vi i] BUTTER-MAKING 115 



of such micro -organic life. In the case of butter and 

 cheese, however, micro-organic life, far from being 

 inimical, is absolutely necessary indeed, on it de- 

 pends the whole success of butter and cheese making ; 

 and the chief object aimed at by the butter or cheese 

 maker however unconsciously this object may be 

 pursued is to produce conditions favourable for the 

 development of the proper kind of micro- organic 

 life. 



Object of Churning. The chief constituent of 

 butter is, as all are aware, butter-fat. But butter-fat 

 is not, as it is too common to suppose, the only con- 

 stituent. We have in butter, in addition to the butter- 

 fat, all the other constituents of milk in small 

 amount, it is true, but exercising a not unimportant 

 function in furnishing nutrition for the development 

 of the bacterial life so necessary for the production 

 of good butter. The relative proportions in which 

 these constituents are present are similar to those in 

 which they are present in milk. But, while these 

 minor constituents of milk must not be regarded as 

 of no importance, yet the chief and most important 

 constituent of butter is the butter-fat, and the first 

 great object of the butter-maker is to obtain from his 

 milk the largest possible amount of the butter-fat it 

 contains. 



Fat in milk, as we have seen, is in the form of 

 globules. In butter-making these globules are made 



