16 ESSEX SOCIETY. 



committe nre: yet the place they occupy will 1 e a sufficient 

 apology for a few remarks upon a business in which this county,, 

 and almost every individual in the county, is interested. It is 

 a trite adage, that " nothing is worth doing that is not worth well 

 doing." If this maxim will hold good any where, it will in 

 butter-making. Like Jeremiah's rigs, the good is very good, 

 but the bad too bad to be eaten. 



Many bestow seven eighths of the time, care, and labor, in 

 producing an article which is worthless for the table, which it 

 would require to make butter which would do honor to any 

 farmer's wife in the county, and to this society, too, if it were ex- 

 hibited at our annual fair. 



One of the greatest errors of butter-makers is thought to be 

 that of suffering the butter-milk to remain incorporated with the 

 butter. Butter which is not thoroughly wrought well, if not 

 kept extremely cold, soon becomes rancid, and, as rancid butter 

 is often found where there is no want of salt, we attribute it 

 mainly to this cause. The remedy is, a little more patient labor. 



It is of great importance that cream should be at the right 

 temperature when churned. It is not uncommon in summer to 

 hear the dairy-maid say, " the butter has come white and soft." 

 This, we believe, is commonly in consequence of churning cream 

 when it is too warm. Cream can be easily brought to a proper 

 temperature by bringing the vessels which contain it in contact 

 with ice, hanging them in a well, or putting them in a cold 

 spring from 12 to 24 hours before churning. Any one who has 

 not witnessed the advantage of cooling cream before churning, 

 in warm weather, will be surprised at the result. 



One other practical fault, is salting butter " to tastes, " which 

 are much more liable to vary than weights. One of the sam- 

 ples for the best product of butter presented for examination was 

 too salt, and therefore did not receive the premium it would oth- 

 erwise have been entitled to. " Too salt " however is not a very 

 censurable fault, as the objection to butter of this kind can be 

 obviated by using the precaution that a good old lady once sug- 

 gested to a clergyman, who complained at her table that her but- 

 ter was too salt. " Put the less of it in your mouth at a time," 

 • was her ready reply. One ounce of salt to a pound of butter 



