CREAM AND THE CREAMPOT. 75 



will answer, provided there be uniformity, and freedom from 

 sudden changes after the milk has cooled down to the point 

 at which it is to be kept. The chief advantages of the 

 several patent " creamers " are the control they give over 

 the temperature of the milk, maintaining evenness by air or 

 water, and the protection they afford to the milk, keeping it 

 from contact with the air of the apartment in general. They 

 obviate thus the necessity of a special milk-room or dairy ; 

 but in such a room, well constructed, where the air is always 

 pure, never damp nor too dry, and remaining at an even 

 temperature, these modern appliances are quite superfluous. 

 There can be no doubt of the economy, in time and labor, of 

 deep setting in vessels of considerable size, perhaps a whole 

 milking in one mass, rather than dividing iDto many small 

 pans ; and such methods certainly cause no loss in quantity 

 and quality of the butter, many claim a gain. The benefit 

 of low temperature is in a quicker separation of the cream ; 

 and while, in most cases, it is hardly worth the extra cost of 

 ice and apparatus to get each milking skimmed before the 

 next is set, milk ought to be so treated that all the cream 

 will be formed within twenty-four hours. 



The cream should be taken off while the milk is quite 

 sweet. It has come to be a well settled fact that the finest 

 quality of butter can only be produced from sweet cream 

 taken from sweet milk. Many excellent butter-makers do 

 not agree to this ; but the weight of evidence is against them. 

 And it is as unwise to keep the cream too long after it has 

 been removed from the milk as to let it stand too long on 

 the milk. Many persons advocate giving the cream time to 

 " ripen," or " cure." This course probably adds slightly to 

 the quantity of butter obtained ; but it is at the loss of that 

 delicate aromatic flavor which is so highly prized, and for 

 which the extra prices are paid. It is well, if cream from 

 several milkings is to be churned together, to stir it well 

 after the last addition, and then let it stand long enough to 

 have the same temperature, and an even consistency through- 

 out the mass ; but churn before there is any appearance of 

 fermentation. Keep the creampot away from new, cooling 

 milk, and where the temperature of its contents can be kept 

 as closely as possible to sixty degrees. Variations in the 

 temperature of cream make the churning harder, and injure 



