WORCESTER SOCIETY. 168 



quality of the salt used. This should not contain any magne- 

 sia or lime, as both injure the butter ; they give it a bitter 

 taste, and prevent its keeping for any length of time. Profes- 

 sor Johnston mentions a simple method of freeing common 

 salt from these impurities. It is ' to add to thirty pounds of 

 salt about two quarts of boiling water, stirring the whole now 

 and then, and allowing it to stand for two hours or more. It 

 may be afterwards hung up in a bag and allowed to drain. 

 The liquid that runs off is a saturated solution of salt, with all 

 the magnesia and lime which were present. These are much 

 more soluble than the salt, and are consequently dissolved 

 first.' " 



" Want of caution as to the quality of salt used, and of care 

 in separating the buttermilk, cause the spoiling of very great 

 stocks of butter every year ; a large part of that sent to Europe 

 is sold for soap grease and other common purposes, simply be- 

 cause these points have been neglected." 



The foregoing instructions of Professor Norton commend 

 themselves to the good sense of the community. To have 

 good butter, many good things are necessary. Good pastures, 

 good cows, good implements, ^ood milk cellar, good salt, and a 

 good dairy woman to take charge of the whole. 



Good Pastures. — Those pastures which abound with sweet, 

 succulent grasses, are best adapted to the feeding of milch cows ; 

 and it is believed that, of those grasses, the white clover is the 

 best. The growth of this grass may be greatly promoted, on 

 most of the pasture land of this county, by a more liberal use 

 of plaster of Paris, or lime, applied as a top dressing. It is 

 important that there be a watering place of pure water, within 

 a convenient distance, of easy access to the cows. 



Good Cows. — There is believed to be a much greater differ- 

 ence in the quality of cows for the butter dairy, than has 

 generally been supposed. It is known that some cows yield- 

 ing a large quantity of milk, are of but little value for the 

 making of butter. It appears, by the certificates of competitors 

 for the premiums offered by this society, in 1848, for milch 

 cows that the weight of milk required to make a pound of 

 butter, varied from seventeen and three-fourths pounds, to thir- 



