444: DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Cuap. IV. 



and latterly he has very often exceeded the very highest market from i to 

 2^ cents per pomid." 



Ikitter is judged by its color, aroma, taste, and consistency. Its color 

 should be a delicate pale straw, not a])proaching white, and yet perhaps that 

 is better than the deep orange tint, almost always a sure indication of ex- 

 traneous coloring matter. The peculiar smell of good butter is easily i-ec- 

 ognizcd. The better the quality the more delicate this aroma; while, as the 

 quality degenerates, about in the same proportion does the smell vary, until 

 it becomes positively offensive. This fragrance is dependent very mucii on 

 the process of manufacture. Orange County dairymaids make " Orange 

 County butter" wherever they follow the same processes. The taste of the 

 butter will betray any inattention to the jiroper care of either the milk, 

 cream, or the vessels in which they are kept. So will the addition of any 

 foreign matter, such as impure or too much or too little salt, sugar, or color- 

 ing matter. A certain amount of salt is necessary to bring out the true 

 flavor of butter in its greatest delicacy. In texture or consistency, a greater 

 difl'erence is seen thau upon any other point. Some are firm, leaving no mark 

 upon a knife after being thrust into a lump, with hardly enough moisture to 

 dim its brightness, while other lots are soft, leaving greasy streaks upon the 

 blade, and large drops of an opaque liquid oozing from the newly cut 

 surface. Tiie existence of either of these signs gives sure indication of an 

 imperfect, if not bad, process of making. 



500. Number of Quarts of Milk for a Pound of Butter. — The number of 

 quarts of milk required to nuike a pound of butter varies very widely. By 

 many trials in England, it is found that one pound of butter requires from 

 fourteen to sixteen quarts of milk ; that is about one ounce from a quart, 

 varying with the feed and the season. Althougli it may be true that the 

 milk of a majority of the cows in this country would require an equal number 

 of quarts to make a pound of butter, yet there are cows that will give a 

 pound to four quarts of milk. Col. Jaques, of Massachusetts, and Maj. 

 John Jones, of Delaware, both had a " cream-pot" breed of cows which we 

 saw a few years ago produce this result. But we believe that it requires an 

 average of fourteen quarts to a pound, and that is why farmers prefer to sell 

 their milk where it brings over two cents a quart. At that rate a milk- 

 dairyman can not even afford to make his own lamily butter ; he can buy it 

 from a farmer, who can not sell his milk, at a rate more economicah 



AVilliam Buckminster, of Framingliam, Mass,, in 18.55, exhibited a Devon 

 cow for premium, as the best butter-maker, with satisfactory proof of the 

 following yield of milk : 



" In June and July last she filled a common milk-pail, at night, as full as 

 any dairymaid would wish to carry. And on June 17 her milk weighed, morn- 

 ing and night, each 34i pounds; June 10, morning and night, 34f pounds; 

 June 19, morning and night, 34 pounds; June 20, morning and nighty 32^ 

 pounds; June 21, morning and night, 32f pounds; June 22, morning and 

 night, 30i pounds ; June 23, morning and night, 30^ pounds." 



