DAIRY. 



creamed ; the degree of acidity it must attain 

 in the cream barrels ; its temperature, whether 

 requiring the addition of warm water or cold 

 to the churn ; as well as the all-important ope- 

 rations of kneading, beating, salting, and pack- 

 ing the butter." The milking commences at 

 four in the morning (the milkers rising at 

 three), in the field, and the milk is conveyed 

 to the dairy by a one horse wagon, from hooks 

 on which large vessels are suspended. To pre- 

 vent the milk from flying over the brim of 

 vessels in moving the wagon, thin pieces 

 of'wiM.d. i'f nearly the size of the vessel, float 

 on the milk, and this practice is adopted when 

 pails are ran led by the hand. 



The effect which vessels made of different 

 materials has on the promoting or retarding 

 the acidity of milk, has received much atten- 

 tion in Holland, and the vessels most generally 

 preferred on all accounts are shallow wooden 

 to/era, holding about eight quarts. In some few 

 instances glass vessels are used, and some of 

 the reports speak of them highly. It has been 

 found that cream, to make first rate butter, 

 must be removed from the milk before the 

 latter gets at all sour, and that the cream will 

 not fully rise under thirty-six hours; to pre- 

 vent souring before that time, especially in 

 sultry weather or during thunder storms, re- 

 quires particular attention to temperature. 



A cellar temperature of from 60 to 62 de- 

 grees gives the best and the most cream, the 

 rising being completed in thirty-six hours ; a 

 greater degree of warmth hastens the process, 

 but lessens the quantity of the butter; a lower 

 temperature preserves the milk forty-eight or 

 sixty hours, but imparts an unpleasant flavour 

 to the cream and butter. The commencement 

 of souring in milk is marked by a slight 

 wrinkling of the cream, and a slightly acid 

 taste. When this appears, whether the milk 

 has stood a longer or a shorter time, skimming 

 commences. As fast as it is collected, it is 

 poured through a hair sieve kept for this pur- 

 pose alone, into large barrels of 240 quarts 

 each, in which it remains till the necessary 

 sourness is attained, which in summer usually 

 takes twenty-four hours, and in winter thirty- 

 six or forty-eight hours. During this advance 

 to acidity, the cream is frequently stirred, to 

 prevent its coagulating or becoming cheesy, 

 and when fit for churning, the skill of the dairy 

 woman is required to determine the proper 

 temperature to make good butter. In warm 

 weather the churn is rinsed with the coldest 

 water, and if necessary cold spring water is 

 added to the cream, but if the cellar is properly 

 made, this is rarely necessary. In cold weather 

 the churn is washed in warm water, and is 

 sometimes applied to the cream itself. The 

 churning being completed, the butter is imme- 

 diately carried to the butter cellar, where, in a 

 larirc' tray or trough made of beech or oak 

 highly polished, and provided with a plug at 

 the 1 iwer extremity to let off the milk, the but- 

 ter is- slightly worked and salted with the purest 

 salt, moulded with a ladle into a mass at the 

 upper end of the trough, and left for some 

 hours to drain. In the evening it is thoroughly 

 kneaded and beat, the dairymaid lifting a piece 

 of three or four pounds, and slapping it against 

 398 



DAIRY. 



the trough with great force to beat out the milky 

 particles. After the whole mass has thus, piece 

 by piece, been freed from the buttermilk, it is 

 again spread out, and receives its full salting 

 (in all about 1& ounce of salt to a pound of 

 butter), which is worked with the utmost care 

 equally through the whole, and is then mould- 

 ed into a compact mass. Butter in Holstein is 

 seldom washed, though in some other parts of 

 Holland it is practised with the greatest suc- 

 cess. When enough is made to fill a cask, the 

 several churnings are once more kneaded and 

 beat thoroughly together, a very little fresh salt 

 is added, and it is then packed in the barrel, 

 which is made of red beech wood, water tight, 

 and previously well washed with water and 

 salt. The cask must be filled at a single pack- 

 ing, each layer pounded down, and care being 

 taken that no interstice is left between the but- 

 ter and the sides of the cask. This packing 

 of a cask at a time gives the butter of large 

 dairies the advantage over small ones, as it 

 must be left longer exposed to air before the 

 quantity requisite to fill the barrel is obtained. 



"The qualities of first rate butter are consi- 

 dered to be, 1st, a fine yellow colour, neither 

 pale nor orange tinted ; 2d, a close, waxy tex- 

 ture, in which extremely minute and perfectly 

 transparent beads of brine are perceptible ; but 

 if these drops be either large, or in the slight- 

 est degree tinged with colour, it indicates an 

 imperfect working of the butter; while an en- 

 tirely dry, tallowy appearance is equally dis- 

 approved ; 3d, a fresh, fragrant perfume, and a 

 sweet, kernelly taste; 4th, good butter will, 

 above all, be distinguished by keeping for a 

 considerable time, without acquiring an old or 

 rancid flavour. 



" The quantity of food which can be afforded 

 to the cows during winter is determined at the 

 beginning of the season, when the harvest re- 

 turns are known ; and in plentiful years the 

 calculation is, that each cow should be allowed 

 three sacks of grain (generally oats, at 140 

 pounds the sack), 3,000 pounds of straw, in- 

 cluding bedding or litter for the stable, and 

 1,800 pounds of hay of good quality; while for 

 every 100 pounds of hay deducted she must 

 receive 25 pounds of grain more, and vice versa. 1 " 



During the winter the requisite colour is 

 given to the butter by some colouring mate- 

 rial ; and the best for this purpose is found to 

 be a mixture of annatto and turmeric, in the 

 proportion of five ounces of the latter to one 

 pound of the former. 



The average quantity of milk from the Hol- 

 stein cows is about 2500 quarts per annum ; 

 much depending on the food and care; and it 

 is calculated that every 100 pounds of milk 

 will give 3 pounds of butter, 6 pounds of 

 fresh cheese, 14 pounds of buttermilk, and 76J 

 pounds whey, where cheese is made. Fifteen 

 quarts of milk are considered a fair average 

 for a pound of butter, though sometimes a cow 

 gives milk so rich that 12 quarts make a pound. 

 "On the whole, it is considered a fair return 

 from the Holstein dairies when the produce 

 amounts to 100 pounds of butter and 150 

 pounds of cheese per annum to each cow." 

 (/';"/.) 



The farmer will find a good article on the 



