THE GENESEE FARMER. 



57 



ABOUT WINTER BUTTER, 



•^ Small profit in tiying to make butter at this 

 season," said Uncle Joe, as he i)aiised from his 

 churning and wiped tlie sweat from his forehead ; 

 "here it is, nine o'clock ; this churn has been going 

 fall three hours, and no signs of butter yet." 



It surely was a hard case. I pitied uncle, but 

 said nothing, for I Inew nothing very pertinent to 

 the occasion. 



But " Rome was not built in a day." " TTe live 

 and learn;" and now — two years later — I sit 

 down, having churned a respectable churning while 

 wife w^as getting tea, and had time to spare to play 

 with "baby." Experience has taught me several 

 things since the day Uncle Joe questioned the profit 

 of making butter in winter (mind, I don't say it is 

 profitable.) 



Hold ! I must study brevity. " Be short," should 

 be the motto of every one who writes for "the 

 papers," and particularly for "our p^per," the 

 Farmer. 



Last winter, I had a day's job at churning; and 

 I found out what the great trouble was — the cream 

 was too cold. Since that, when I have anything to 

 do with churning, I try to have the cream just 

 warm enough. Then the butter comes in from fif- 

 teen to twenty minutes ; or at most, thirty or forty. 

 There are various methods of warming cream. 

 A good way is to set the cream-pot in a warm 

 room, and stir it occasionally. Or, in a ves_sel_ of 

 •warm water; or near a fire, turning and stirring 

 frequently. Don't melt the cream ; if you do, it 

 will never make butter. Sometimes, finding, after 

 churning a while, that the cream is too cold, I set 

 the churn near the fire, leaving it for a time; or, if 

 in a hurry, and rather lazy withal, pour hot water 

 into the churn, keeping the dash going all the while, 

 so that none of the cream gets scalded. 



When the cream "froths up," as you churn, you 

 may generally be sure it is too cold. You may 

 chui-n, if you like; but "the mischief is in it," and 

 the butter will refuse to appear until it is warmed. 

 Possibly you may warm it by churning ; but it is a 

 great saving of patience, time, and "elbow-grease," 

 to warm it some other way. 



In the day's churning mentioned above, the cream 

 "frothed up" badly. We set the churn in a tub of 

 hot water, finally ; but had to get the cream nuich 

 warmer than when it is "just right" at first. The 

 butter-milk fairly smoked, as the churn was opened 

 to take out the butter, and was blood- warm, if not 

 more. 



That was the only time I ever used a thermo- 

 meter to measure "the temperature in churning. 

 "According to the books," it was too warm all the 

 while. We tried putting in snow to cool it. But it 

 was really too cold, — and I think one's finger the 

 best thermometer. Have the cream so it feels just 

 a little rearm to the finger, and it is right. 



If one has good cream in winter, they can make 

 good butter. To get the first, one must have good, 

 well-fed, and comfortable cows; an even tempera- 

 ture to raise the cream ; and churn often, before it 

 gets bitter and sour. But I will not expatiate on 

 tliis branch of the subject. 



— One word more. Butter can be colored with- 

 out injury to the flavor, by putting carrot juice 

 into the cream when churning. Grate the carrot, 

 soak in mUk, and squeeze the juice through a cloth 



into the churn. But, I don't mind saying it, "sum- 

 mer butter" suits me the best for my table, and I 

 am willing to let the city folks have what "winter 

 butter" I make, as the grocerymen will generally 

 pay just as much for it. a young TAKMEi?.. 



ANTI- CHESS.— AN OFFER. 



Editors Genesee Farmer: — As there are still, 

 in this nineteenth century, some who entertain the 

 idea that wheat will turn to chess or cheat, for such 

 I will suggest an infallible remedy, and wUl give 

 $10 per quart for all the cheat they can (after using 

 my remedy) produce from wheat. 



Some years ago, my wheat was badly turned ta 

 cheat and cockle. As I had just as much faith in 

 wheat turning to one as the other, I resolved to sow 

 no more seed of either. I took the scire of an old 

 fan, put a rim around it, sat down by my heap of 

 seed wheat, cheat, and cockle, and sifted it so long 

 as any cheat, cockle, or small grains of wheat, would 

 go throngh, and sowed what would not go throTjgh. 

 Tlie result Avas, a very few stalks of either cockle or 

 cheat were to be found in the forty -five acres of 

 wheat at the next harvest ; and I am satisfied that 

 what there w'as came from the "manure. The next 

 fall, I treated my seed in the same way ; and in the- 

 following spring, in sowing the grass seed over fifty 

 acres of wheat, I saw but one stalk of cockle, which 

 I destroyed. In gathering the wheat the following 

 harvest, not a stalk of cockle nor a handful of cheat 

 was found in the whole crop, notwithstanding it 

 had been badly winter-killed, and a field near the 

 barn much run over, tramped, and eaten by lambs- 

 and fowls. 



To let persons know where to find me, when 

 they have that quart of cheat ready, I will give my 

 address. thos. wood. 



PeiiTii/igtonville, Chester Co., Pa. 



WHEAT TURNING TO CHESS -ONCE MORE. 



Eds. Genesee Farmer: — Abont one mile from 

 where I now write, (Bronte, township of Trafalgar, 

 C. W.,) on the fdrm of Charles Sovereicjn, Ejq., 

 a field of wheat was sown, after careful sumrner- 

 lallowing, on high, dry, and sandy soil, in good 

 seeding time in the fall. In the following spring, 

 the wheat was very clean from foul weeds, promis- 

 ing a fine crop, and at maturity proved itself to be 

 such. By chance, a board was blown into the field, 

 and lodged upon the wheat ; and after lying there 

 several days, it was observed and removed. When 

 the crop was ready for the sickle, the portion wliere 

 the board lay was every spear of it chess — there 

 was not even one spear of wheat, — and the balance 

 of the crop was very good, and had but very little 

 chess or foul weeds of any kind. 



Now, sirs, was this any evidence that wheat turns 

 to chess, or was it not ? I think it is sufficient to 

 satisfy any reasonable mind on the subject. 



Bronte, C. W., JaiVy, 185.8. A. B. S. 



Seeding to Timothy Grass. — The experience of 

 B. of Royalton, N. Y., agrees with mine, except 

 that the heaviest crop of Timothy I ever raised wiis 

 on low bottom land seeded the previous August, 

 before a heavy storm, without dragging. Thomas 

 S. Blackburn. — Fine Bluffs Dane Co.., TFis. 



