166 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 3 



by tramping or baking, or otherwise. It is much I ertion; but it has no small share in the money-sav- 

 betfer to finish these processes befc>re the butter ing operations. The accumulation of estate may 

 has beem completely hardened. Three or lour j be more dependent on agriculture, but our comtbrt 



changes of water, with a small quantity of salt in 

 each, arc necessary to separate impurities from the 

 butter; and the butter must be well siirred and 

 rjinutely mixed with a wooden spoon into the wa- 

 ter, to render it clean; but it should not be beaten 

 by human hand or toot. 



The butter, whenever it is dulj^ washed, shoukl 

 be instantly salted, the salt well mixed equally into 

 every part of the mass; and whenever that is done, 

 the butter should be conq)actly kneaded into a cask, 

 and covered over on the surface with a wet cloth, 

 jf the cask is not full. 



As I write this from memory, and at a distance 



from my notes, I cannot well say what quantity, aid them in subduing so loul an invader of their 



-of salt ought to be ap])lied to a given weight of 

 butter. So tin" as my recollection goes, half an 

 ounce of salt, two drachms of sugar, and two 

 drachms of nitre, to 16 ounces of butter, is the 

 proper mode of curing. The sugar improves the 

 taste, and the nitre the color ot the butler; and 

 both of them act with the salt in preserving the 

 butter from becoming rancid. 



If the butter is churned, washed, salted and 

 stored in the manner I have pointed out, and brine 

 kept in the casks, it will remain free of rancidity 

 for nearly twelve months; whereas the Aberdeen 

 butter generally becomes rancid by the month of 

 January after it is made. The Irish butter is in 

 good condition till the month of May, and well 

 cured Scots butter still longer. 



All these processes are so simple and easy that 

 every tenant in Aberdeenshire may understand 

 them, and by reducing them to practice, they may 

 both make and cure their butter as well as the in- 

 habitants of other districts; and by doing so, the 

 article would come to market much improved, 

 •jvhile the farmers would draw the whole profits 

 tiiemselves, instead of sharing them with the 

 ,curers. The curing of the butter is one of the 

 .easiest operations ot the dairy. If a person can 

 wash butter, they may also salt it; and if the but- 

 ter is not washed till it reaches the curers, a week 

 or more after churning, the milk and nnpurities 

 must have by that time contaminated the butter 

 to such a degree that no after-washing can com- 

 pletely remove. 



is more involved in housekeeping. The gold of 

 mountains, the pearls of oceans, will not compen- 

 sate for the loss of that domestic comfort which is 

 the result of neatness, order, and taste, which is 

 displayed by the wifi?, whose "price is far above 

 rubies." Compared with these industrious, useful, 

 and dignified matrons, how little are the vain 

 and idle butterflies of flishion that are continually 

 buzzing abroad in the siunmer's sun of foil}', and 

 dissipation. But to the point. 



As dust is one of those anoyances, against which 

 every neat woman has declared war, in whatsoever 

 shape it may come, I herein offtjr my services to 



For Uie Fanners' Register. 



ROME OBSERVATIONS ON HOUSEKEEPING — 

 THE DUST REMEDY. 



JFardsfurk, Charlotte, 



As the housekeeping department has- been 

 rather too much overlooked of late, and of course 

 the ladies slighted, I have chosen a subject which 

 the fair reader may find interesting and useful. 

 Housekeeping is the twin sister of agriculture, 

 and so much alike, that you can hardly tell one 

 from the other. The greatest distinction between 

 these fair goddesses, is, that the men in all civilized 

 times have payed their homage to the one, while 

 the women have bowed subraissicn to the other. 

 As housekeeping is the sphere allotted to these 

 fair ones, and as this is the principal theatre upon 

 which they display their excellencies and virtues, 

 surely it should be celebrated in the annals of hus- 

 ban(hy. Tis true that mere housekeeping does 

 pot claim such a portion of themoney-makmo-ex-^ 



peace and happiness. Many schemes have been 

 devised, in all times and places, by the heroines 

 contending for the palm of neatness; but the mott 

 successful has not been able to rout this vile in- 

 truder from the parlor. Hewed timbers, brick and 

 stone walks, shoe-scrapers, mats and millstones, 

 have all had their day, but all have proven una- 

 vailing. With great pleasure I announce to the 

 public in general, and to the ladies in particular, 

 that the subtle toe is at length vanquished by most 

 simple measures; for which discovery I expect to 

 be much honored by the good housewives, which 

 I think more of than the highest praise that could 

 be bestowed on me by all the host of politicians of 

 either party, for any political achievement. The 

 discovery is just this : Fill the walks leading from 

 your styles, garden, kitchen, to the dwelling liouse, 

 with saw-dust of heart pine, about four inches 

 deep. Its sponginess will keep it dry; it will rea- 

 dily take the mud from the shoe, and every rain 

 will wash the deposite through the mass of saw 

 tlustto the bottom, keeping the top clean, and it 

 will last (or years. In this way you get rid of 

 dust in the' house; for observe, dust gets into your 

 house, first in the form of mud conveyed in on the 

 shoe. There is only one inconvenience attending 

 it: some of the saw dust will find its way into the 

 house, but it is much more easily and pleasantly 

 removed than dirt. It looks clean, and has an 

 agreeable smell when fi-esli. What great labor 

 it saves in the articles of rubbing and scouring, 

 and prevents, in a great measure, the confusion in 

 flying from dust every morning, whenever the 

 broom is touched, or be stifled to death — and then 

 the bad couii'hs, and consumptions it prevents, and 

 cashes improperly called cases ol poison. I venly 

 beliexe, many people die of dirt. I have gone to 

 places belbre now, where, on retiring to bed, and 

 lifting the coverlet, I have been nearly thrown 

 into a quinsy, by rousing the sleeping dust which 

 had gathered about the bed. And what clouds rf 

 dust arise fi'om moving a carpet ; and when cau- 

 tiously removed, you may write your name with 

 your finger on the floor off of which it is taken. 

 This is all brought about by not guarding the out- 

 posts of the chamber by suitable walks, "such as I 

 am recommending. What scoldinijand bawling, 

 and rattling of bells, and flutteringof turkey wings, 

 it would save, (if those simple means were used,) 

 which are almost as bad as the dust itself! For no 

 decent woman can hold her peace while her ej'es 

 and nose arc weeping and sneezing, from beino- 

 filled with dust; and no man can be easy while his 

 wife is in pain. And, alas ! the poor servant maicj 



