60 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



while the impurities, such as buttermilk and water, are seen floating in the form of flakes 

 or drops. If the tube be then left standing, all these impurities settle completely, in about 

 twenty-four hours, to the bottom of the tube, forming a stratum, the thickness of which may 

 be ascertained by the divisions of the tube. Each division, as may be ascertained by experi- 

 ments conducted in other ways, corresponds pretty exactly with ten per cent, of impurities, 

 whether there be water or other substances ; and as half degrees may be easily marked, the 

 quantity of butter may be determined to five per cent., or even more exactly. 



Middling samples of butter deposit a stratum of two degrees ; they consequently contain 

 eighty per cent, of butter, and twenty per cenc. of impurities ; in bad samples, which were 

 still regarded as salable, the stratum was not more than two and one-half degrees, and one 

 sample even showed four degrees, containing consequently only sixty per cent, of butter, and 

 forty per cent, of impurities. Polytechnic Jour. cxxx. p. 374. 



Estimation of Butter in Milk. 



MARCHAND has suggested a new process for the analysis of milk. He employs the lacto- 

 butyrometer a straight glass tube closed at one end, and for nineteen-twentieths of its capacity 

 divided into three equal parts. The third of these the part next the opening is graduated 

 for the upper three-tenths into hundredths, which are continued to the number of ten above 

 its line of termination. The lowest graduated third of the tube is filled with the milk to be 

 tested, containing to each ten cubic centimetres one drop of caustic soda. The second third 

 part is filled with ether, and, after careful mixture, the third with alcohol of 86-90. The 

 whole is again well mixed, closed with a cork, and placed in a water-bath heated to 109-4 F. 

 It is kept in an upright position until the thermometer falls to 86 F., when the amount of 

 fatty matter collected on the surface of the liquid is determined by reading the degrees or 

 centesimal divisions which it occupies from below upwards to the lower level of the curve. 



Proportions of Cream in Milk. 



IN some careful experiments made by Dr. Anderson, of Scotland, the quantity of cream 

 obtained from the first-drawn cup of milk was in every case much smaller than the last 

 drawn ; and those between afforded less or more as they were nearer the beginning or the 

 end. The quantity of the cream obtained from the last-drawn cup from some cows exceeded 

 that from the first in the proportion of sixteen to one. In others, the proportion was not so 

 great. " Probably," says Dr. Anderson, " on an average of a great many cows, it might be 

 found to run as ten or twelve to one." The difference in the quality of the cream was also 

 much greater than the difference in quantity. From this it appears, that the person who, by 

 bad milking of his cows, loses but half a pint of his milk, loses in fact about as much cream 

 as would be afforded by six or eight pints at the beginning, and loses, besides, that "part of 

 the cream which alone can give richness and high flavor to his butter." Country Gentleman. 



On the Making of Butter. 



THE following statements respecting the manufacture of butter, were filed with the Secre- 

 tary of the Worcester (Mass.) County Agricultural Fair, at their last exhibition by recipients 

 of premiums : 



One farmer says : " My mode of making butter is to strain the milk in the pan about two- 

 thirds full, letting it stand thirty-six or forty-eight hours on a table or bench, in the coolest 

 room in the house. The cream kept in tin and stirred daily, and churned once a week, the 

 buttermilk thoroughly worked out, the butter is then salted to suit the taste, the next day 

 worked out again and lumped for market. No cold water or artificial coloring or sweetening 

 is used." 



Another farmer says : " My manner of making butter is to set the milk in tin pans about 

 half full, raised from the shelf on two narrow sticks the thickness of a board, and let it stand 

 not over four meals. The cream should be taken from the milk while sweet, and stand not 



