THE DAIRY. 543 



runs through a spout into a pail on the floor. After the butter- 

 milk has ceased to flow, a cloth, (about one square yard of thin 

 muslin,) previously wetted in cold water and wrung out as dry as 

 possible, is folded into a pad and gently pressed on the surfaces of 

 the slices as they pass out from under the roller. Occasionally 

 this cloth is wrung out and moistened again in cold water, and 

 the operation is repeated until the butter is so dry that it begins 

 to adhere to the roller, or until no milkiness is perceived in the 

 water wrung from the cloth. After this the necessary amount 

 of salt is sprinkled over the butter, on the table, and by the fur- 

 ther working of the machine is thoroughly mixed with it. The 

 butter is then made into a large ball and allowed to stand until the 

 cool of the evening, when it is again worked over by about two 

 revolutions of the table, and is made into print half-pound balls for 

 sale. Each of these half-pound balls is wrapped in a small muslin 

 cloth, previously wrung out of cold water, and the butter is put in 

 a cool place until sent to market in the morning. 



The amount of salt used should depend, of course, on the 

 length of time that it is desired to keep the butter, and on the taste 

 of the customers for whom it is intended. In my own practice I 

 use but very little, not more than two pounds for one hundred 

 pounds of butter, as the butter is immediately delivered to the 

 consumers and used within two or three days after it is made. 



This small amount of salt is hardly detected in the taste of the 

 butter, and I conceive its chief object to be to absorb the small 

 amount of moisture that may have been left after working. Of 

 course, when butter is to be put away for winter use, the quantity 

 of salt should be very much increased ; although, if the work- 

 ing has been complete, much less than is generally used will 

 suffice. 



This system of butter-making is based chiefly on the practice 

 of some of the better dairies of Chester and Delaware counties, 

 Pennsylvania, as described above, which have long been celebrated 

 for the high-priced article known as Philadelphia butter. 



In the American Agricultural Annual for 1 868, there appears an 

 article from the pen of Prof. S. W. Johnson, of Yale College, on 

 35 



