74 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



cow : she did her part faithfully. The butter that we com- ■ 

 plain of is not cowy: it is horsey, or piggy, or, worse yet, 

 filthy. The cow keeper and milker are the persons to blame. 



Let every butter-maker who has any regard for the reputa- 

 tion of his or her product insist upon every possible precau- 

 tion being taken by the milker to keep the milk pure and 

 clean. No really good butter can be expected if the milk is 

 taken from an unclean bag, or by a milker with dirty hands 

 or clothing, or if the milking is done in a filthy or ill-ven- 

 tilated stable, or the milk allowed to stand, even a short 

 time, surrounded by impure air. It is the greatest mistake 

 to suppose, that, if dirt or foreign matter gets into the milk, 

 careful straining will remedy the evil : the object may be 

 removed ; but the taint remains. It must also be remem- 

 bered that there are invisible tilings as sure to spoil milk as 

 those we can see. There are now improved implements 

 which greatly protect the milk, guarding against carelessness 

 and accidents ; but nothing will take the place of careful, 

 cleanly milking. 



After the milk comes into the butter-maker's control, the 

 first care should be to protect it from impurities, and odors 

 foreign to itself. New milk is a most delicate, sensitive 

 substance : nothing upon the farm (unless it be freshly-made 

 butter) compares with it in absorbent power. It readily 

 takes up any flavor or smell coming in contact with it. 

 Families have been known to complain of their butter tast-* 

 ing of cabbage, when the farmer knew none had been eaten 

 by his cows. But, on inquiry at home, it was found that 

 a dish of hot boiled cabbage had been set on the pantry-shelf 

 one cold day, when the room was tightly closed. Although 

 the milk of but one day was in the roonij and that several 

 feet distant, the steam from this cooling substance had given 

 its flavor to the milk so unmistakably as to injure the whole 

 churning of which it was a part. Other things will have 

 the same effect to a greater or less degree. 



It makes very little difference whether the milk is set in 

 pans or pails, deep or shallow ; but let it be surrounded by 

 pure air or water, free from every germ of pollution, — air 

 or water, whichever circumstances make the most convenient 

 for keeping the milk at a sufficiently low and unchanging 

 temperature. Anywhere from forty degrees to sixty degrees 



