184 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



ing 1.97 per cent, of common salt dissolved out am- 

 at the rate of 23 grains per gallon. We have thus 

 another function which carbonic acid may possess, 

 and in addition to that of acting as a food for plants, 

 it may serve as the agent by means of which an ad- 

 ditional supply of other substances is presented to it. 

 The fact just' mentioned may also explain the effect 

 produced by conmion salt, which has always been a 

 difficulty, especially since we have seen reason to be- 

 lieve socla is of little importance as a food for plants. 

 We have already alluded to the absorption of phos- 

 phoric acid, which is in no clegi'ee dependent upon 

 these double silicates, but solely on the presence of 

 lime ivx ^Ve soil, with which it forms an insoluble com- 

 pound. It cannot be doubted that these observa- 

 tions are of much importance, and have a very im- 

 portant V)eaving on the practice of agriculture. I 

 cannot help thinking, hoM-ever, that Mr. Way carries 

 his views too far, when he denies any absorbent influ- 

 ence to the organic matters of the soil, and attributes 

 it exclusively to these double silicates. It has been 

 distinctly proved that humus absorbs and retains am- 

 monia and its carbonate; and though I do not know 

 that the experiment has been tried, the humats of 

 lime (which certainly exists in the soil) ought on 

 chemical grounds to decompose the salts of ammo- 

 nia, and form the humate of ammonia, which retains 

 its base with great obstinacy. It must also be re- 

 membered that it has not been proved that these 

 double silicates actually do exist in the soil, but only 

 inferred, that because when artificially produced they 

 absorb ammonia, they may be the cause of the same 

 effect in the soil. Difficulties even exist in explaining 

 how they should be formed there; but, with all this, 

 it is manifest that the inquiry is an important contri- 

 bution to our knowledge of the chemistry of the soil. 

 But we must beware lest we carry too far the infer- 

 ences to be deduced from these experiments, and I 

 think there is rather a tendency to do so. The ab- 

 sorptive power of soils is a convenient phrase which 

 I have sometimes heard used, as if sufficiently explain- 

 ing facts otherwise unintelligible, although a veiy lit- 

 tle consideration might have shown that they could 

 not possibly liave any connection with it." — London 

 Agricultural Gazette. 



[From the Cobourg Star.] 



PRIZE ESSAY ON BUTTEE-MAKING.* 



BY MRS. TRAIL. 



Pans of thick glass are much used in home dairie^f 

 also pans lined with zinc and a species of enamel, such 

 as the iron stone pan and preserving pans are coated 

 with ; trays of wood about four inches in depth with 

 pegs for letting off the milk used to be much the 

 fashion, but I think wooden ware is liable to crack 

 and wai-p during the hot weather, and is less easily 

 cleaned from the sour particles of milk. 



With respect to the churn, a small volume might 

 be written on the kinds — in my opinion the simpler 

 the machinery the better. The old fashioned uprio-ht 

 chuni, worked with the staff and cross dash, may be 

 as effectire in the end, but it imposes a greater amount 

 of labor than such as are worked with a winch. The 



• Concluded from the Jlay number. \ 



simplest churn and one that I have heard much 

 praised by very good dairy-women, is a box churn, 

 the sides of which are sloped so as to leave no acute 

 angles and corners, always difficult to keep clean ; the 

 sides are provided with dashers, and a dasher is also 

 affixed to the beam of the handle which passes 

 through the churn, this can be unscrewed; the butter- 

 milk is drawn off by means of a plug-hole near the 

 bottom of the churn. I have also seen a churn with 

 an iron wheel turned with a winch, which is very easy 

 to work. There is the old barrel churn which is also 

 simple and effective ; the advantage of this last being 

 that the butter can be washed before being removed 

 from the chum, ready for salting. Earthenware pots 

 or good stoneware jars are best for storing the cream 

 in ; with each jar there should be a clean smooth 

 wooden staff for stirring the cream. This is a matter 

 that dairy maids pay little attention to, and yet it is 

 of some importance in thoroughly mixing the cream 

 together so as to prevent any sour milk or whey from 

 settliiig below, thus giving a disagreeable taste to the 

 whole mass of butter. Those persons who churn the 

 fore-milk of the cows only, often keep it in the churn, 

 but this I think is apt to injui-e the flavor of the but- 

 ter. In cool weather, scalding the cream just before 

 churning greatly facilitates the churning, and obviates 

 the necessity of putting hot water into the cream, a 

 practice in very common use, but which I believe is 

 highly injurious to the richness and good color of the 

 butter, gi\ing it a white, greasy, poor appearance. 

 In the winter season the cream jar should be brought 

 into a warm room over night, which M'ill thicken the 

 cream and bring it to the required temiDerature for 

 churning; frozen cream will make frothy butter, or no 

 butter will be obtained after much labor. In hot 

 weather the churn should be allowed to stand some 

 time with cold clear water in it, and if the v^'eather be 

 very hot immerse the churn in water; if a plunge 

 churn be used, it can be placed in a tub of cold water 

 during the churning. Many excellent dairy women 

 are in favor of churning cream and stripping, while 

 others prefer the cream only. I think myself tliat the 

 richest butter is produced from the cream alone, but 

 possibly a larger return may be obtained from the 

 former practice. 



AVhere cows are fed on turnips, a small quantity of 

 saltpetre dissolved in a little water and mixed with 

 the cream before churning, is said to remove the flavor 

 of the turnips from the butter. I knew a farmer's 

 wife who always practised it in the winter season. 

 This same person, who was celebrated in the part of 

 the country where she lived for good butter, used 

 during the hot weather to put half a pint of cold 

 spring water into each of the milk pans or trays to 

 raise the cream, and in winter she jsut the same quan- 

 tity of IsoiUng water to raise the temperature for the 

 same purpose. 



Many approve of the Devonshire and Cornish plan 

 of scalding the milk; careless servants are apt to let 

 the milk get over-heated, Avhich decidedly injures the 

 flavor of the butter, but veiy good butter no doubt 

 is made by heating the milk, and the largest amount 

 of cream is raised from the milk ; it has another ad- 

 vantage, that of keeping the skimmed milk sweet for 

 the use of the family. 



In a North Lancashire paper I saw the following 



