24 ON THE DAIRY, 



Mr. Howard, of the Albany Cultivator, authority second to none 

 other in the country, says, "according to our experience the best 

 butter is not produced by a very sliort nor a very long period in 

 churning. If it is churned too quick, the separation is not complete, 

 and the butter besides being less rich, is deficient in quantity ; if the 

 process is continued too long, the butter is likely to be oily. We think 

 our best butter-makers would decide that churning for ordinary quan- 

 tities, say from ten to twenty pounds, should occupy from thirty to 

 ffty minutes." This corresponds entirely with the opinion express- 

 ed by Mrs. Nathaniel Felton, who said "she did not want the butter 

 to come in less than thirty minutes ; it is not so good when it comes 

 in a shorter time." 



We are informed by some of those who have been most successful 

 in the management of their dairies, that they look more to the quali- 

 ty of the milk given by the cow, than the quantity ; and in selecting 

 their cows to be kept for this purpose, they choose only those which 

 give milk adapted to the purpose. It is unquestionably true that one 

 quart of milk from some cows, will yield as much or more butter 

 than two quarts from others. In selecting cows therefore, the qual- 

 ity of their milk should be tested, either by making butter from it, 

 or by the use of a lactometer^ which shows the comparative thickness 

 of cream that will rise on similar quantities of milk. Mr. Holbert, 

 an experienced farmer of N. Y. state, says : "I find by churning 

 the milk separate, that one of my best cows will make as much but- 

 ter as three of my poorest cows, giving the same quantity of milk." 



butter ill much less time than any other I liave ever used ; ami this, I think, may be owing to tlie 

 form of the slats of the dasher. These have a wide and flat surface, obviously producing more 

 agitation of the cream than the round slats of Gait's churn and of Kendall's churn. On one occa- 

 sion, I have churned thirty quarts of cream into butter in eleven minutes iiv the Thermometer 

 Churn, though it ordinarily takes a longer time, an average at least of half an hour; and a shorter 

 time than this I do not think desirable. 



It is claimed for some of the lately invented churns, the Atmospheric Churn, for example, that 

 they will produce butter in four or five minutes ; but I think it is very questionable whether in so 

 .short a time all llie butter can be extracted from a given quantity of cream, or the butter can be ol 

 the best quality. What to me seems the greatest desideratum in churns is, some improvement in 

 the application of the moving power, by which the amount, or rather tlie severity of labor may be 

 lessened in churning. As it is now, it is work, and often hard work too, for an able bodied man. 

 But if a Churn could be made to work so easily tliat a boy could operate it without fatigue for three 

 or four successive churnings, it is evident that a great gain would be made in the expenditure of 

 labor. '■ Blessings on the man who invented sleep I'' exclaimed the renowned Sancho Pajiza 

 and eqtial ble.ssiiigs have I often been inclined to invoke for the individual wlio would make churn- 

 ing easy. Very rcspectlully, yours, 



Hamilton, Oct. 33, 1849. ALLEN W. DODGE.- 



