84 MAKING AND SALTING OF BUTTER. 



In the process of salting, a little salt and water ought 

 to cover the butter from the first, and a piece of thin 

 linen should also be spread over it. The sides of the 

 kit must be daily Avetted with thin salt and water, by 

 which mould is prevented from forming on the empty 

 part of the kit during the time of filling. The kit 

 ought to be filled within one inch of the top, and kept 

 constantly covered by linen, and a pickle of salt and 

 water. Butter is apt to rise above the pickle. This is 

 easily prevented by turning a dinner-plate over the but- 

 ter. By placing a weight on the lid, the plate will 

 be kept down. The kits must be kept on a cool, airy 

 shelf of the dairy — not on the floor — and occasionally 

 moved around a little. Butter for keeping may with 

 safety be salted during all the time the cows are on 

 pasture. It is a most useful thing to have a slate in 

 the dairy, whereon to note down the date and produce 

 of every churning ; also what is salted or otherwise ; 

 and these notes to be set down occasionally in a book. 

 A jar of ready-made pickle, just strong enough to move 

 an egg, but not so strong as to cause it to swim to the 

 top, ought always to be kept in the dairy. Have also 

 at hand a can of prepared salt and sugar, to be kept in 

 a dry place, as the dairy will be too damp. The kits 

 ought to be all numbered, and those first salted should 

 be first used. 



I have still to beg your indulgence for a few thoughts 

 suggested by the above observations. In this enlight- 

 ened age, when each class of the community is vicing 

 with the rest in improving the commodity which comes 

 under their immediate care, it is surprising that public 

 attention has been so little turned to the improvement 

 of the mode of salting butter. The same complaints 

 from the same cause are constantly to be heard, and 

 there the matter rests, and so it will rest, unless general 

 attention be directed to it, and a decided effort be made. 

 Nothing is wanting to remove this grievance but a 

 few slight attentions. There is no additional toilj no 



