430 FARMING FOR LADIES, [chap. xxn. 



of the day ; the evening meal till the next morning. The 

 pans are now placed over a clear slow fire, and the heat 

 should be so managed as not to suffer the milk to boil — or, 

 as they provincially term it, "to heave," as that would in- 

 jure the cream. The criterion of its being sufficiently scalded 

 is, however, a very nice point, requiring much experience, 

 and there is much difference of opinion regarding the several 

 merit of narrow or broad bottomed pans. In summer, it 

 must be observed, the process of scalding ought to be quicker 

 than in winter; as in very hot weather, if the milk be kept 

 over too slow a fire, it would be apt to run or curdle. 



" This process being finished, the pans are carefully re- 

 turned to the dairy ; and should it be the summer season, 

 they are placed in the coolest situation ; but, should it be 

 in winter, the lieat should rather be retained, by putting a 

 slight covering over the pans, as cooling too suddenly causes 

 the cream to be thin, and, consequently, to yield less butter : 

 the mode of making which is this : — The cream should, in 

 hot weather, be made into butter the next day; but, in 

 winter, it is better to let it remain one day longer on the 

 milk. The cream, being collected from the pans, is put into 

 wooden-bowls, and briskly stirred round one way, with a 

 nicely cleaned hand, and being thus agitated, quickly as- 

 sumes the consistence of butter. The milky part now readily 

 separates, and being poured off, the butter is well pressed 

 upon a wooden trencher, after which it is washed in several 

 cold waters : a little salt being added to season it, before its 

 being formed into prints for the market."* 



This mode of management occasions the 

 cream to rise in such abundance, that the 

 dairy-maids there say the milk produces one- 

 fourth more than in the common way ; but, 



* Survey of Cornwall, p. 141. 



