ARTIFICIAL COLOURING OF BUTTER. 117 



keeper knows that fresh butter, as well as milk, should 

 be kept in a different place from meat, cheese, &c., 

 especially in summer, when the closeness of the atmo- 

 sphere assists in turning it sour. It is on account of 

 this delicacy in butter that coolers of porous earthen- 

 ware have been contrived for keeping it sweet, and free 

 from the oily appearance which it otherwise has in hot 

 weather. The water in these coolers is kept at a low 

 temperature by constant evaporation through the pores 

 of the earthenware, and may be still further cooled by 

 dropping into it a few lumps of ice. In America, 

 butter is commonly brought to table with large lumps 

 of transparent ice glittering on the top of it ; and it is 

 likely that ice will be more abundantly used in this 

 country for keeping provisions, now that companies have 

 been formed for supplying London and other large cities 

 with ice during summer. In India, where the heat of 

 the climate prevents the formation of solid butter, the 

 inhabitants make from the milk of the buffalo what 

 is called gliee, a sort of liquid butter, in which they 

 carry on a considerable traffic. It is carried from place 

 to place in leathern bottles, containing from ten to forty 

 gallons. This ghee is made in other countries of the 

 East : the Arabs, in particular, use a large quantity of 

 it, each individual being in the habit of drinking a 

 cupful every day at his morning meal. 



Butter is naturally of a yellow colour, which is deeper 

 when the cows are feeding in rich pastures, or when 

 they have newly calved. This colour is often imitated 

 by mixing aunotta, or the juice of carrots, with the 

 cream. But nothing can supply the rich flavour which 

 accompanies the natural colouring of fine May butter ; 

 the imitation, therefore, is soon detected. 



Annotta, often spelt arnotto, and arnatta, is a dye 

 obtained from the rind or pulp surrounding the seeds of 

 a South American plant. It is received in this country 

 in balls, rolls, or cakes, and is largely used in the butter 

 and cheese-making districts. The tree from which it is 



