72 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



buttermilk out of it as completely us I did by this process. 

 It was so successful, that I have now a big basket, which I 

 will show you when you visit my dairy, and work all my 

 buttermilk out by the centrifugal force. You can put your 

 hand between the curb and the basket, and feel the fine 

 spray from that perforated basket, which actually prickles 

 you, it strikes the back of your hand so sharply. 



I went further ; I made some little blocks that had holes 

 cut in them about the size of a quarter-pound pat of butter. 

 The weight was all guesswork : I did not care wliether it 

 varied one way or the other ; but that was about the size of 

 the hole. These blocks were fitted on the circumference of 

 the basket. I had fitted on the back side of those blocks 

 little round blocks of wood which had my Deerfoot-butter 

 mould on them, and filled three or four of those little blocks 

 with butter, — just took the batter up from a tub or from a 

 drawer, and jabbed it in, as you would put putty into any 

 hole, — and then started my machine, and ran it three 

 minutes. When I took those blocks out, I found that the 

 butter had been pressed right through the holes back on to 

 the little round blocks ; and there was the most perfect print 

 on tlic butter you ever saw. It had been subjected to a 

 pressure of a hundred pounds to the square inch, — a very 

 even, steady pressure ; and the mark on that butter was as 

 distinct and as beautiful as if it had been carved by an 

 artist. 



Question. By extracting the buttermilk in that way, 

 you can handle the butter in a granular form ? 



Mr. BtJRNETT. Yes, sir. My butter is washed three 

 times with pickle in tlic churn. The moment it comes, 

 before it gathers, when the particles are about the size of 

 an English Champion pea, we stop the churn, draw off the 

 buttermilk, and wash the butter three times with brine. 

 Then we take the butter up with our wooden shovels, and 

 lay it in a cloth eight or nine feet long, spreading it evenl3% 

 roll this cloth up, and set it right into the big basket (I 

 think my new basket is twenty-two inches in diameter), 

 start the machine, and, the moment it reaches full speed, stop 

 it, take the butter out, and tlien salt it. 



]\Ir. Cheever. Is this method of moulding likely to be a 

 success ? 



