If a lady wishes her dairy to be very nicely finished, she should have all the articles she requires of glass, instead of wood and earthenware.  Everything for the diary of that material can be purchased in Leicester Square, and certainly, if expense had been no object to us, we should much have preferred a glass churn, pans, &c.  They have the great advantage of being kept beautifully clean with very little labor; but they are so liable to be broken, that they should never be used unless servants are very careful.  A marble table is, however, in every respect better than a board to make the butter upon.  It is expensive at first, but will, with ordinary care, last several generations of butter-makers.

Whilst on the subject of the dairy, I must say a few words respecting the great care required in washing the articles used in it.  As soon as the butter was taken from the churn I was in the habit of half filling it with boiling water, into which I had put some lumps of soda, and then turning the handle a few times, in order that it might be well washed round.  It was then left till it was convenient for “cook” to cleanse all the utensils we had used.

From some cause or other I neglected for two or three weeks to do this, and one day, when the freshmade butter was brought to table, there were complaints that it was cheesy; it certainly had a peculiar and very unpleasant taste, for which we could not account.

The next time it was made it had the same fault; and it then occurred to me that it might be the churn.  I accordingly returned to my old mode of washing it, and never after was there a complaint of any unpleasant flavor in the butter.

I mention this to show the amateur dairywoman how very essential is cleanliness in every article she uses.  A regular dairymaid would have known this, but a town-servant thinks that if she washes a thing it is sufficient:  but more than mere washing is required; every article must be scrubbed with soap, wood-ashes, and soda, and then placed for hours in the open air.

Now glass is much easier kept sweet and clean, and for that reason is greatly to be preferred; but I am writing for those who may wish to reap profit from their “farm of four acres,” and I fear little would be gained if nothing but glass were used in the dairy.

Our land turned out better the second summer than the first.  We made nearly two tons and a half of hay from each acre.  We were enabled to mow the whole three acres, as we had “common rights” in our neighborhood, where the cows could pasture during the spring.  Had we been without this privilege we could have mown only two acres, and as hay was $21 the load, the additional acre was worth $50 to us, with the exception of $3 75 for making it.  We were advised to have an after-crop, but did not; it would have made the land very poor for the next year, so that what we gained in hay we must have expended in manure.