210 ON THE DIFFERENT ilETHODS OF MAKING AND 



shape, but half an inch more than the lid in diameter, is put on 

 the top. The edge of the muslin is, by a thin edged tool corre- 

 sponding to the edge of the cask, trimmed down between the 

 butter and the cask. The layer of salt is now spread, and over 

 it the lid is firmly fixed. If the butter is intended for long keep- 

 ing, the cask is turned with the bottom side up, in which an auger 

 hole is made. Into this is poured hot brine, until it reaches the 

 top of the stave, and thus with the entry of the brine air is 

 excluded, and the hole is then plugged. Butter, if good to begin 

 with, will, when thus treated, go round the world, and be sound 

 at two years' end. Tubs, usually too heavy, and being more 

 difficult to fasten, have not grown in favour. The old-fashioned 

 earthenware crock is very suitable for the preservation of butter, 

 but the cover is difficult to fix, and from its fragile natui'e is best 

 suited for short transit, and under the care of interested parties. 



Irish Notes. 



Irish practice is similar to British, and the prize essays of 

 the Cork Agricultural Society, newly published, present no very 

 distinctive features. The milkhouse recommended, and so far 

 adopted, is one with mud walls and thatched roof — these being 

 in a high degree non-conductors. The roof is also to overhang 

 and be supported with posts, so that in the space thus created 

 the vessels can, without getting wet from ram, have access to 

 atmospheric influence. Xo direct access to the kitchen and 

 scullery is to be tolerated, and one of the essayists would prohibit 

 the entry of any one with shoes which had been used outside. 

 The whole three of the Cork Society's reporters have, however, 

 failed to get hold of the scientific reasons for the regulation of 

 volume, depth, and temperature, and each of them is treated 

 independently of the others. No mention is made of lappering 

 or acidifying, a practice which certainly must be known in 

 Ireland. Broad and shallow setting is recommended with a 

 temperature of 55° to 60"" ; the first prizeman more than once 

 asserting that at the former "cream is best generated," and that 

 cream "will not readily rise" below it. He advises the use of 

 the refrigerator for milk to be set for cream to rise — a practice 

 defying the benefits to be derived from the more steady falling 

 of temperature and the consequent difference of specific gravity 

 between the milk and cream, and which allows the latter to rise 

 more quickly and perfectly. In speaking of " another mode of 

 producing excellent Initter," he considers the raising of tempera- 

 ture to 140° as bemg for the purpose of dispelHng odours, but the 

 practice is connected with the better scientific knowledge of 

 America and Sweden than Ireland, and is, no doubt, for the 

 ])urpose of giving a wider range of temperature in falling, and 



