208 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



ing would probably cause butter to be mixed with, the milk. This may be the means that 

 suggested the first rude and simple process of churning, such for instance as that employed 

 by the Arab, who fills his skin bottle with milk, and strapping it on his horse behind him, 

 gallops his fleet courser over the desert plains, until the milk is sufficiently churned by this 

 process to produce butter. The oldest Greek writers speak of milk and cheese, but there is 

 no mention of butter by them. It is supposed that the Greeks obtained their knowledge of 

 butter from the Scythians or the Thracians, and the Romans theirs from the Germans. 



In the time of Christ butter was used principally as an ointment in the baths, and as a 

 medicine. In many of the warm latitudes, at the present day, its use is limited, olive oil 

 being employed as a substitute. Butter is the fatty portion of the milk of mammalian ani 

 mals. It has been made from the milk of sheep, goats, and other animals; but that made 

 from cow s milk is the most delicate and delicious in flavor, and it alone constitutes the butter 

 of commerce. It is found that the milk of various breeds of cattle differs greatly in the pro 

 portion of fatty matter it contains, its richness being due to the proportion of butter globules 

 which are found floating in the milk, and which give it its whitish color, and render it opaque. 

 The proportion of butter or fatty globules in the milk varies somewhat with the breed, and 

 is largely influenced also by the season, nature, and quantity of food, state of the animal s 

 health, and other conditions. 



The proportion of cream to milk, in most cases, ranges from one-twentieth to one-tenth, 

 although with individuals of some of the celebrated butter breeds, such as the Jerseys or 

 Guernseys, it frequently amounts to from three to four-tenths. 



Voelcker briefly gives the composition of butter, and explains how casein injures its 

 flavor. He says: &quot; Butter consists mainly of a mixture of several fats, among which palmitin, 

 a solid crystalizable substance, is the most important. Palmitin, with a little stearin, constitutes 

 about sixty-eight per cent, of pure butter. Mixed with these solid fats are about two per 

 cent, of odoriferous oils. The peculiar flavor and odor of butter are owing to the presence 

 of this small proportion of these peculiar oils, viz., butyrin, caprone, and caprylin. In but 

 ter, as it comes upon our table, we find besides these fatty matters about sixteen or eighteen 

 per cent, of water; one to two per cent, of salt, and variable small quantities of fragments 

 of casein shells. The more perfectly the latter are removed by kneading under water, the 

 better butter keeps; for casein, on exposure to the air in a moist state, especially in warm 

 weather, becomes rapidly changed into a ferment, which, acting on the last named volatile 

 fatty matters of butter, resolves them into glycerine butyric acid, C 8 H s 4 ; caproic acid, 

 C 12 H, 2 O 4 ; and caprylic acid C 16 H 16 4 . The occurrence of these volatile uncombined fatty 

 acids in rancid butter, not only spoils flavor, but renders it more or less unwholesome.&quot; 



If these casein shells could be separated from the butter, it could be preserved for a long 

 time without salt. When butter is melted and the impurities taken out by heat, the same as 

 lard is manufactured, it becomes more like oil, and loses its peculiar aroma and texture. 

 When unadulterated and prepared with ordinary care, butter should contain at least ninety 

 ,per cent, of pure fat, the remainder consisting of casein, water, and salt. Casein, derived 

 from a remnant of milk not washed out of the butter, may be found, but should not 

 amount to more than from two to four per cent., nor should water be found in quantity more 

 than from three to six per cent. 



A small quantity of salt is worked into the butter during its preparation, but this should 

 not exceed in quantity from one-half to two per cent, of the whole weight. 



Statistics show that Great Britain consumes considerably more butter than her farmers 

 produce. Next among European nations, Holland is justly celebrated for the quality and 

 quantity of its butter product; but it is stated on good authority that nowhere outside of 

 Paris, until quite* recently, could one find those golden pats &quot; of such delicious flavor and 

 delightful aroma, that have excited such a spirit of emulation among the more enlightened 



