THE gexp:see farmer. 



331 



BUTTiiR MAKING IN WmTL'Jft, 



It is not an easy matter to make good butter 

 duriii^r the winter n.oiitlis, es[)eciully when yon 

 Lnve, as is usu.elly tlie case, but tew cows that are 

 givijtg milk. 



I; ihe milk u-asas rich in butter during the win- 

 ter as it is in summer, tliere would seem to be no 

 reason why it can not be extracted. Tlie tempera- 

 ture of the house is under onr control ; so is that of 

 tlie churn, the cream, &c. But the fact is, that in 

 the nuijority of cases the milk contains little butter. 

 The good wife may be ever so skillful in her man- 

 agement, but if the butter is not there, no amount 

 of caie and labor on her part will produce it. If 

 the batter does not "come," the tanlt is not hers. 

 Let the cows be well-fed and kept warm and com- 

 fortable, and there will be little trouble in churn- 

 ing. 



Butter, like fat, is derived from the food. If the 

 food contains fat — or carbonaceous substances, like 

 starch and sugar, that will produce fat — and these 

 are not all consumed to keep up the animal heat 

 of the body, the cow, if liberally supplied with 

 it, will either increase in weight or give milk rich 

 in butter. Good hay, and a little corn meal or 

 shorts, with a daily mess of sliced mangel wurzel, 

 will make as rich milk in winter as in summer — 

 provided the cow is kept warm. 



An English lady, who has had much experience 

 making butter, gives us the following hints in re- 

 gard to her method of procedure in winter: Where 

 only a few cows are giving milk, skim the cream 

 off every morning, and scald it by putting it in a 

 tin immersed in boiling water, and letting it re- 

 main till well heated. If the cows are eating tur- 

 nips, this will take away their unpleasant flavor 

 from tlie batter. After scalding the cream, put it 

 in a crock, and add to it the cream each morning 

 (scalding as before) till you have enough to churn. 

 Bay one week. If kept longer the cream is apt to 

 become bitter. It is not desirable to skim the 

 milk for more than two days. The cream should 

 be kept in a moderately warm room, or at least 

 where it will not freeze. When ready to churn, 

 Bcald your churn and pour in the cream while 

 the churn is hot and churn immediately." 



We had written so far, when a farmer of this 

 vicinity came into our office. "Do you make any 

 butter in winter?" we asked. 



•* Well, yes, I do something at it! " 



"What is your process?" 



"Strain the milk into pans, so that it shall not 

 ■tand more than two inches deep. Set the pana 



on the stove, or what is better, set them over hot 

 witter tin the milk is raised nearly to the boiling 

 jioint. Then set them away in a room that will 

 not freeze — thei'e to remain till the cream rises, 

 say 30 hours, less or more, according to the tem- 

 perature of the roohi. Then skim off the cream 

 and churn." 



" How do yon keep the cream till it is ready to 

 churn, and is it warmed before churning? " 



"I no not know. My wife could tell you more 

 about it than I can." 



We should be glad to hear from some of the 

 good lady readers of the Genesee Farmer on the 

 subject. 



IMPORTS OF FOOD INTO GREAT BRITAIN. 



The London Agricultural Gazette of September 

 26th contains a carefully prepared statement of the 

 amount of food imported into Great Britain and 

 Ireland, from which it appears that the total com- 

 puted value of these articles imported into the 

 United Kingdom in 1862 reached the enormous 

 amount of $465,139,940 in gold — a sum "equal to 

 three-fourths of the value of the entire exports of 

 British and Irish produce and manufactures I " 



By far the largest item is for wheat and flour, 

 the imports of which, in 1862, were no less than 

 $188,775,300 in gold 1 



The imports of grain, meal and flour never 

 reached 96,000,000 bushels until the bad harvest of 

 1860, in which year they were 115,979,668 bushels ; 

 but in 1861 they were 128,759,712 bushels, and in 

 1862, 147,834,828 bushels. The average price on 

 which the value of the wheat was computed in 1862 

 has not been stated ; in 1861 it was $1.61 for Russiaa 

 wheat, $1.80 for Prussian, $1.20 for Egyptian, and 

 $1.66 for American, per bushel. 



Besides this, Great Britain imported that year, 

 $25,000,000 worth of butter, $7,500,000 worth of 

 cheese, $3,000,000 worth of eggs, and $425,000 

 worth of poultry. 



Hat and Cokn Shrinkage by Drying. — The 

 loss upon hay weighed July 20th, when cured 

 enough to put in the barn, and again February 

 20th, has been ascertained to be 27^ per cent. So 

 that hay at $15 a.tun in the field, is equal to $20 

 and upward when weighed from the mow in win- 

 ter. Tlie Weight of cobs in a bnshel of corn in 

 November, ascertained to be 19 lbs., was only 7^ 

 ll)s. in May. The cost of grinding a bushel of drj 

 cob — counting handling, hauling and millerTb 

 charge, is about one cent a pound. Is the meal 

 worth the money ? This is a question long debated, 

 and the general decision has been in the affirma- 

 tive. 



