242 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



and well made of good seasoned wood, not less than 

 half an inch in thickness for small casks, and five 

 eighths of an inch for large casks : the heads of all 

 large cask^ should be at least five eighths of an inch 

 in thickness, to prevent them from springing ; the 

 staves should be narrow, in order to preserve their 

 places and keep the cask round ; there should be 

 always a fair bilge, with at least eight good substan- 

 tial hoops (maple hoops should never be used) ; the 

 quarter hoops should never be put down so low on 

 the casks as to allow the staves to spring out when 

 the head hoops are taken oft'; the other hoops should 

 all be securely nailed. 



3d. Of Butter. — In all cases where it is made from 

 cream, it should be churned before the delicious fla- 

 W^ur is lost, or any bad flavour induced ; avoid too 

 much heat in the process, as this causes the butter 

 to be soft and of fine grain, bordering on a waxy 

 character ; never fail to extract every particle of 

 milk before it is laid down ; season it with rectified 

 fine salt, or ground solar salt, and work in no more 

 of it than will be entirely dissolved : where any of 

 it is leli undissolved, it destroys that delicate rosy 

 flavour which renders the article most desirable, and 

 its value diminishes in proportion to the excess of 

 salt — this being one of the greatest objections to 

 Western butter. ' 



4th. Of the Packages. — The undersigned would 

 recommend two kinds, viz., firkins and Welsh tubs. 

 The firkins should be made of seasoned white oak, 

 with walnut hoops. Where white oak is not to be 

 had, they should be made of heart-stuff of white ash, 

 and hoops of white or black ash or elm, of good 

 shape and perfectly smooth ; have on at least ten 

 good hoops, smoothly shaved ; let them be perfectly 

 tight, and contain 100 lbs. Welsh tubs should be 

 made of seasoned white ash, hooped with seven sub- 

 stantial split ash hoops, smoothly shaved, to contain 

 from 100 to 120 lbs. Both firkins and tubs should 



