there are piles of the cheese-moulds or vats beside it, into which the
curd is placed when fit to be compressed into the proper shape and
consistency. All the utensils here are polished, and clean to the last
degree; without extreme cleanliness success in cheese or butter making
cannot be achieved. The windows are devoid of glass; they are really
wind doors, closed when necessary, with a shutter on hinges like a
cupboard door. Cats and birds are prevented from entering by means of
wire screens--like a coarse netting of wire--and an upright iron bar
keeps out more dangerous thieves. There is a copper for scalding milk.
When in good order there is scarcely any odour in a dairy,
notwithstanding the decidedly strong smell of some of the materials
employed: free egress of air and perfect cleanliness takes off all but
the faintest _astringent_ flavour. In summer it is often the custom of
dairymaids to leave buckets full of water standing under the "leads" or
elsewhere out of the way, or a milk-pan is left with water in it, to
purify the atmosphere. Water, it is well known, has a remarkable power
of preventing the air from going "dead" as it were. A model dairy
should have a small fountain in some convenient position, with a jet
constantly playing. The state of the atmosphere has the most powerful
effect upon the contents of the dairy, especially during times of
electrical tension.

To the right of the dairy is the brewhouse, now rarely used for the
purpose implied in its name, though the tubs, and coolers, and other
"plant" necessary for the process are still preserved. Here there is a
large copper also; and the oven often opens on to the brewhouse. In this
place the men have their meals. Next to it is the wood-house, used for
the storage of the wood which is required for immediate use, and must
therefore be dry; and beyond that the kitchen, where the fire is still
upon the hearth, though coal is mixed with the logs and faggots. Along
the whole length of this side of the house there is a paved or pitched
courtyard enclosed by a low brick wall, with one or two gates opening
upon the paths which lead to the rickyards and the stalls. The
buttermilk and refuse from the dairy runs by a channel cut in the stone
across the court into a vault or well sunk in the ground, from whence
it is dipped for the pigs. The vault is closed at the mouth by a heavy
wooden lid. There is a well and pump for water here; sometimes with a
windlass, w