116 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



enrich the color by feeding corn-meal. In our opinion, three 

 things are needed for success in the dairy : (1) Good cows, 

 well fed and well cared for ; (2) Extreme cleanliness through- 

 out; (3) Quick and thorough working and salting. With 

 these, any one of ordinary capacity will soon ascertain all 

 further information by experience. 



Mrs. David R. Hersey, Chairman. 



NANTUCKET. 



[From the Report of the Committee on Butter.] 



Milk from different animals varies considerably in its 

 composition ; and even from the same animal, under different 

 circumstances of food, exercise, temperature, &c., a consid- 

 erable variation in quality is observed. The average of a 

 number of specimens of milk taken from several cows gives 

 in a hundred parts 4.48 parts caseine or cheesy matter, 3.13 

 of butter, 4.47 of sugar of milk, .60 of saline matter, and 

 87.32 of water. Milk is much affected by the food of the 

 cow producing it; and certain odors, such as clover-bloom 

 and others less agreeable, can be readily detected in the milk 

 when fresh. From this cause, decaying or putrescent food 

 and slops should never be fed to cows giving milk. Cows 

 should be selected for hereditary excellence as producers of 

 superior milk. Milk and cream must be kept at an even and 

 comparatively low temperature, in a perfectly clean place, 

 free from odors of every description. In the New- York 

 butter-factories the temperature is not below forty-eight, nor 

 above fifty-six degrees. The cream will nearly all rise in. 

 twenty-four hours, and should be taken off before the milk 

 sours. 



Butter-makers in Orange County prefer the old-fashioned 

 dash-churn, and add cold water in summer, and warm in 

 winter, at the rate of sixteen to thirty quarts of water to fifty 

 quarts of cream. Thus the temperature of the cream in 

 summer, when churning is commenced, is brought to about 

 sixty, and in winter to about sixty-three degrees. It is pre- 

 ferred that forty-five to sixty minutes be employed in churn- 

 ing. The butter, after churning, must be kept in a reduced 

 temperature, worked thoroughly, without much pressure, in 

 such a manner as to exhaust the buttermilk or added water, 



