School: The Vale (An Gleann)
- Location:
- Leiter, Co. Cavan
- Teacher: S. Ó Brolcháin
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1010, Page 374
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- XML School: The Vale (An Gleann)
- XML Page 374
- XML “Our Churn”
- XML “Taking Milk from a Cow”
- XML “Description of a Hand Churn Machine”
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On this page
- (continued from previous page)sold. The man that made the churns and firkins was called a cooper.
- Once upon a time there lived a farmer who had a cow. The cow was after calving and for a long time after she had calved the farmer got no milk from her. One night an old man came into the house of the farmer. The farmer's wife told him about not getting any milk from the cow. The old man said to rub salt on the cow's elder in the morning and that before that night whoever was milking the cow, would come crying that it was they who were milking her. The person who was milking the cow came to the house and asked for god's sake to take the salt off the cow's elder because they were in hell while the salt on it, so the farmer's wife went out and took the salt of the cows elder.
- The machine is made up of four standards on iron-legs bolted on to a wooden stand. There are also two cog wheels and one fly wheel on the machine. Attached to the fly wheel there is a lever. The lever is attached to an iron frame which acts as a balance. The end of the lever is made like a muzzle which is attached to the dash. The churn with the milk is put on the stand under the lever. The dash is bored at one end which is attached on to the lever with a small key or bolt. The handle is attached on to the cog wheel which is twisted with the hand to put the machine in motion.
