124 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



5. That churning the milk and cream together, after they have 

 become slightly acid, seems to be the most economical process on 

 the whole, as it yields a large quantity of excellent butter. 



6. That the keeping of butter in a sound state appears to depend 

 on its being obtained as free as possible from casein, by means of 

 washing and worldng the butter when taken from the churn." 



Churning the milk and its cream together, instead of the cream 

 alone, is strongly insisted on by the dairymen of Orange county, 

 New York, as highly important and necessary for butter designed 

 for warm climates or to be kept a long time. A gentleman long 

 familiar with the practice there says of it : " The perfect neatness 

 and cleanliness of everything about the dairy ; the churning of Oie 

 milk instead of the cream, and the attention to the quality and 

 quantity of the salt used, are the principal peculiarities. The 

 churning of the milk I deem essential to butter intended for long 

 voyages. It gives a peculiar firmness and fineness of texture and 

 wax-like appearance, when fractured, which butter made by churn 

 ing the cream alone seldom or never has. These peculiarities can 

 generally be detected by the eye. There is a cream-like flavor to 

 milk-churned butter which I have never found in butter manufac- 

 tured in a different manner." 



This method is also extensively practiced by many dairymen in 

 other counties in New York. At the same time there are many in 

 the same counties and neighborhoods who churn only the cream, 

 and excellent butter is produced by both methods. When milk is 

 churned it should be first allowed to become perceptibly sour, and 

 the usual practice is to add cold water at the commencement and 

 a^^ain just before the completion of the churning. Although I have 

 made frequent inquiries, I have learned of only one case where this 

 method has been tried in Maine, and in that instance it was, from 

 some cause, unsuccessful ; the butter had the appearance of being 

 over churned, having a pale color and being soft. 



The proper temperature for churning was made the subject of 

 careful experiments by Dr. Barclay and Mr. Allen, which are here 

 related : 



1st experiment, 18th August. Fifteen gallons of cream at the 

 temperature of 50° were put in the churn, the weight per gallon 

 having been ascertained to be eight pounds four ounces. By agi- 

 tating the cream in the usual manner for two hours, the tempera- 

 ture rose to 56° ; at the end of the churning, being four hours from 



