378 THE IMPROVED ART OF FARRIERY. 



collected and separated from the buttermilk. But in 

 doing this, it is not sufficient merely to pass off the 

 milk, or withdraw the butter from it, because a certain 

 portion of the caseous and serous parts of the milk 

 still remain in the interstices of the butter, and must 

 be detached from it by washing if we would obtain it 

 pure. In washing butter, some think it sufficient to 

 press the mass gently between the hands ; others press 

 it strongly, and frequently repeating the washings till 

 the water comes off quite clear. The first method is 

 preferable when the butter is made daily for immediate 

 use from new milk or cream, because the portions 

 of such, adhering to it or mixed with it, contribute to 

 produce the sweet agreeable flavour which distinguishes 

 new cream. But when our object is to prepare butter 

 for keeping, we cannot repeat the washings too often, 

 since the presence of a small quantity of milk in it 

 will, in less than twelve hours after churning, cause it 

 sensibly to lose its good qualities. 



The process of washing butter is usually nothing 

 more than throwing it into an earthen vessel of clear 

 cool water, working it to and fro with the hands, and 

 changing the water till it comes off clear. A much 

 preferable method, however, and that which we be- 

 lieve is now always practised by those who best un- 

 derstand the business, is to use two broad pieces 

 of wood instead of the hands. This is to be preferred, 

 not only on account of its apparently greater clean- 

 liness, but also because it is of decided advantage to 

 the quality of the butter, as the warmth of the 

 hand always gives more or less of a greasy appearance ; 

 and butter washed by means of the wooden flappers, 

 as they are called, will always fetch at market a higher 

 price than if the hand had been employed. The in- 

 fluence of the heat of the hand is greater than might 



