122 On the different Kinds of Cattle Farms, 



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good dairy cow, exceeds the value of the cow, her pasture, and the 

 necessary attendance, she may be kept to any age. The teeth, not 

 the stomach, fail. Hence, as long as a cow milks well, she ought to be 

 kept, as she can always be fattened by soft meat. 



It has been remarked, that some cows will give a large quantity of 

 milk, yet will yield little butter ; and that a mixture of it will even 

 prevent the cream of the other cows from churning. This is owing, 

 either to the animal being in an unhealthy state, or to a predilection 

 for particular kinds of herbage, not favourable to the production of 

 good milk. 



5. Manufacture of Butter. Making of butter seems to have been 

 understood, from the earliest periods of society ; but like every other 

 operation on milk, great improvements have been made on its manu- 

 facture in modern times ; chiefly with regard to cleanliness, and the due 

 regulation of temperature. When butter is made from cream only, and 

 the skimmed milk made into cheese or other food, the milk is kept in 

 coolers, from four to six inches deep, and from twenty-four to thirty-six 

 hours, till the cream rise to the surface. Where the dairies are small, 

 and the cream has to be collected till as much is got as may be con- 

 venient to be churned together, it is proper to stir the cream in the 

 vat, twice every day, with a wooden spurtle, to prevent it from throw- 

 ing off the serum, and fermenting too much. The operation of cliurn- 

 ing should be performed slowly, otherwise the butter is injured. 



If the cream is not separated from the milk, but the whole is churn- 

 ed together *, the milk is placed in coolers, till it comes to the tem- 

 perature of the milk-house, say from 50 to 55 degrees of Fahrenheit ; 

 after which it is placed in vats, and allowed to stand, till as much is 

 collected, as may be convenient for being churned together. The milk 

 is never churned till it has not only become sour, but coagulated, or 

 lappered, as the dairy term is. If a second meal of milk is cooled, 

 before the preceding meal has become sour, they may be both put in- 

 to the same vat ; but if the first has in the least acidified, the other is 

 put into another vat, that the souring may come on naturally ; and 

 the greatest care is taken, not to break the coagulum before churning. 

 When that operation commences, the milk is raised from the tempe- 

 rature of the milk-house, to about 70 or 75 degrees, the proper heat for 

 churning ; and this is done by an admixture of hot water. If the 

 churning is performed in less than two hours, the butter is injured. 



Though butter intended to be used when fresh must be made with 

 great care, yet that which is to be salted requires, if possible, still 

 greater attention ; and though salt is indispensable for that pur- 

 pose, yet if the butter is properly prepared, and the salt properly 

 mixed, the quantity required is not considerable. It is said, that the 

 butter made in the months of May, June, July, and August, is the 

 fittest for salting ; and that butter made in the latter part of the sea- 

 son will not take salt so well-)-. 



* It is an immense advantage resulting from this practice, that the butter- 

 milk thus obtained, furnishes such an excellent article of diet for the poor, 

 and in particular for their children. 



f Some prefer the harvest butter as sweeter, and not liable to become so 

 soon rancid as the summer-made butter. 



