Hook VII. BUTTER. 



K>41 



case often brings into action lier faculty of retaining her milk at pleasure ; but if gently performed it 



seems rather to give pleasure, as is exemplified on a large scale in Tiviotdale, and Switzerland, where the 

 cows come to be milked at the call of the milkers. Many instances have occurred, Dr. A nderson observes 

 in which cows would not let down a single drop of milk to one dairy-maid, which let it How in abundance 

 whenever another approached them: exhibiting unequivocal marks of satisfaction in the one case and 

 of sullen obstinacy in the other. For the same reason, when cows are ticklish, they should bi treated 

 with the most soothing gentleness, and never with harshness or severity; and, when the udder is hard ami 

 painful, it should be tenderly fomented with luke-warm water, and stroked gently, bv which simple expe- 

 dient the cow will be brought into good temper, and will yield her milk without' restraint. Lastly, as it 

 sometimes happens that the teats of cows become scratched or wounded, so as to produce foul or corrupted 

 milk, whenever this is the case, such milk ought on no account to be mixed with the sweet milk, but should 

 be given to the pigs, without being carried into the milk. house ; lest, by continuing there, it should taint 

 the atmosphere, and consequently prove injurious to the rest of the milk. 



7016. To promote cleanliness in regard to milking, cows are in some places curried, combed, brushed, 

 and clothed like horses; before milking, their udders and teats are washed and dried, and their tails trussed 

 up. It would be well if a part of this refinement were adopted in all dairies ; that of using the comb 

 and brush, and washing the udder, is indispensable in every establishment where clean milk is an 

 object. According to Mowbray, snuff-takers, sluts, and daudles are unfit to be dairy-women, anil no 

 milker should ever be suffered to enter the dairy in a dirty apron covered with hairs from the cow- 

 house. 



7017. The following aphorisms respecting the management of milk in the dairy are from 

 the " Recreations" of Dr. Anderson, one of the most scientific writers on this subject. 



1. Of the milk drawn from ?.ny cow at one time, that part which comes off at the first is alwavs thinner, 

 and of a much worse quality for making butter, than that afterwards obtained ; and this richness con- 

 tinues to increase progressively to the very last drop that can be obtained from the udder. 



2. If milk be put into a dish, and allowed to stand till it throws up cream, the portion of cream rising 

 first to the surface is richer in quality, and greater in quantity, than that which rises in a second equal 

 space of time: and the cream, which rises in the second interval of time, is greater in quantity, and richer 

 in quality, than that which rises in a third equal space of time ; that of the third is greater than that of the 

 fourth, and so of the rest; the cream that rises continuing progressively to decrease in quantity, and to 

 decline in quality, so long as any rises to the surface. 



3. Thick milk always throws up a much smaller proportion of the cream which it actually contains 

 than milk that is thinner ; but the cream is of a richer quality : and if water be added to that thick milk, 

 it will afford a considerably greater quantity of cream, and consequently more butter than it would have 

 done if allowed to remain pure ; but its quality is, at the same time, greatly debased 



4. Milk, which is put into a bucket or other proper vessel, and carried in it to a considerable distance, 

 so as to be much agitated, and in part cooled beiore it be put into the milk-pans to settle for cream, never 

 throws up so much, or so rich cream, as if the same milk had been put into the milk-pans directly after it 

 was milked. 



7018. From these fundamental facts, the reflecting dairyist will derive many important practical rules. 

 Some of these we shall enumerate, and leave the rest to be discovered. Cows should be milked as near 

 the dairy as possible, in order to prevent the necessity of carrying and cooling the milk before it is put into 

 the creaming dishes. Every cow's milk should be kept separate till the peculiar properties of each is so 

 well known as to admit of their being classed, when those that are most nearly allied may be mixed toge. 

 ther. When it is intended to make butter of a very fine quality, reject entirely the milk of all those cows 

 which yield cream of a bad quality, and also keep the milk that is first drawn from the cow at each milk- 

 ing entirely separate from that which is last obtained, as the quality of the butter must otherwise be 

 greatly debased without materially augmenting its quantity. For the* same purpose, take onl.v the cream 

 that is first separated from the first drawn milk. Butter of the very best quality can only be economically 

 made in those dairies where cheese is also made; because in them the best part of each cow's milk can be 

 set apart for throwing up cream, the best part of this cream can be taken in order to be made into butter, 

 and the remainder, or all the rest of the milk and cream of the dairy, can be turned into cheese. The spon- 

 taneous separation of cream, and the production of butter, are never effected but in consequence of the 

 production of acid in the milk. Hence it is that where the whole milk is set apart for the separation 

 of cream, and the whole of the cream is separated, the milk must necessarily have turned sour before 

 it is made into cheese ; and no very excellent cheese can be made from milk which hao once attained 

 that state. 



Sect. IV. Making and Curing of Butter. 



7019. The milk from which butter is to be made may either be put at once into the 

 churn, and left there till it send up the cream ; or it may be made to cream in milk 

 dishes, and the cream alone churned. 



7020. The last is generally considered the best mode, and in carrying it into effect, the milk being 

 drawn from the cow, is to be strained into the creaming dishes, which should never be more than three 

 inches deep, and of about a gallon and a half or two gallons in capacity. In general the best cream will 

 be tit for removal in seven or eight hours, though for ordinary good butter it may stand twelve hours; 

 but where the very best butter is wished, and such arrangements are formed as admit of converting the 

 milk to cheese, or some other use while it is sweet, it may be separated after standing only two or three 

 or four hours. In performing the operation, first pass the cream knife round the edges of the vessel, to 

 separate the adhering stratum of cream, and then draw it to one side, lift it off with the skimming dish, 

 and put it in the cream bowl to be carried to the cream barrel. 



7021. Creatn may be kept from three to seven days before it is churned. Where quantity more than 

 quality is desired, the whole of the milk is churned, without separating any cream ; the milk is kept in 

 the churn or in large barrels for two or three days, till it begins to get sour. The operation of churning, 

 where the cream and milk are both to agitate, is necessarily tedious and laborious ; but a great weight of 

 butter is undoubtedly obtained, the quality and flavour of which will depend a good deal on the peculiar 

 properties of the milk. The milk of Galloways, Ayrshires, and Alderneys, so treated, makes excellent 

 butter. 



7022. In the process of churning great nicety is required ; a regular stroke in plunge or pump churns, 

 and a regular motion in those of the barrel or turning kind, must, if possible, never be deviated from. A 

 few hasty irregular strokes or turns has been known to spoil what would otherwise have been excellent 

 butter. Twamley {.Essays on the Dairy) recommends the selection of a churner of a cool phlegmatic 

 temper, of a sedate disposition and character ; and advises never to allow any individuals, especially the 

 young, to touch the churn without the greatest caution and circumspect ion. To those who have been 

 accustomed to see cream churned without being properly prepared, churning may, perhaps, appear to be 

 severe labour for one person in a large dairy ; but nothing is more easy than the proce.-s of making butter, 

 w here the cream has been duly prepared. 



7023 The best time for making butter, during summer, is early in the morning, before the sun acquires 

 much power; and if a pump churn be used, it may be plunged afoot deep into a tub of cold water, where 



n X 



