418' BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch. XXXVII. 



If the butter be salted for market, after the wliole of the milk has been 

 very carefully pressed out, it should be well mixed by working it in by the 

 hand, with finely-powdered salt*; for if care be not taken in mixing it 

 equally, the butter acquires different colours — yellow where the salt has fal- 

 len, and white where it has not — which, in dairy language, is called " pyety" 

 or "pinsowed" butter, and brings an inferior price. The operation should 

 be performed immediately ; for if deferred, as it commonly is by country 

 dealers, and farmers who do not churn enough to fill a firkin at once, the 

 butter loses a portion of its firmness and flavour Should, however, there 

 not be sufficient to fill up a package, the butter should never be put into 

 the firkin in lavers, but the surface should be left every day rough and 

 broken, so as to unite better with that of the succeeding churning. The 

 quality may also be in a great measure preserved by giving it a partial 

 salting, and covering it over with a clean linen cloth, dipped in pickle and 

 placed in a cool situation. 



The quality of salt which is usually employed is that of St. Ubes, and 

 should be either that or other equally strong marine salt, entirely free 

 from the bittern which is found in mineral salt. The quantity may 

 be that of about ten ounces to the stone of 14 lbs., — rather more or less, 

 according to the length of time which the butter is intended to be pre- 

 served ; but it is generally thought that the butter made during the summer 

 months is the fittest for salting, and that the sort which is made in the later 

 part of the season, not taking it so well, requires rather more. In Ireland 

 the use of saltpetre is customary in the proportion of half an ounce of salt 

 with one-eighth of saltpetre to the pound of sixteen ounces; and although 

 this forms a valuable ])ickle if the salt be reallv good, yet it unquestionably 

 would be much improved if four ounces of raw sugar v.ere to be added to 

 each pound weight of salt f. 



When the butter is thus cured, it is then tramped firmly with a round 

 wooden stick into the firkin, which is filled up to the head, and then covered 

 over with a little of the purest salt. These casks usually contain as nearly 

 as possible 84 lbs. each t, and are generally made of white oak or ash, 

 though lime has been lately recommended, it having been ascertained by 

 innumerable experiments as being the only wood free of acid ; and acids 

 are well known to act powerfully on salt, which they decompose, and con- 

 vert into brine. As lime-wood, however, cannot be always procured, fir 

 has been found next in order ; and it is said that by boiling the staves 

 during four hours, the whole of the pyroligneous acid of all kinds of 

 timber may be extracted §. 



* This, however, is not unfrequently done by the dealers both iu Scotland and Ireland, 

 by the butter being thrown into large wooden troughs, and trod on by men and women 

 with their bare feet; which they justify by saying that no person has strength enough 

 to work a large quantity by the hand. 



t A compound of one part sugar, one part nitre, and two parts of the best Spanish 

 salt, beat tofjether into a fine powder, and mixed thoroughly with the butter, lu the 

 proportion of one ounce to the pound, has been found to keep the butter in every respect 

 sweet and sound during two years that it was in cask. It is also said to impart a rich 

 marrowy flavour that no other butter ever acquires, and tastes but very little of the salt. 

 Bath Papers, vol. v. p. 116. See also observiitions on salt in this chapter, p. 424. 



;}: They are commonly made of this size, as being more customary in the Loudon mar- 

 ket; but butter is also frequently packed in half-firkins, containing 28 lbs. ; whole 

 firkins, of 56 lbs. ; and tubs, of 84 lbs. 



^ Observations on the curing and casking of butter, drawn up by order of the 

 Agricultural Association of Aberdeen, and published in the Transactions of the High- 

 land Society, N. S. vol. i. p. 355. The method stated is thus :—" Have a boiler the 

 same length as the wood, with a weight to keep it immersed in water, and have a wooden 



