140 Extracts from the Journals. [Jan., 



butter made from such soured milk is quite sweet and destitute of 

 that rank taste which distinguishes our winter from summer but- 

 ter. But if incipient putrefaction has once begun in the milk, all 

 this will be of no avail, because it is communicated to the insolu- 

 ble casein. Milk perfectly fresh must therelbie be used. Fresh 

 milk soured in this way will last for many days, and give risings 

 of cream for a considerable time. This practice, as far as I am 

 aware, is not a general one, though it is well worthy of adoption. 

 In summer of course no such operation is requisite, as it is done 

 at the sacrifice of the skimmed milk. One great cause of the pu- 

 trefaction in milk is the want of absolute cleanliness in the dairy. 

 If a drop of milk fall on the table, it should be dried and washed 

 off w^ith care, for its putrefaction causes the evolution of a putrid 

 gas, and this imparts its state of putrefaction to the remainder of 

 the milk. 



With respect to making butter, scientific explanations can be 

 of little use to practical men. The theory of churning is very 

 simple. By agitation, the globules of butter are broken, and 

 made to unite together into a mass. The introduction of air dur- 

 ing churning, aided by the heat at which the cream or milk is, 

 occasions the formation of lactic or acetic acid, and this coagulates 

 the casein, and thus assists the separation of the butter. In sum- 

 mer, when the heat prevents the ready coherence of the butter, a 

 a quantity of cold spring water thrown in, after the buttermilk 

 was formed, often effects the desired end. The temperature is 

 thus depressed, the butter rendered solid and more coherent, while 

 the air contained in the water aids in the formation of acid and 

 coagulation of the casein. The only thing, in a scientific point 

 of view, to attend to alter the separation of the butter, is to free 

 it from buttermilk or cassein. If the casein be suffered to remain, 

 putrefaction ensues, and the butter acquires a rank putrid taste. 

 Its separation is therefore of the first moment. 



The cause of the superiority of certain foreign butter, which 

 retains its flavor and taste for a considerable time, it more due to 

 its freedom from casein than to any mystery in its mode of pre- 

 paration. 



Guano. — A large amount of this manure has been used in Eng- 

 land, and generally with good success. In most cases in this 

 country it has done but little good. — Boston Cultivator. 



The reason undoubtedly is the dryness of our climate, when the 

 article is good; but sometimes it is bad. Labor and proper ar- 

 rangements about the barns and sheds will usually secure a suffi- 

 ciency of manure for every farm. 



