CATTLE. 



139 



it is left twenty-four hours, when the cream is collected by skimming, 

 or the thin milk is let off b}^ taking out the plug in the troughs. All 

 the cream is put into a deep earthen jar, which should be glazed, but 

 not with lead ; stone-ware is the best. More cream is added every day, 

 till there is a sutticient quantity to churn, which in moderate dairies is 

 every two days. It is usual to stir the cream often, to encourage a 

 slight acidity, by which the process of churning is accelerated. This 

 acidity is sometimes produced by the addition of vinegar or lemon-juice; 

 but however this may f;icilitate the conversion of the cream into butter, 

 the quality is decidedly injured by it, especially butter which is to be 

 salted. It has been asserted by some authors that butter will not separ- 

 ate from the buttermilk until acidity is produced, and, no doubt, there is 

 more or less of lactic acid in all buttermilk ; but perfectly fresh cream, 

 which lias stood only one night and is churned early next morning, will 

 generally produce excellent butter in a quarter of an hour or twenty 

 minutes in summer, and no acid taste can be discovered in the butter- 

 milk. The change by which the butter is separated in a solid form is 

 accompanied by the development of heat in churning. 



TABLE CHXJEN. 



Churn. — As to the form of churn there may be a variety of opinions. 

 The ultimate object is to secure that form which will facilitate a rapid, 

 steady, and shaking pressure of the contents; and this is effected either 

 bv a flapper, driven through the cream, at a cousiderable rate, by means 

 of a piston with a perforated base ; by a perpendicular motion, raised 

 up and down in a cylindrical or similarly formed vessel ; or, what is 

 more common, and by no means the worst form of churn, a cylinder 

 studded with perorated beaters, fastened to its inner surface, and re- 

 volving round its two axles, admitting of one handle or two, according 

 to the quantity oi the cream. By this means the specific gravity of the 

 cream, as well as the force and impetus of the machine, are both brought 

 into play to excite the heat, th . pressure, and the agitation necessary to 

 the proper and speedy deve'j'pment of the butter. To this horse or 



