FARMER'S REGISTER— MAKING BUTTER. 



299 



7. Grinders of the Hyena? 2 inches broad — 3 

 inches in depth. 



8. Fangs of the Hyena? 3 inches in depth; ta- 

 pering to a point. 



9. Grinder of the Mastodon giganteum of Cu- 

 vjer. Breadth 7 inches; depth 9} inches. Pre- 

 sented by Mr. B. to the cabinet of' the University 

 of Nortli Carolina. This tooth was found at tiie 

 depth of 25 feet below the surtace of the earth, 

 mingled with sea-shells. 



The dimensions of this animal as given by Har- 

 lan, in his Fauna Americana, are as follows: 

 Height at the withers from 10 to 11 feet; length 

 from the end of tlie snout, to the posterior part of 

 the pelvis, from 1.5 to 16*y feet. It is remarkable 

 that not more than 10 miles distant from these pits, 

 to-wit, in the Clubfoot Canal, was found, about 4 

 feet under the surfiice, the skeleton of another spe- 

 cies, the Mastodon angustidens of Cuvier. See 

 Harlan's Fauna p. 214. One of the grinders of 

 this skeleton in my possession measures 6} inches 

 in width. The cutting surfaces consist of elevated 

 and conical points, [4 pairs of points and an odd 

 one,] differing considerably from those of M. gigan- 

 teum, and scarcely seeming to have been intended 

 for grinding grass and leava. The dimensions of 

 this species are said to be one-third less than the 

 other. 



That was certainly a strange world in which 

 such animals as these browsed and prowled! and, 

 it might seem, scarcely compatible with the co-ex- 

 istence of man in his rude state, armed only with 

 the bow and the club. 



Newbern, 12th September, 1833. 



OBSERVATIOivS ON TIIE JIAKING, CUniNG 

 AND CASHING BUTTKR. 



[From the Elgin Courier, published in ScctUiml.] 

 [A number of copies on the subjoined, having 

 been lately printed in another form attlie Courier 

 office, for one of our country gentlemen, we think 

 we cannot do a more acceptable service to our agri- 

 cultural friends than to insert it in this place. It 

 was drawn up by order of the Agricultural Asso- 

 ciation, as the result of inquiries into the practice 

 adopted in Ireland in making of butter, and of the 

 experience of some extensive cures in the county 

 of Aberdeen. — Ed."] 



1. The milk house or dairy should have no in- 

 ternal communication with any other building. It 

 must be kept free from smoke, well aired, and no 

 potatoes, fish, onions, cheese, or anything likely to 

 impart a strong or bad smell, should be kept there- 

 in. In short, nothing but the dairy utensils, which 

 must be kept sweet and clean. 



2. The milk, when brought in from the cows, 

 should be strained through a fine hair sieve or 

 strainer, and when cool, put into sweet well sea- 

 soned oaken tubs, keelers or milk pans — the latter 

 to be preferred. A tin skimmer, with holes in it, 

 is the best for taking off the cream, which should 

 always be churned while the cream is fresh. 



3. The churns, whether pump or barrel, should 

 be made of the best well seasoned while oak — and 

 as cleanliness is of the first importance, great at- 

 tention should be paid to the \vashing, drying and 

 airing of the ciiurns immediately after use, other- 

 wise they are sure to contract a sour and unwhole- 

 some smell, wliich must injure the quality of the 

 butter. 



4. The butter, immediately after being churned 

 should be thrown into fresh spring water, where 

 it should remain for one hour at least, that it may 

 grow firm; and at the end of the third or fourth 

 washing, some tine salt should be put into the wa- 

 ter, which will raise the color of the butter, and 

 purge away any milk that remains among it. Be- 

 fore salting, it is very essential that no milk or wa- 

 ter be left, otherwise a strong smell and unpleasant 

 taste Avill be the certain consequence. 



5. The butter thus prepared, should be immedi- 

 ately salted. The proportion of salt may be from 

 one and one-fourth to one and one-half ounce of 

 Scotch salt for the pound of butter — or of the best 

 stoved rock or bay salt one ounce for the pound. 

 But when butter is not intended to be kept through 

 the winter and spring, or for any long period, the 

 quantities of salt above recommended may be some- 

 what reduced, the curer exercising his own judg- 

 ment in doing so. 



N. B. In Ireland, the use of salt and salt-petre 

 is recommended, in proportion, of one ounce of 

 stoved rock or bay salt, and one-fifth of an ounce 

 of salt pctre to the Aberdeen pound. 



6. It is a very injurious practice to keep a mak- 

 ing of butter lincured to the next churning, for 

 the jjurpose of mixing the two together. This 

 mode invariably injures the flavor of the Avhole, 

 and renders it of too soft a quality ever afterwards 

 to get firm. This applies to curers who are the 

 producers of the butter; but as the greatest quan- 

 tity of butter in this country is collected and cured 

 by merchants, they are particularly cautioned 

 against the practice of throwing the fresh butter 

 together, and retaining it in that state for days, un- 

 til they liave collected what they consider a suffi- 

 cient quantity to commence curing — the butter 

 treated in this manner is invariably found inferior 

 to what is salted after churning. Should, however, 

 there not be a sufficient quantity collected in one 

 day to fill a package when cured, the quality of the 

 Initter may be preserved by giving it a partial salt- 

 ing, and covering it over with a clean linen c'oth 

 dipped in pickle, and placing it in a cool situation. 

 Country dealers who are in the habit of sending 

 carts through the districts where they reside to 

 collect the butter, should endeavor to arrange it 

 so between themselves and the makers of the but- 

 ter, tliat it is churned upon the day it is called for, 



7. W hen the butter is cured, it should be tramp- 

 ed firm into the firkin w" ith a round wooden tramp- 

 stick, of sufficient weight and thickness. The fir- 

 kin should be filled up to the crose, and then co- 

 vered over with a little of the purest salt — suffi- 

 cient room merely left for the head of the cask, and 

 must be well secured, to exclude air, and prevent 

 the pickle from getting out. 



8. The Liverpool stoved salt, or Portugal St. 

 Ubes, or bay salt, is from strength and quality, al- 

 ways to be preferred. All salt must be quite dry, 

 and at a distance from fire, to prevent the first im- 

 bibing the smell of the smoke. If kept in a cask, 

 a little unslacked lime placed under it will prevent 

 its drawing moisture from the ground. 



9. The mixing of the salt with th^ butter should 

 be done in wooden dishes, after the water and milk 

 are completely expelled, and no time should then 

 be lost in tramping it into the firkin, which will 

 make it draw even and firm. 



10. The milk of new calved cows should never 

 be set for butter until at lo.-st fourdays after calving. 



