82 MAKING AND SALTING OF BUTTER. 



grass abound, the flavor is much finer than on low 

 grounds, where the pasture is more luxuriant. 



In the want of better information, regarding this 

 very necessary article of domestic comfort, I am in- 

 duced to send you a feW remarks, which may, perhaps, 

 induce others who are better informed to do the same, 

 so that the most approved methods of curing butter 

 may, by the medium of your widely circulated paper, 

 be known throughout the length and breadth of the 

 land. 



As a preliminary, I must beg the indulgence of being 

 very particular ; for the whole process is made up of 

 small things, the neglect of one of which might affect 

 the whole. I also wish it to be understood that my 

 observations are chiefly adapted for the use of small 

 establishments, where from three to six cows are kept. 

 It is inferred that every thing in the dairy is conducted 

 with the most strict regard to cleanliness. It ought to 

 be a cool, dry, well-aired place, free from all damp and 

 bad smells. It is a great mistake to suppose that the 

 art of making good butter consists merely in having it 

 properly churned, thoroughly washed, and sufficiently 

 salted. All this may be most pointedly done, and yet 

 the butter turn out very bad. The main thing — and 

 it must never be lost sight of — is to keep the milk, in 

 all its stages, from contracting the least degree of taint. 

 By taint I do not mean sourness. Sourness will not 

 injure the butter : on the contrary, it greatly facilitates 

 churning ; and, to obtain this in winter, when cream is 

 slow to sour, it is necessary to place it, for twenty-four 

 hours before churning, within the influence of a fire, 

 and to stir it thoroughly two or three times during this 

 period. 



Cream ought never to remain on milk above thirty- 

 six hours. This I consider to be a very important 

 point ; for if, by any omission, cream be suff'ered to re- 

 main for a longer time on milk, it is sure to contract 

 an old bitter taint : and it would be more true economy 



