LECTURES AND ESSAYS. 499 



BUTTER MAKING ON THE FARM. 



A. B. JOHNSON. 



Read at the Farmers' Institute at Lake Odessa, February 12,';1889. 

 HOW IT IS OFTEN DONE. 



Careless milkers often place their pails so that other substances than milk 

 fall into them. The milk is then strained through a single coarse strainer 

 into shallow open pans or crocks and set on a self, where, if in a cellar, cob- 

 webs and dust, broken loose by persons passing above, by a draught of air 

 may fall into it, or in the midst of fumes arising from onions, decaying 

 pumpkins, potatoes, squashes, turnips, apples, etc. Or, if in a pantry, 

 which is probably poorly ventilated, if at all, absorbing the combined odors 

 of pies, cakes, meat, coffee, cinnamon, and a score of other articles. Then, 

 if the cream arising from the milk is intended for butter, the milk is allowed 

 to stand until it is not only soured but curdled, and decomposition is begun. 

 Then the cream is taken off and kept in a jar or can until enough has 

 accumulated for a churning; and by that time quite likely the first cream 

 put into the jar is so decomposed as to be entirely unfit for use. It is then 

 churned. 



Usually taken from the churn into a bowl, where some people prefer to 

 work out the milk rather than wash it out, and perhaps some of the milk 

 left in the butter. The next process being the salting, the salt is put on 

 by guess, and worked in by a drawing motion, the whole mass worked, and 

 worked, and worked, until the butter is as grainless as grafting wax. 



Is it any wonder that there is so little really good butter in a market 

 which is supplied by the product of the surrounding farms, when any one of 

 the unfavorable conditions mentioned will injure the article, and when 

 several of the said unfavorable conditions are usually present, and some- 

 times all of them? 



HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE. 



First, the milk should be drawn from a healthy, well-fed animal by a 

 careful person. The pail should be held well away from under the udder, 

 so as to keep the milk as clean as possible, since filth of any kind is fatal to 

 good butter. The milk should be thoroughly strained and set in perfectly 

 clean vessels, as a piece of curdled milk the size of a pin-head will, under 

 proper conditions, spoil the entire contents of the vessel. 



The cream should be taken off as soon as the milk begins to sour. 



The temperature of the milk should not be allowed to go below 60° nor 

 above 70° after the animal heat is out. 



The cream should be churned within thirty-six nours after skimming. 



The milk should all be washed from the butter. 



One ounce of pure salt should be added and pressed into the butter. 



The butter should then stand for from ten to twenty-four hours, when it 

 should be worked a little and molded for use. 



Mr. Stinchcomb: If the cows are not healthy let the pigs make the butter. 



Mrs. English : Is it necessary to let butter stand before working the second 

 time? 



