SECRETARY'S REPORT. 



127 



At the first working, when it comes from the churn, only a por- 

 tion of the salt intended to be used (say about three-fourths) should 

 be incorporated with it, but it should be well mixed throughout 

 the mass. The action of salt remaining in butter for some hours 

 enables us to extract a portion of the buttermilk which cannot be 

 otherwise so well or so easily removed. After the first working 

 let it remain several hours or perhaps until the next day, when the 

 remainder of the salt may be worked in, and the damp sponge and 

 napkin be again used. The salt last added will dissolve after it is 

 packed, and instead of the butter sticking to the knife or tryer as 

 it is introduced, a clean moisture alone adheres to it, leaving the 

 knife nearly as bright as before. 



Three very simple contrivances, easily made or obtained, but 

 which I have rarely seen used in Maine dairies, will greatly facili- 

 tate the working of butter in a proper manner, and at the same 

 time lessen the labor as well as improve the product. First the 

 sponge and napkin already referred to. Next the butter ladle, in 



the form universally in use in many dairy 

 districts, which is much preferable to the flat 

 ones commonly used here, inasmuch as draw- 

 ing the flat ladle or spatula over the butter 

 tends to destroy its grain, while the kneading, readily given with 

 the other, answers a better purpose. The third to which I refer is 

 the butter worker. This last named implement is made in various 



forms, some complicated and expensive and some very simple and 

 yet effective. A slab of marble or of apple-tree wood, fixed upon 

 a table, with a roller attached to one side by a ring is a very good 

 form. It is well to have the slab a little hollowed towards the 

 point where the smaller end of the roller is attached, so as to allow 



