AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 503 



Willie on this subject of globules, though not strictly pertinent to the 

 question, I must mention a fact, that has come to my knowledge acciden- 

 tally, Vt'hich leads me to believe that the globules of milk are a vegetable, 

 and not an animal material. Having a cow with a diseased udder, from 

 which she apjieared to suffer great pain, I concluded to examine the matter 

 pressed from it with a microscope, and to my surprise found it full of roots, 

 fibres and actual stems of plants ; examining further, I discovered globules 

 in all stages of advancement towards that end. 



For the production of the finest butter, the cream should be partiallj 

 sour before it is placed in the churn. Butter made from perfectly sweet 

 cream is neither of fine quality nor large quantity. The more rapidly- 

 cream or milk is churned, the softer, paler, and less rich will the butter be. 

 Milkcannot fee churned advantageously in less than three hours, and cream 

 in less than one and a quarter hours. The churning should be slow in 

 warm weather, and quick in cold, so that the temperature may be kept up, 

 and must on no account be continued after the separation of the butter ; if 

 it is, the yellowish color and waxy appearance will both be lost, and a soft 

 light colored material left behind. Cream when placed in a churn should 

 never be warmer than fifty-five degrees, and when it comes out, sixty-five 

 degrees. 



I think the chances of obtaining good butter at all seasons of the year are 

 greater when the whole milk is churned, which is the usual practice in the 

 mountain districts in Switzerbmd, where they find it n'ecessary to raise 

 the temperature with hot water to ilo'^ before churning, which they think 

 ■docs not injure it, if the water is put in while the dasher is in motion. 



The advantages of churning the entire milk, instead of the cream, is : 



Ist. That a proper temperature can be obtained summer and winter. 



2d. That two hundred gallons of milk will yield six per cent more but- 

 ter than the cream would if taken oS" and churned separately. 



3d. Butter of the same quality may be obtained with proper attention 

 to the food of the animals all the year round. 



4th. No particular attention to change of method is necessary at any 

 time — the churning is alike simple the whole year. 



It is scarcely necessary for me to state, that without strict attention to 

 cleanliness it is utterly impossible to manufacture good butter, as milk is 

 remarliable for its rapid absorption of tainted odors. 



Milk, on being fermented and constantly agitated, yields a species of 

 spirit in consequence of the casein converting a part of the milk sugar into 

 lactic acid, and another portion into grape sugar, which ultimately becomes 

 transformed into alcohol. 



Fresh milk is in a small degree alkaline, but it rapidly becomes acid 

 from the formation of lactic acid. The alkaline property is undoubtedly 

 due to soda, which retains the casein in solution, iii which form it absorbs 

 a quantity of phosphate of lime. Pasturing cows in the open field is very 

 favorable to the formation of caselne, while yard feeding favors the forma- 

 tion <ffif butter. Potatoes, as food, are exceedingly beneficial to the floir 



