984 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



good temper, and will yield her milk without restraint. Lastly, as it sometimes happens 

 that the teats of cows become scratched or wounded, so as to produce foul or corrupted 

 milk, whenever this is the case, such milk ought on no account to be mixed with the sweet 

 milk, but should be given to the pigs, without being carried into the milk-house ; lest, 

 by continuing there, it should taint the atmosphere, and consequently prove injurious to 

 the rest of the milk. 



6317. To promote cleanliness in regard to milking, cows are in some places curried, 

 combed, brushed, and clothed like horses; before milking, their udders and teats are washed 

 and dried, and their tails trussed up. It would be well if a part of this refinement were 

 adopted in all dairies ; that of using the comb and brush, and washing the udder, is in- 

 dispensable in every establishment where clean milk is an object. According to Moubray 

 snufF-takers, sluts, and dandles, are unfit to be dairy-women, and no milker should ever 

 be suffered to enter the dairy in a dirty apron covered with hairs from the cow-house. 



63 1 8. The following aphorisms respecting the management of milk in the dairy are from 

 the *' Recreations" of Dr. Anderson, one of the most scientific writers on this subject. 



1. Of the milk drawn from any cow at one time, that part which comes off at the first is always thin- 

 ner, and of a much worse quality for making butter, than that afterwards obtained; and this richness 

 continues to increase progressively to the very last drop that can be drawn from the udder. 



2. If milk be put into a dish, and allowed to stand till it throws up cream, the portion of cream rising 

 first to the surface is richer in quality, and greater in quantity, than that which rises in a second equal 

 space of time : and the cream, which rises in the second interval of time, is greater in quantity, and richer 

 in quality, than that which rises in a third equal space of time ; that of the third is greater than that of the 

 fourth, and so of the rest; the cream that rises continuing progressively to decrease in quantity, and to 

 decline in quality, so long as any rises to the surface. 



3. Thick milk always throws up a much smaller proportion of the cream which it actually 

 contains, than milk that is thinner ; but the cream is of a richer quality : and if water be added to that 

 thick milk, it will afford a considerably greater quantity of cream, and consequently more butter than it 

 would have done if allowed to remain pure ; but its quality is, at the same time, greatly debased. 



4. Milk, which is put into a bucket or other proper vessel, and carried in it to a considerable distance, 

 so as to be much agitated, and in part cooled before it be put into the milk-pans to settle for cream, never 

 throws up so much, or so rich cream, as if the same milk had been put into the milk-pans directly after it 

 was milked. 



6319. From these fundamental facts, the reflecting dairyist will derive many im- 

 portant practical rules. Some of these we shall enumerate, and leave the rest to be 

 discovered. Cows should be milked as near the dairy as possible, in order to prevent the 

 necessity of carrying and cooling the milk before it is put into the creaming dishes. 

 Every cow's milk should be kept separate till the peculiar properties of each is so well 

 known as to admit of their being classed, when those that are most nearly allied may be 

 mixed together. When it is intended to make butter of a very fine quality, reject en- 

 tirely the milk of all those cows which yield cream of a bad quality, and also keep the 

 milk that is first drawn from the cow at each milking entirely separate from that which is 

 last obtained, as the quality of the butter must otherwise be greatly debased, without 

 materially augmenting its quantity. For the same purpose take only the cream that is 

 first separated from the first drawn milk. Butter of the very best quality can only be 

 economically made in those dairies where cheese is also made ; because in them, the best 

 part of each cow's milk can be set apart for throwing up cream, the best part of this 

 cream can be taken in order to be made into butter, and the remainder, or all the rest of 

 the milk and cream of the dairy, can be turned into cheese. The spontaneous separation 

 of cream, and the production of butter, are never effected but in consequence of the pro- 

 duction of acid in the milk. Hence it is that where the whole milk is set apart for the 

 separation of cream, and the whole of the cream is separated, the milk must necessarily 

 have turned sour before it is made into cheese ; and no very excellent cheese can be made 

 from milk which has once attained that state. 



Sect. IV. Of Making and Curing Butter. 



6320. The milk from which butter is to be made may either be put at once into the 

 churn, and left there till it send up the cream ; or it may be made to cream in milk 

 dishes, and the cream alone churned. The last is generally considered the best mode, 

 and in carrying it into effect, the milk being drawn from the cow, is to be strained into 

 the creaming dishes, which should never be more than three inches deep, and of about 

 a gallon and a half or two gallons in capacity. In general the best cream will be fit 

 for removal in seven or eight hours, though for ordinary good butter it may stand twelve 

 hours ; but where the very best butter is wished, and such arrangements are formed as 

 admit of converting the milk to cheese, or some other use while it is sweet, it may be 

 separated after standing only two or three or four hours. In performing the operation, 

 first pass the cream knife round the edges of the vessel, to separate the adhering stratum 

 of cream, and then draw it to one side, lift it off with the skimming dish, and put it in 

 the cream bowl to be carried to the cream barrel. 



6321. Cream'may be kept from three to seven days before it is churned. Where quantity more thpn 

 quality is desired, the whole of the milk is churned, without separating any cream ; the milk is kept iii 

 the churn or in large barrels for two or three days, till it begins to get sour. The operation of chumitig, 

 where the eream and milk arc both to agitate, is necessarily tedious and laborious j but a great weight oi 



