35 



water, to prevent cream and butter sticking: to it, and then cool with cold 

 water. The cream should be strained through a coarse strainer into the 

 churn to prevent " specks" in the butter. If coloring is used, put it 

 into the cream at this stage. Close the lid firmly and turn the churn 

 at the rate of 60 or 70 turns per minute. Allow the gas to escape 

 through the opening at the bottom of a barrel or box churn for a few 

 times during the first ten minutes. Continue churning until the butter is 

 the size of wheat-grains ; then draw the buttermilk off through a strainer. 



(Mrs. Boss remarked to a neighbor that she had always seen the 

 butter churned into a lump, or until the dasher would stand on top of the 

 butter, before taking the butter out of the buttermilk in the old dash 

 churn.) 



When the butter will not "come," said their Instructor, it is chiefly 

 because the temperature or heat is not right. Cream which is difficult 

 to churn will nearly always "come" after warming to 70"^ or 74° and 

 churning for half an hour. 



After the churning is done, add as much water at a temperature of 

 45° to 50° in summer, and 55'^ to 60° in winter, as there was cream at 

 the beginning. Then revolve the churn rapidly for about two minutes 

 and draw off the water. Allow the butter to drain for 10 to 15 minutes; 

 then add fine butter salt at the rate of about one ounce of salt to a 

 pound of butter in the churn ; or remove the butter to a lever worker 

 and add the salt. Work the butter gently with a downward pressure, 

 until it is free from moisture on the outside, until it is close in appear- 

 ance, and until the salt is all dissolved. I wish, said Mrs. Busy, to 

 impress upon you the importance of preparing the butter for market 

 in a neat and attractive manner. Use a wooden printer to mould the 

 butter into oblong prints, weighing one full pound, or a little over, then 

 wrap them in parchment paper, having the name of the dairy neatly 

 printed on the wrapper. Put the butter in a cold place, and send to 

 market once a week in a neat shipping box. In summer, use ice in the 

 shipping box to keep the butter firm. Always send the butter to market 

 with the best looking and neatest person on the farm. Send none btit 

 the finest butter to regular customers^ and be very careful of your reptitatiouy 

 were the last words of the teacher. 



No. 7. - To-day we shall try to learn what it is that makes good 

 butter, said Mrs. Busy in her last talk. Flavor is the most important 

 thing in good butter. Cream which is kept too long (more than three 

 or four days) before churning makes butter which has an " old " flavor. 

 The food which a cow eats also affects the flavor of the butter. Tur- 

 nips, brewer's grains, decayed silage, and some weeds always taint 

 butter. Butter with good flavor should have a pleasant, sweet taste 

 and smell, and should make the person eating it wish for more. 



The next point is the grain, or texture, which should not be too hard, 

 nor yet too soft or greasy, or salvy. Butter should spread nicely on 

 bread, and then it is nearly perfect in texture. The color should be even 

 — free from " mottles," white waves, or streaks. Streaks in butter are 

 caused by improper working. It should not be too yellow, nor yet too 

 white for home markets. 



