen, that a certain portion of that milk may be more advantageously converted into butter than into cheese, while another portion of it would return more profit if made into cheese.

The first thing to be adverted to, in an undertaking of this nature, is to choose cows of a proper sort. Among this class of animals, it is found by experience, that some kinds give milk of a much thicker consistency, and richer quality, than others; nor is this richness of quality necessarily connected with the smallness of the quantity yielded by cows of nearly an equal size; it therefore behoves the owner of a dairy to be peculiarly attentive to this circumstance. In judging of the value of a cow, it ought rather to be the quantity and the quality of the cream produced from the milk of the cow, in a given time, than the quantity of the milk itself: this is a circumstance that will be shewn hereafter to be of more importance than is generally imagined. The small cows of the Alderney breed afford the richest milk hitherto known; but individual cows in every country may be found, by a careful selection, that afford much thicker milk than others; these therefore ought to be searched for with care, and their breed reared with attention, as being peculiarly valuable.

Few persons, who have had any experience at all in the dairy, can be ignorant, however, that in comparing the milk of two cows, to judge of their respective qualities, particular attention must be paid to the time that has elapsed since their calving; for the milk of the same cow is always thinner soon after calving than it is afterwards; as it gradually becomes thicker, though generally less in quantity, in proportion to the time since the cow has calved. The colour of the milk, soon after calving, is richer than it is afterwards; but this, especially for the first two weeks, is a faulty colour, that ought not to be coveted.

To make the cows give abundance of milk, and of a good quality, they must at all times have plenty of food. Grass is the best food yet known for this purpose, and that kind of grass which springs up spontaneously on rich dry soils is the best of all. If the temperature of the climate be such as to permit the cows to graze at ease throughout the day, they should be suffered to range on such pastures at freedom; but if the cows are so much inconvenienced by the heat as to be prevented from eating through the day, they ought in that case to be taken into cool shades for protection; where, after allowing them a proper time to ruminate, they should be supplied with abundance of green food, fresh-cut for the purpose, and given to them by hand frequently, in small quantities, fresh and fresh, so as to induce them to eat it with pleasure. When the heat of the day is over, and they can remain abroad with ease, they may be again turned into the pasture, where they should be allowed to range with freedom all night, during the mild weather of summer.

Cows, if abundantly fed, should be milked three times a-day, during the whole of the summer season (A); in the morning early, at noon, and in the evening, just before night-fall. In the choice of persons for milking the cows, great caution should be employed; for if that operation be not carefully and properly performed, not only the quantity of the produce of the dairy will be greatly diminished, but its quality also will be very much debased; for if all the milk be not thoroughly drawn from a cow when she is milked, that portion of milk which is left in the udder seems to be gradually absorbed into the system, and Nature generates no more than to supply the want of what has been taken away. If this lessened quantity be not again thoroughly drawn off, it occasions a yet farther diminution of the quantity of milk generated; and thus it may be made to proceed, in perpetual progression from little to less, till none at all is produced. In short, this is the practice in all cases followed, when it is meant to allow a cow's milk to dry up entirely, without doing her hurt. In this manner, therefore, the profits of a dairy might be wonderfully diminished; so that it much behoves the owner of it to be extremely attentive to this circumstance, if he wishes to avoid ruin. It ought to be a rule without an exception, never to allow this important department.

(A) If cows be milked only twice in the day (24 hours), while they have abundance of succulent food, they will yield a much smaller quantity of milk, in the same time, than if they be milked three times. Some attentive observers think a cow, in these circumstances, will give nearly as much milk at each time, if milked three times, as if she were milked only twice. This fact, however, has not, that we know of, been ascertained by experiment. There can be no doubt but they give more, how much more is not ascertained; nor, whether it would be advantageous, in any case, to milk them four times, or oftener; nor, what effect frequent milking produces on the quality of the milk. department to be entrusted, without control, to the management of hired servants (a). Its importance will be still more manifest from what follows.

It is to Dr James Anderson that we are indebted for these judicious observations, as well as for the following aphorisms which, though they may be in part known to attentive housewives, he has reason to believe are not commonly adverted to as their importance deserves.

"Of the milk that is drawn from any cow at one time, that which comes off at the first is always thinner, and of a much worse quality, than that which comes afterwards; and the richness goes on continually increasing to the very last drop that can be drawn from the udder at that time."

Few persons are ignorant that the milk which is last of all taken from the cow at milking (in this country called froakings) is richer than the rest of the milk; but fewer still are aware of the greatness of the disproportion between the quality of the first and the last drawn milk, from the same cow, at one milking. The following facts (says our author) respecting this circumstance were ascertained by me many years ago, and have been confirmed by many subsequent experiments and observations.

Having taken several large tea-cups, exactly of the same size and shape, one of these tea cups was filled at the beginning of the milking, and the others at regular intervals, till the last, which was filled with the dregs of the froakings. These cups were then weighed, the weight of each having been tested, so as to ascertain that the quantity of milk in each was precisely the same; and from a great number of experiments frequently repeated with many different cows, the result was in all cases as follows:

The quantity of cream obtained from the first drawn cup was, in every case, much smaller than from that which was last drawn; and those between afforded less or more as they were nearer the beginning or the end. It is unnecessary here to specify these intermediate proportions; but it is proper the reader should be informed, that the quantity of cream obtained from the last-drawn cup, from some cows, exceeded that from the first in the proportion of fifteen to one. In other cows, however, and in particular circumstances, the disproportion was not quite so great; but in no case did it fall short of the rate of eight to one. Probably, upon an average of a great many cows, it might be found to run as ten or twelve to one.

Secondly, The difference in the quality of the cream, however, obtained from these two cups, was much greater than the difference in the quantity. In the first cup, the cream was a thin tough film, thinner, and perhaps whiter, than writing paper; in the last, the cream was of a thick buttery consistence, and of a glowing richness of colour that no other kind of cream is ever found to possess.

Thirdly, The difference in the quality of the milk that remained, after the cream was separated, was perhaps still greater than either in respect to the quantity or the quality of the cream. The milk in the first cup was a thin bluish liquid, as if a very large proportion of water had been mixed with ordinary milk; that in the last cup was of a thick consistence, and yellow colour, more resembling cream than milk both in taste and appearance.

From this important experiment, it appears that the person who, by bad milking of his cows, loses but half a pint of his milk, loses in fact about as much cream as would be afforded by six or eight pints at the beginning, and losses, besides, that part of the cream which alone can give richness and high flavour to his butter.

"If milk be put into a dish, and allowed to stand Aphorism till it throws up cream, that portion of cream which rises first to the surface is richer in quality, and greater in quantity, than what rises in a second equal space of time; and the cream that rises in the second interval of time is greater in quantity, and richer in quality, than that which rises in a third equal space of time; that of the third than the fourth, and so on: the cream that rises decreasing in quantity, and declining in quality, continually, as long as any rises to the surface."

Our ingenious author confesses, that his experiments not having been made with so much accuracy in this case as in the former, he was not enabled to ascertain the difference in the proportion that takes place in equal portions of time; but they have been so often repeated as not to leave any room to doubt the fact, and it will be allowed to be a fact of no small importance in the management of the dairy. It is not certain, however, but that a greater quantity of cream may, upon the whole, be obtained from the milk by taking it away at different times; but the process is so troublesome as not to be counterbalanced by the increased quantity obtained, if indeed an increased quantity be thus obtained, which is not as yet quite certain.

"Thick milk always throws up a smaller proportion of the cream it actually contains, to the surface, than milk that is thinner; but that cream is of a richer quality. If water be added to that thick milk, it will afford a considerably greater quantity of cream than it would have done if allowed to remain pure, but its quality is, at the same time, greatly debauched."

This is a fact that every person attentive to a dairy must have remarked; but I have never (says our author) heard of any experiment that could ascertain, either the precise amount of the increased quantity of cream that might thus be obtained, or of the ratio in the decrease of its quality. The effects of mixing water with the milk in a dairy are at least ascertained; and the knowledge of this fact will enable attentive persons to follow that practice which they think will best promote their own interest.

"Milk which is put into a bucket or other proper vessel, and carried in it to any considerable distance, so

(a) Cows should always be treated with great gentleness, and soothed by mild usage, especially when young and ticklish, or when the paps are tender; in which last case, the udder ought to be fomented with warm water before milking, and touched with the greatest gentleness, otherwise the cow will be in danger of contracting bad habits, becoming stubborn and unruly, and retaining her milk ever after. A cow never lets down her milk pleasantly to the person she dreads or dislikes. The udder and paps should always be washed with clean water before milking; but care should be taken that none of that water be admitted into the milking-pail. as to be much agitated, and in part cooled, before it be put into the milk pans to settle for cream, never throws up so much, nor so rich cream, as if the same milk had been put into the milk-pans directly after it was milked."

In this case, it is believed, the loss of cream will be nearly in proportion to the time that has elapsed, and the agitation the milk has sustained, after being drawn from the cow. But Dr Anderson says that he is not yet in possession of any experiments which sufficiently ascertain how much is to be ascribed to the time, and the agitation, taken separately. On every branch of agriculture we find experiments wanting; at each step we advance in our enquiries; and it is the duty of every enquirer to point out, as he goes along, where they are wanted, since the labours of no one man can possibly complete the whole.

From the above facts, the following corollaries seem to be clearly deducible:

Firstly. It is of importance that the cows should be always milked as near the dairy as possible, to prevent the necessity of carrying and cooling the milk before it is put into the dishes; and as cows are much hurt by far driving, it must be a great advantage in a dairy-farm to have the principal grass fields as near the dairy or homestead as possible.

Secondly. The practice of putting the milk of all the cows of a large dairy into one vessel, as it is milked, there to remain till the whole milking is finished, before any part of it is put into the milk-pans—seems to be highly injudicious; not only on account of the loss that is sustained by agitation and cooling, but also, more especially, because it prevents the owner of the dairy from distinguishing the good from the bad cow's milk, so as to separate these from each other, where it is necessary. He may thus have the whole of his dairy produce greatly debauched by the milk of one bad cow, for years together, without being able to discover it. A better practice, therefore, would be, to have the milk drawn from each cow put separately into the creaming-pans as soon as it is milked, without being ever mixed with any other. Thus would the careful manager of the dairy be able on all occasions to observe the particular quality of each individual cow's milk, as well as its quantity, and to know with precision which of his cows it was his interest to dispose of, and which of them he ought to keep and breed from.

Thirdly. If it be intended to make butter of a very fine quality, it will be advisable in all cases to keep the milk that is first drawn separate from that which comes last; as it is obvious, that if this be not done, the quality of the butter will be greatly debauched, without much augmenting its quantity. It is also obvious, that if this is done, the quality of the butter will be improved in proportion to the smallness of the quantity of the last-drawn milk that is retained; so that those who wish to be singularly nice in this respect, will do well to retain only a very small portion of the last-drawn milk.

To those owners of dairies who have profit only in view, it must ever be a matter of trial and calculation, how far it is expedient for them to carry the improving of the quality of their butter at the expense of diminishing its quantity. In different situations prudence will point out different kinds of practice as most eligible; and all persons must be left, after making accurate trials, to determine for themselves. It is likewise a consideration of no small importance, to determine in what way the inferior milk, that is thus to be set apart where fine butter is wanted, can be employed with the greatest profit. In the Highlands of Scotland they have adopted, without thinking of the improvement of their butter, a very simple and economical practice in this respect. As the rearing of calves is there a principal object with the farmer, every cow is allowed to fuckle her own calf with a part of her milk, the remainder only being employed in the dairy. To give the calf its portion regularly, it is separated from the cow, and kept in an inclosure, with all the other calves belonging to the same farm. At regular times, the cows are driven to the door of the inclosure, where the young calves fail not to meet them. Each calf is then separately let out, and runs directly to its mother, where it sucks till the dairy-maid judges it has had enough; she then orders it to be driven away, having previously shackled the hinder legs of the mother, by a very simple contrivance, to oblige her to stand still. Boys drive away the calf with switches, and return it to the inclosure, while the dairy-maid milks off what was left by the calf: thus they proceed till the whole of the cows are milked. They obtain only a small quantity of milk, it is true, but that milk is of an exceeding rich quality; which, in the hands of such of the inhabitants as know how to manage it, is manufactured into the richest marrowy butter that can be anywhere met with. This richness of the Highland butter is universally ascribed to the old grass the cows feed upon in their remote glens; but it is in fact chiefly to be attributed to the practice here described, which has long prevailed in those regions. Whether a similar practice could be economically adopted elsewhere, our author takes not upon him to say; but doubtless other secondary uses might be found for the milk of inferior quality. On some occasions, it might be converted into butter of an inferior quality; on other occasions, it might be sold sweet, where the situation of the farm was within reach of a market-town; and on others, it might be converted into cheese, which, by being made of sweet milk, would be of a very fine quality if carefully made (c). Still other uses might be devised for its application; of which the following is worthy of notice. Take common skimmed milk, when it has begun to turn four,

(c) The making of cheese has never yet been reduced to scientific principles, and consequently the reasoning relating to it is very inconclusive. It is in general supposed, that the goodness of cheese depends almost entirely upon its richness, by which is meant the proportion of oily matter, whether natural or extraneous, it contains; nothing, however, is more certain, than that this opinion is erroneous. Sometimes a very lean cheese is much better tasted than one that is much fatter; and, which will appear to most persons still more extraordinary, it frequently happens, that a cheese that tastes soft and fat, is much leaner than one that is hard, dry, and sticky. The mode of manufacturing it occasions this, and not the quantity of cream it contains. It is very possible by art to make poor skim milk cheese assume the soft buttery taste and appearance even of cream cheese. This subject, therefore, deserves to be more particularly elucidated than it has hitherto been. put it into an upright stand-churn, or a barrel with one of its ends out, or any other convenient vessel. Heat some water, and pour it into a tub that is large enough to contain with ease the vessel in which the milk was put. Set the vessel containing the milk into the hot water, and let it remain there for the space of one night. In the morning it will be found that the milk has separated into two parts; a thick cream-like substance, which occupies the upper part of the vessel, and a thin watery part, that remains at the bottom. Draw off the thin part (called in Scotland swigg) by opening a stop-cock, placed for that purpose close above the bottom, and reserve the cream for use. Not much less than half of the milk is thus converted into a sort of cream, which, when well made, seems to be as rich and fat as real cream itself, and is only distinguishable from it by its sourness. It is eaten with sugar, and esteemed a great delicacy, and usually sells at double the price of fresh unskimmed milk. It requires practice, however, to be able to make this nicely; the degree of the heat of the water, and many other circumstances, greatly affecting the operation.

Fourthly. If the quality of the butter be the chief object attended to, it will be necessary, not only to separate the first from the last drawn milk, but also to take nothing but the cream that is first separated from the best milk, as it is this first rising cream alone that is of the prime quality. The remainder of the milk, which will be still sweet, may be either employed for the purpose of making sweet milk cheeses, or may be allowed to stand, to throw up cream for making butter of an inferior quality, as circumstances may direct.

Fifthly. From the above facts, we are enabled to perceive, that butter of the very best possible quality can only be obtained from a dairy of considerable extent, judiciously managed; for when only a small portion of each cow's milk can be set apart for throwing up cream, and when only a small proportion of that cream can be reserved, of the prime quality, it follows (the quantity of milk being upon the whole very inconsiderable), that the quantity of prime cream produced would be so small as to be scarcely worth manufacturing separately.

Sixthly. From these premises we are also led to draw another conclusion, extremely different from the opinion that is commonly entertained on this subject, viz. That it seems probable, that the very best butter could be made with economy in those dairies only where the manufacture of cheese is the principal object. The reasons are obvious: If only a small portion of milk should be set apart for butter, all the rest may be made into cheese, while it is yet warm from the cow, and perfectly sweet; and if only that portion of cream which rises during the first three or four hours after milking, is to be reserved for butter, the rich milk which is left after that cream is separated, being still perfectly sweet, may be converted into cheese with as great advantage nearly as the newly-milked milk itself.

But as it is not probable that many persons could be found who would be willing to purchase the very finest butter, made in the manner above pointed out, at a price that would be sufficient to indemnify the farmer for his trouble in making it, these hints are thrown out merely to show the curious in what way butter possessing this superior degree of excellence may be obtained, if they choose to be at the expense; but for an ordinary market, Dr Anderson is satisfied, from experience and attentive observation, that if in general about the first drawn half of the milk be separated at each milking, and the remainder only set up for producing cream, and if that milk be allowed to stand to throw up the whole of its cream (even till it begins sensibly to sour), and that cream be afterwards carefully managed, the butter thus obtained will be of a quality greatly superior to what can usually be procured at market, and its quantity not considerably less than if the whole of the milk had been treated alike. This, therefore, is the practice that our author thinks most likely to suit the frugal farmer, as his butter, though of a superior quality, could be afforded at a price that would always ensure it a rapid sale.

Dr Anderson throws out many other ingenious and useful observations on this important branch of rural economy. In particular, he points out, in the plainest manner, the requisites of a good milk-house, which, as he truly observes, should be cool in summer and warm in winter, so as to preserve a temperature nearly the same throughout the year. But we have treated of this part of the subject elsewhere, and must therefore refer such as are desirous to know the Doctor's sentiments on it, to the Letters and Papers of the Bath and West-of-England Society for the encouragement of agriculture, &c. or to the eighth volume of the Repertory of Arts and Manufactures.