CURINC; IJUTTEll IN THIS COUNTUV AND ABROAD. 201 



stage wlifu tlii.s is doiie, wiLluniL iliu t'uiLhur action which has 

 been shown to be deleterious, is the time to separate tlie butter. 

 Further souring, besides making less quantity of Ijutter, would, 

 by breukiug the grain of tlu; l)Utter, make it also more greasy. 



Cream. 



lUitter is the whole available fat of the portion of the milk 

 known as cream. Pure cream consists only of tlie fatty glol)ules 

 whose composition lias been explained, and on the breaking or 

 removing of the pellicle which envelops them, the fat is collected 

 and butter formed. Even some naked fats moving about in 

 miiuite ])articles in the milk, and originally derived from the 

 essential oils of the food, may enter into the composition of 

 butter. In extreme cases water may be present in the gloliules 

 to the perfect exclusion of fat. Cream has a specific gravity of 

 983 to 1000 for .water, corresponding with that given for the fats 

 in combination, of which it is composed. Berzelius gives it at 

 1024, but when it is observed that this cream gave only 4J, per 

 cent, of butter, and the residue 3^ per cent, of casein and 92 per 

 cent, of water, it is quite evident that there had been a large 

 proportion of milk in the cream. In value and in specific 

 gravit}' cream nevertheless differs much. A milk giving 25 per 

 cent, of cream, and analysed by Professor Arnold, gave the very 

 disappointing result of 4 per cent, of fat, and 13 per cent, of dry 

 Solids. By and by the cream of the same cow's milk dwindhnl 

 down to 12 per cent., the analysis showing only a slight falling 

 off in solids, while tlie fat actually increased. Thus it is seen 

 that quantity of cream is not an absolute test of butter product, 

 — opacity must be considered as well as bulk. 



Millc Vessels and Ihc liaising/ of Cream. 



Various kinds, and of every conceivable form, are the vessels 

 used for setting milk to the jmxluction of cream. The one in 

 general use in this country is tlie common tin plate of 4 or 5 

 inches deep, — now much improved by being galvanised, or tinned, 

 and without seam. These cool the milk readily without the use 

 of cold water or ice, are light and handy, adapt themselves to 

 almost any unoccupied space, and when empty store past inside 

 each other into very small dimensions. They are, however, 

 better suited to small dairies, in which butter in this country is 

 principally made, the larger ones being mostly cheese-producing. 

 In large dairies, and in the factories of America, either large 

 rectangular vessels of a flat shape, and suitable for shallow 

 setting, or deep and narrow cans for deep setting, are used. In 

 the rectangular ones there is almost invariablv, in America, a 



