218 [Senate 



the tin cover and the butter is closely packed with fine salt to prevent 

 air from penetrating the butter. 



There is no ingredient used in preserving the butter but the best 

 kind of fine ground rock salt. 



MR. Allen's statement. 



Statement of Theodore Allen, of Hyde Park, relative to the manu- 

 facture of the butter which drew the third premium of the State So- 

 ciety at the Poughkeepsie Fair. 



The butter exhibited by me, for premium, was made between the 

 7th and 15th inst. The number of cows kept on the i'arm at the time, 

 was ten. Of these, two came in last fall; two in the winter; 

 three in the spring, and one in June. They are pastured during the 

 summer season, and fed on hay, stalks and straw in winter ; no other 

 feed. They have run in the same pasture all this season ; they are 

 kept at night in the barn yard. In winter they are milked about sun- 

 rise and sunset, and about six o'clock, morning and evening, in the 

 summer season. 



The milk is not set to cream. In milking the cows two sets of 

 pails are used ; in one are drawn the first milking, or as it is termed, 

 the " to[) milk ;" in the other the remainder of the milk. The rela- 

 tive quantity of the two milkings varies according to both the quantity 

 and quality of the whole quantity given by the cow. The average of 

 the first milking is about one-fourth of the whole quantity. This-=^ 

 the " top milk" — is reserved for family use ; the other milk is strain- 

 ed into stone jars and there remains until it becomes sour, or " lob- 

 bered"— from 24 to 36 hours, according to the weather — it is then 

 pourecf into the churn. As soon as the butter comes, it is taken out 

 of the churn and salted ; the next day it is worked over thoroughly, 

 or as long as there is any appearance of buttermilk. The butter is 

 freed from the milk by a wooden ladle. No water is used in working 

 or washing it, and the hand never touches it. The churning is done 

 by hand in the common dash churn, winter and summer. In sum- 

 mer in the milk-house, a separate stone building, sunk in the ground 

 about three feet ; in winter in a moderately warm room. 



The salt used for the last two years, is of the manufacture of this 

 State. It comes in sacks of 2S lbs. each. That used in the accom- 

 panying lot is marked " R. C. Weaver, Geddes.^^ One ounce of salt 

 is used to the pound. 



The quantity of butter in the accompanying jar is fifty pounds and 

 fourteen ounces. The salt used weighed three pounds and two 

 ounces. 



From the dryness of the season, latterly, and being close fed, the 

 pasture has been poor and the cows have failed considerably in their 

 milk. 



