DEVONSHIRE CREAM. 115 



But, iu large dairies, unless they are situated near 

 a city, or 'populous town, a great part of the butter is 

 not made up in this way, but is immediately salted and 

 put into casks, or firkins, made of clean white wood, and 

 containing about fifty-six pounds weight. About three 

 or four pounds of the finest and best salt is well mixed 

 with this quantity, and a layer of salt is put at the bot- 

 tom of the cask. If there is not enough butter to fill 

 the cask at once, it is also covered with a layer of salt, 

 and a cloth is spread over to keep out the air. When 

 the cask is filled up, the layer of salt is taken off the 

 first quantity with a spoon, and the surface is made 

 rough, that the second quantity may mix with it, with- 

 out leaving a streak where the two meet. When the 

 cask is full, a layer of salt is put on, and the head of 

 the cask fixed in its place. If the butter shrinks con- 

 siderably, it is a sign that it was not well made ; the 

 buttermilk not having been properly pressed out of it. 

 Good, well-made butter does not shrink, but keeps its 

 flavour for a long time. Sometimes, instead of salt 

 alone, the following mixture is used in curing butter : 

 half an ounce of dry salt pounded fine, two drachms of 

 sugar, and two drachms of saltpetre, for every pound 

 of butter. This is understood to keep the butter sweet 

 a long time, but injures its flavour for the first fort- 

 night. 



Every one has heard of Devonshire butter and Devon- 

 shire cream, as being very rich and excellent. The 

 management of the cream is different to that which we 

 have described. The milk, instead of being set in shal- 

 low dishes, in a cool place, for the cream to rise slowly to 

 the surface, is poured into tin or earthen pans, each hold- 

 ing about eleven or twelve quarts ; twelve hours after 

 milking, these pans are placed on an iron plate, over a 

 small furnace. A thick scum gradually rises on the milk ; 

 a little of this is removed with a spoon from time to time, 

 to see when bubbles begin to rise on the milk beneath. 

 As soon as the bubbles appear, and tefu:e boiling 

 i 2 



