140 DOMESTIC ANLMAJLS. 



steam power may be easily attached, and though there have been many 

 forms of churn in use, we are not certain that any very o-reat improve- 

 ment on the above form ha^ so far been discovered. Plans have been 

 adopted to diminish the labor, but this has often ended in defective 

 operation. The American and tlie table churns, avaihible for the ex- 

 temporaneous manufacture of butter every morning for the tables of the 

 rich, are so far a step in advance, and a hixury ; but for the large opera- 

 tions of the dairy-farmer, a better application than the churn of his fore- 

 fathers has not yet been discovered. 



Some experienced dairy-men pretend that the butter is deteriorated 

 by much washing, and therefore they express the buttermilk by simply 

 beating the butter with the hand, kept cool by frequently dipping it in 

 cold water, or with a moist cloth wrapped in the form of a ball, which 

 soaks up all the buttermilk, and leaves the butter quite dry. This 

 operation requires the greatest attention, especially in warm weather, 

 and no person should work the butter who has not a cool hand. The 

 less it is handled the better, and therefore a wooden spoon or spatula is 

 much to be preferred. 



When it is entirely freed fi'om the buttermilk, and of a pi-oper con- 

 sistency, it is divided into portions of the weight required, if it is in- 

 tended to be sold fresh. But the greatest part of the butter that is 

 made, especially at a distance from large towns, is immediately salted 

 and put into casks, which usually contain fifty-six pounds, and are called 

 firkins. The quality of the salt used is of great importance ; if it be 

 pure, the butter will keep its flavor a long time ; but when it is impure, 

 and contains bitter and deliquescent salts, the butter soon becomes 

 rancid. The Dutch are very particular on this point. They use a kind 

 of salt which is made by slow evaporation, and perfectly crystallized. 

 The salt is intimately mixed with the butter. From three pounds to 

 five pounds is sufficient for a firkin of fifty-six pounds.* The casks are 

 made of clean white wood. They are carefully washed inside with 

 strong brine made hot, and rubbed over with salt. The butter, being 

 quite dry, is pressed close into the cask, a small layer of salt having 

 been first put on the bottom. Every addition is carefully incorporated 

 with the preceding portion. If there is not a sufficient quantity to 

 fill the cask at once, the surface is made smooth, some salt is put over 

 it, and a cloth is pressed close upon it to exclude the air. When the 

 remainder is added, at the next churning, the cloth is taken off, and 

 the salt, wliich had been put on the sniface, is carefully removed with 

 a spoon. The surfjice is dug into with a small wooden spade, and laid 

 rough, and the newly-salted butter is added and incorporated complete- 

 ly. This prevents a streak, which would otherwise appear at the place 

 where the two portions joined. When the cask is full, some salt is put 

 over it, and the head is put in. If the butter was w-11 freed from all 

 the buttermilk, and the salt mixed with it was quhe dry, it will not 

 shrink in the cask, and it will keep its flavor for a lo ig time. Should 



* The folloVr.g mixture has been found supcior to salt alone in curing butter — 

 half an ounce of dry salt pounded hue, two dra,.hms of sugar, and two drachms of 

 saltpetre, for every pound of butter. 



