the invention and introduction of various kinds of daily machinery, such as creaming apparatus, notably the separator; hand and power churns, butter-workers, cheese vats and presses, etc. The cream separator, aside from its increased efficiency and reduction of labor, has almost eliminated the disturbing factor of climate from a large part of dairy management, and has altogether worked a revolution in this industry. See Butter.
The numerous by-products of the dairy are now very generally utilized in a variety of ways. The skim milk and buttermilk are, where practicable, fed to animals; considerable quantities are sold in towns and cities for household consumption, and milk-sugar is made from skim milk and whey. The casein of skim milk is also dried and prepared as a bakers' supply and substitute for eggs, as the basis of an enamel paint, as a substitute for glue in paper-sizing, and is also solidified and used for making buttons, combs, and many similar articles.
The value of the principal dairy products of the United States (milk, butter, and cheese) was estimated by the Federal Department of Agriculture for the year 1899 to be over $450,000,000. “If to this be added the value of the skim milk, buttermilk, and whey, at their proper feeding value, and the value of the calves dropped yearly, the aggregate value of the product of the dairy cows exceeds $500,000,000.”
The leading dairy States are Iowa, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, Kansas, Michigan, and Indiana. In the Middle and Eastern States the milk is used quite largely to supply the numerous large towns and cities. In the Central West and Northwest butter is the principal dairy product. Dairying is also quite extensively practiced in Canada, where both butter and cheese of good quality are made. Canadian cheese, especially, enjoys an excellent reputation.
Since 1872 oleomargarine (q.v.), known in Great Britain as margarine and butterine, has been used in the United States, and has become a formidable competitor of the true dairy product. Its use in adulterating both butter and cheese led to the passage in several States of laws restricting its use and sale. The manufacture of oleomargarine cheese, or ‘filled’ cheese, as it is called, has greatly injured the good name of American cheese.
For further discussion of topics relating to dairying, see: Cattle—Dairy Cattle; Butter-Making; Cheese-Making; Milk Production; Cheese-Factory; Creamery.
DA′IS (Fr., canopy). This term was used with considerable latitude by mediæval writers. Its most usual significations are the following: (1) A canopy over an altar, shrine, font, throne, stall, chair, statue, or the like. The term was applied to the canopy without regard to the materials of which it was composed, which might be cloth, wood, stone, metal, or other substance. (2) The chief seat at the high table in a hall, with the canopy which covered it, from which probably the word in all its significations was introduced, its French meaning being a canopy. (3) The high table itself. (4) The raised portion of the floor, or estrade, on which the high table stood, and by which the upper was divided from the lower portion of the hall. (5) A cloth of state for covering a throne or table. In old writings the word occasionally takes the form of dois, and more rarely that of dez or detz.
DAISY (AS. dæges ēage, day's eye, referring to the form of the flower). A plant of the genus Bellis, of the natural order Compositæ. The common daisy (Bellis perennis), plentiful throughout Europe, flowers almost all the year in pastures, meadows, and grassy places. For illustration, see Plate of Dahlias, etc. What are called double varieties, with flowers of various and often brilliant colors, are very commonly cultivated in gardens. A variety has the flower (head of flower) surrounded by smaller ones, the short stems of which grow from the summit of the scape or leafless stem. The daisy (gowan of the Scotch) has long been a favorite with poets and lovers of nature, characteristic as it is of many of the fairest summer scenes, its blossoms gemming the pastures, and recommended also by its frequent appearance during the severer seasons of the year. Its flowers close at night. It is sparingly introduced in America. A species of Bellis is, however, found in the United States (Bellis integrifolia), but it is confined to Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, and the Southwestern States. The flower commonly called daisy, or oxeye daisy, in the United States is a species of chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum) . A number of other plants are called daisies in the United States, among them Rudbeckia hirta, also called yellow daisy and black-eyed susan. Erigeron annuus, Erigeron strigosus, and other species are called daisies or daisy fleabane, and a number of species of wild aster are likewise known as daisies.
DAISY, Solomon. In Dickens's Barnaby Rudge, the rusty little parish clerk of Chigwell, and one of the ‘quadrilateral,’ or village club, which met at the ‘Maypole.’
DAISY MILLER. A well-known novel by Henry James (1878), so called from the name of its heroine, an American girl who disregarded European rules of conduct. This character sketch was much criticised as not being a true representation of the American type; but its veracity is now admitted.
DAITYA, dīt′yȧ (Skt., sons of Diti, a popular formation from Aditi, the boundless goddess). The Titans of Hindu mythology, hostile to the gods and disturbers of religious observances.
DAKAR, dȧ-kär′. A seaport in the French colony of Sénégal, Africa, situated about 1½ miles north of Gorée and on the extreme point of Cape Verde (Map: Africa, C 3). It has an excellent harbor and is connected by railway with Saint Louis, 163 miles distant. The climate is unhealthful. There are a number of large factories, and the commerce of the town has increased since the completion of the railway to Saint Louis. Population, in 1890, 12,000.
DA′KER HEN (dialectic Engl. and Scotch daker, to loiter: cf. OFlem. daekeren, to move to and fro). An English local name for a corn-crake. See Crake.
DAKO′TA. See North Dakota; South Dakota.
DAKOTA (or JAMES) RIVER. A navigable stream rising in Wells County, N. D., about seventy miles northeast of Bismarck (Map: South Dakota, G 4). It flows southerly through a fertile country, and joins the Missouri
