MAINE STATE SOCIETY. g9 



range from 35° to 65°, as cream separates best in a cool place. I 

 fiml that milk which is set to rise in a hot room "will very soon 

 become sour, will not yield so much cream, and will make soft oily 

 butter, which will soon become rancied. The dairy should front the 

 north and be shaded by trees, so as to admit the light and air, but 

 exclude the sunshine and heat. I am now using " Davis' patent 

 world's fair churn." I like it because it churns easily and separates 

 the butter from the milk quicker and better than any other churn I 

 know of. The churn should not be soaked over night. Put in a 

 quait of boiling water, churn it one minute, then draw it off and 

 pour in a pailful of cold water to remain in the churn five minutes 

 and your churn is ready to use. As soon as you have done with it, 

 wash it well, dry it and put it in a dry place. Churning should be 

 done early in the morning whilst it is cool. Rapid churning is not 

 the best, but if the cream is acid and of right temperature it will 

 require less than half an hour. The temperature of cream to churn 

 best should be 62°, Cream must be slightly acid before it will 

 make butter, and in cool weather it must be put in a warm place for 

 that purpose. I never scald my milk or cream, because it gives the 

 butter a flavor which I do not like, and it is useless labor. I use tin 

 pans to set my milk in, because they are light to handle and are easily 

 kept sweet and clean. Milk should be skimmed before it becomes acid, 

 in the least degree. The first cream that rises is the best in flavor and 

 color. The milk should not set more than twenty-four hours and 

 better if skimmed in twelve hours. What little might be lost in quan- 

 tity would be gained in quality. Recently I measured out sixteen 

 gallons of milk ; set it twenty-four hours, skimmed nine quarts of 

 cream from it and churned nine pounds of butter, thus obtaining 

 nine ounces of butter from a gallon of milk. The cream should be 

 kept in stone or glass jars or well glazed or enameled ware, as the 

 acid corrodes common coarse glazing and it imparts poison to the 

 cream. Too much care cannot be taken to have our food pure from 

 mineral poisons. I wish our housewives understood this matter 

 better than they do. The cream should not be covered except by a 

 gauze which will not exclude the air. I put an ounce of fine salt 

 into a three gallon jar when I begin to fill it with cream and stir 

 the cream well morning and evening. It should not be kept more 

 than a week. Soon as the butter has come hard, I draw off the 



