88 MAINE STATE SOCIETY. 



ESSAY OX MAKING BUTTER. 



Dedicated to our farmers' wives and daughters. By Mrs. H. "WrxcnESiER 



I have been practically acquainted -with butter making for more 

 than twenty years, and hopo I shall be able to give some plain direc- 

 tions for making good butter, which will be valuable to young house- 

 wives; whilst those who know more about it than I do will be 

 induced, by my example, to communicate their knowledge to the 

 public for the benefit of others. I believe it is as easy to make good 

 butter as that of an inferior quality. In the first place to make 

 good butter we must have good milk. More depends on the quality 

 of the milk than many suppose. Some cows give richer milk than 

 others. The cows which give poor milk should be sold to the butch- 

 er and their places supplied by good ones. They should have pure 

 water and good rich grasses or fodder in abundance, because the 

 milk is flavored by the food. Turnips or garlics, for example, 

 impart their peculiar taste to the milk, and so do all kjnds of food 

 on which the cow feeds, though some taint it more than others. In 

 winter if cows are fed on poor hay, their milk will be poor, the but- 

 ter white and of an inferior quality. The excellence of June but- 

 ter is owing to the rich young grasses which are so abundant at that 

 time. The farmer should see that his cows are supplied with the 

 best of food if he would have good butter. Corn-fodder, pumpkins, 

 carrots, beets and Indian meal or shorts are good for fall and winter 

 feeding. 



It is not necessary to say that the milk room and dishes should 

 be clean, for all admit it. But every one does not know how impor- 

 tant it is to have pure air in the dairy room ; to see that it is as far 

 removed as possible from all impure odors or anything that will taint 

 the atmosphere and thus injure the butter. The milk room should 

 be clean, cool, dry, airy and well ventilated. Flies may be excluded 

 by a wire gauze screen in the windows. The temperature should 



