ESSEX SOCIETY. 11 



through the several statements, for information on this point. 

 If it be true, as it is said to be, that some kinds of churns 

 will bring the butter in one half the time, with less than half 

 the labor that others require, this is a fact of great importance 

 in determining the best mode of making butter. 



We have heard of many improved churns, but have seen 

 none, the structure and principles of which, better correspond 

 with our ideas of utility, than Crowell's Patent Thermometer 

 Churn. We cannot so well express the idea we wish to con- 

 vey, as in the letter annexed.* 



Mr. Howard, of the Albany Cultivator, authority second to 

 none other in the country, says : — " According to our experi- 

 ence, the best butter is not produced by a very short nor a very 

 long period in churning. If it is churned too quick, the sepa- 

 ration is not complete, and the butter, besides being less rich, is 

 deficient in quantity ; if the process is continued too long, the 

 butter is likely to be oily. We think our best butter makers 



* Dear Sir. — I have used the " Thermometer Chiirii " this season, and have been much 

 pleased with it. It possesses a decided advantage in the spring and autumn, when the cream is 

 generally so cold as to be a long time in forming butter in other churns, as by filhng the space 

 between the zinc and the outer side of the churn with hot water, the cream may be easily 

 brought to the proper temperature for churning. In warm weather, however, 1 do not lliink 

 much is to be gained by filling this space with cold water, as the cream should be sufficiently 

 cooled before it is put into the churn ; and if it is not, it could hardly be done by cold water, in 

 the short time generally occupied in churning. Still, in warm weather, I have found that the 

 Thermometer Churn will bring the butter in much less time than any other I have ever used ; 

 and this, I think, may be owing to the form of the slats of the dasher. These have a wide and 

 flat surface, obviously producing more agitation of the cream than the round slats of Gait's 

 churn, and of Kendall's churn. On one occasion, I have churned thirty quarts of cre?.m into 

 butter in eleven minutes in the Thermometer Churn, though it ordinarily' takes a longer time, 

 an average at least of half an hour ; and a shorter time than this I do not think desirable. 



It is claimed for some of the lately invented churns, the Atmospheric Churn, for example, 

 that they will produce butter in four or five minutes ; but I think it is very questionable 

 whether in so short a time all the butter can be extracted from a given quantity of cream, or 

 the butter can be of the best quality. What to me seems the greatest desideratum in churns, 

 is, some improvement in the application of the moving power, by which the amount, or rather 

 the severity of labor may be lessened in churning. As it is now, it is work, and often hard 

 work, too, for an able-bodied man. But if a churn could he made to work so easily that a 

 boy could operate it without fatigue, for three or four successive churnings, it is evident that 

 a great gain would be made in the expenditure of labor. " Blessings on the man who invent- 

 ed sleep ! " exclaimed the renowned Sancho Panza — and equal blessings have I often been 

 inclined to invoke for the individual who would make churning easy. 



Very respectfully, yours, 



ALLEN W. DODGE. 



Hamilton, Oct. 23, 1849. 



