Ch. XXXVII.] 



ON BUTTER. 



417 



churning maybe deferred for some days longer; the warm water above 

 mentioned is not therefore added until the lapper is broken. The process, 

 wherever the whole milk is churned, is nearly the same throughout the 

 United Kingdom, but in Holland, we learn from Mr. Alton, it is somewhat 

 different: " the milk is put into a pan, or vat, and well stirred with a 

 wooden spoon, or ladle, two or three times a-day, to prevent the cream from 

 separating from the milk, and this sort of stirring, or partial churning, is 

 continued till the milk becomes so thick and clotted, that the ladle stands 

 erect in it ; after which, it is put into the churn for an hour or so. 

 Cold water is also poured in, to help to collect the butter and separate the 

 milk from it ; and, by this method, tlie Hollanders imagine they obtain 

 more butter from the milk than by any other way; they also say, that both 

 the butter and the butter-milk are better when made in that way than when 

 churned as done in England." This, however, is merely an opinion, the 

 truth of which can only be decided by comparative experiment: the object 

 of the operation is to extract the substance of the milk ; and in whatever 

 way that may be done, provided it be equally well performed, we believe 

 little difference will be found in the profit. 



In most places the butter, when taken from the churn, is washed in re- 

 peated waters, in order to extract the milk, until the water comes out 

 pure. This, however, is a practice not to be commended, and in many 

 dairies has been relinquished. In a very large one conducted with superior 

 management, it is never done ; for " it is found by long experience that 

 butter retains its sweetness much longer when no water is used in making 

 up. When it is taken out of the churn, it is well worked with the hand, 

 which presses out most of the milk ; it is then beaten with a cloth, or rather 

 a cloth is repeatedly pressed down upon it, which absorbs all the remaining 

 milk*." The less it is beaten or worked, however, the better; for the 

 more it is kneaded, the more tough and gluey will it become ; and a slight 

 quantity of salt may be added to flavour it. 



some observations recorded on the subject of churning cream in the Lancashire Report, 

 as follows ; though perhaps it may also be partially affected by the quantity churned : 



The person who states this, says, " that they never consider the butter as good as it 

 should be, if the churning be finished in less than an hour; if it exceed an hour by 

 fifteen, twenty, or even thirty minutes, the butter is always improved both in quantity 

 and quality," — p. 559. 



* See the account of a Gloucestershire Vale farm, published by the Society for the 

 Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, in the Farmer's Series, No. 21, 



VOL. II. 2 E 



