EXTRACTS FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC. 137 



[From Transactions of Highland Ag. Soc] 



EXPERIMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS ON THE PRO- 

 DUCTION OF BUTTER. 



BY PROFESSOR TRAILL. 



The produce of the dairy forms so important a branch of agri- 

 cultural industry, that it appears surprising how few attempts 

 have been made to investigate the comi)arative merits of different 

 methods, employed in various places, lor the production of butter 

 and cheese. The qualities of these articles are well known to dif- 

 fer greatly in our own country ; yet each district has gone on for 

 long periods to follow its own methods, as if each had attained 

 perfection in the art. This is a proof either of the want of any 

 fixed principles to guide us in the practice of these important eco- 

 nomical operations, or of their being unknown to the majorty of 

 farmers. 



The subject long engaged the attention of the late estimable 

 Dr. Gerard of Liverpool and myself, and for several years, espe- 

 cially in the years 1806 and 1807, we carried on many experi- 

 ments ; in some of which we were assisted by our friend, Dr. Bos- 

 tock, now of London. 



It was originally intended to comprise in our investigations the 

 whole subject of the production of butter and cheese ; but our 

 professional avocations, and other interruptions, prevented the 

 completion of our plans, after we had performed numerous experi 

 ments on the production of butter. The hope of being one day 

 able to complete them, has hitherto prevented any account of 

 them being published. On the death of Dr. Gerard, the whole 

 papers, in a state of great confusion, came into my possession ; 

 and I now propose to lay before the Highland and Agricultural 

 Society of Scotland the principal results which we obtained. 



We had a dairy of four, sometimes of five, cows at our disposal ; 

 but, after numerous preliminary trials, we found that the numeri- 

 cal results, on the quantity of the butter obtained, were most uni- 

 form and satisfactory when we made each experiment on a few 

 pints of milk only. It is true that the proportional yield of but- 

 ter was sometimes greater from a large than from a small quantity 

 of cream or milk ; but the different experiments were found to be 

 most accordant on being repeated, when we operated on quantities 

 not exceeding six English pints for each churning. This probably 

 arose from our being then able to carry on the process in glass 

 vessels, which permitted us to see the progress of the operation, 

 and to collect the product more perfectly ; and also from our 



VOL. I. NO. 1. S 



