360 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 



Yet it is well known that grain is frequently at- 

 tacked by insects in the bin, and not unfrequently 

 ruined by them. We have seen wheat, rye and 

 barley, thus injured. When our national legisla- 

 tors, in the plenitude of their wisdom and patriot- 

 ic liberality, shall allow national support, and en- 

 dow a college for the promotion of agricultural 

 science, the labors of the entomological depart- 

 ment will no doubt throw some light upon this 

 interesting and important study. Simple indi 

 vidual effjrt can scarcely be effectual in so extend 

 ed a work. . 



For the New Em^land Farmer. 

 MAKING BUTTER. 



Messrs. Editors : — It is somewhat singular that 

 such different results should be produced by two 

 persons in the operation of churning; — one per- 

 son operating in your house, and the other in 

 your next neighbor's. They are as different as 

 the rose and the poke weed in odor, and in taste 

 no more alike than sherry wine and castor oil. 

 Is all this difference owing to the house, or is it 

 in the churn, the woman or the cow? There is no 

 luxury produced in the tropics that is a more 

 agreeable addition to the substantials of the table 

 than good butter ; and carrion is not much more 

 disgusting than a great portion of the grease that 

 is marketed in the metropolis of our State under 

 the name of butter. 



This, however, is foreign to the purpose which I 

 have in hand, and for which I have taken my pen. 

 This is not to write upon the qualities of butter, 

 or to give directions for making a good article 

 My object is rather to make inquiries than to give 

 a lesson, and my aim is toward the principle upon 

 which the article is made, rather than the mo'le 

 of making it. I have often thought it rather 

 strange that a man so thoroughly scientific, and 

 at the same time so practical, as Chaptal, who de- 

 voted a chapter of his excellent and instructive 

 work on Agricultural Chemistry to the subject of 

 butter, should have omitted to inform us how it is 

 produced. Perhaps there is not a butter-maker 

 in this Bay State, though we have a very conceit- 

 ed opinion of our superior knowledge, that can 

 answer the question involved in the four closing 

 words of the last sentence, simple as it seems. 

 By answering, I mean, of course, giving a satisfic- 

 tory explanation. Is the oily part of the milk, 

 which constitutes the article called butter, sepa- 

 rated from the lime, serum, &c., by mechanical 

 force, chemical affinity, temperature, or fermenta- 

 tion 1 At first sight many readers will exclaim 

 that it is a useless, nonsensical question, and they 

 don't care to know. A sad error. This knowl- 

 edge is not only satisfactory, as all knowledge is 

 in itself, but it is practical and useful. If known, 

 it may afford a clue to the true mode of making it, 

 so as to be produced by less labor, and also of a 

 superior quality : — and will direct us to the true 

 desideratum in making the best churn, if churn 

 must be used, or in finding a substitute for that ma- 

 chine, that will do the work more easily, speedily, 

 or perfectly. It is well known that butter cannot 

 be produced if the cream is at t(jo high a tempera- 

 ture. The proper degree of heat is said to be 48, 

 or that of the well or cellar in summer. The 



operation of the churn seems to be founded on the 

 idea that the separation is mechanical, and that 

 the cohesion of the oily particles with the lime is 

 so slight, that repeated and continued blows with 

 a dasher or stick will completely effect this sepa- 

 ration through the entire mass. But if it ynayhe 

 produced by mechanical force of beating, it is cer- 

 tain that it may be produced, also, without that 

 means, as is proved by the fact I shall relate. In 

 my boyhood, about forty-five years since, my 

 mother kept a single cow, to supply her family 

 with milk. The household being pretty numerous 

 and several children, she usually found a full de- 

 mand for the milk : — but having several times col- 

 lected a redundance of cream, and liaving no 

 churn, she tied her cream in her thick pudding 

 bag. and buried it in the ground twelve or eigh- 

 teen inches, (if I remember aright,) and in the 

 morning tqok out most excellent butter, into 

 which tlie cream had been changed. Now there 

 is no mechanical process in this conversion. And 

 the question is, did the temperature alone effect 

 it, or was it assisted by chemical affinity, or by 

 fermentation. Air produces fermentation: — so 

 does water. And there is opportunity for the ad- 

 mission of air, either by the proceeding above re- 

 lated, or by churning. The oxygen or hydrogen 

 of the air might also have the effect of separating 

 the lime from the oily part of the milk, by mere 

 chemical affinity, without fermentation. And 

 this, I am inclined to think, is the true process in 

 the production of butter, which is easier at a par- 

 ticular degree of temperature, because, the cohe- 

 sive power of the oil and lime is feebler at that, 

 than at a higher temperature. In churning, not 

 much air is admitted into the churn, but the most 

 is made of a small quantity, by stirring it so that 

 it comes in contact with every portion of the 

 cream. Now if I have named the true principle 

 of butter making, it will afford a light which will 

 serve to guide our wives in this part of their ru- 

 ral industry, and the ingenious may make an ap- 

 plication of it that may be serviceable in the keep- 

 ing or conversion of the cream, or in the construc- 

 tion of the churn. 



I think, that an explanation in full of the secret 

 of the production of butter by a scientific and 

 practical chemist, with detailed statements of the 

 experiments by which he has attained his results, 

 would be an interesting paper for your columns. 

 There is nothing more interesting or more beauti- 

 ful than the application of science and of useful 

 knowledge to common things. 



You mentioned in one of your late numbers 

 that a gentleman of Brussels had recently found a 

 way of separating the cream from the milk more 

 speedily and perfectly, by mixing a solution of 

 carbonate of soda, and other matters. This, I 

 think, confirms my idea that the separation is ef- 

 fected by chemical affinity, and affords ground 

 for the inference that the farther separation of 

 the other matters from the butter may be pro- 

 duced by the mixture of the same or some other 

 substances. It may be the carbon of the atmos- 

 phere which produces the separation, by its affini- 

 ty for the other matters of the milk and cream, 

 stronger than that of the oily matter. 



Some of your readers will say, perhaps, as be- 

 fore intimated, that all this is of no use. Those 

 who make good butter are content to know how 

 to make it, and don't care to inquire into the ra- 



