62 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



There are two methods of salting in practice, one to salt with 

 brine, and the other with dry salt. Salting with brine is not gener- 

 ally practiced, but is confined to some few fancj' dairies where a 

 lightl}' salted butter for special customers is called for. The butter 

 is washed and drained out as dry as possible, giving it time to 

 drain off well. Then it is floated in brine made as salt as salt can 

 make it. After allowing it to remain for some little time, usually 

 an hour or such a matter, to get fully and completel}' saturated with 

 the brine, it is removed from the brine to the working table, and 

 there just as much of the salt of that brine is combined with the 

 butter as is possible ; and the butter receives no other salting. This 

 is a light salting, amounting to from one-fourth to one-third of an 

 ounce of salt to a pound of butter, as compared with the dry salt- 

 ing. That suits a certain fancy trade and is a method which will 

 secure gilt edged conditions all the way through, provided the salt- 

 ness suits. 



Question. Does not washing the butter in brine have the effect 

 to make il more oily ? 



Sec. Gilbert. I could not sa3' that it does. I do not recollect 

 that my attention was ever called to the question before, but I 

 hardly see how it would be possible that it should. 



Mr. Clifford. I have tried that method and my experience is 

 that it gives the butter a brighter color but the flavor is not so good. 

 Sec. Gilbert. The other method is to salt with dry salt. There 

 are two methods of doing this in practice at the present time among 

 good dairymen and in factories also. One is to salt directly in the 

 churn, and the other is to remove this granular butter from the 

 churn and salt it in the butter worker. The more convenient 

 practice and the easier after one becomes accustomed to it, is to salt 

 in the churn. When the granules of butter are in the right condi- 

 tion and at the proper temperature sift in the requisite quantity of fine 

 ^alt into the churn and mingle it well with the granules. Before 

 the butter is compacted it is easily and readily mixed up with the 

 granules. After being well stirred up, the churn is given a few 

 turns which compacts the mass somewhat together. This mixes it 

 more effectually than it is possible to do it with a mere manipulation 

 by hand. 



Question. Does not that leave the adding of salt to guess-work? 



Sec. Gilbert : There comes in a measure of good judgment which 



is really not guess-work when you salt in that way ever}' time, 



