1858.] SENATE— No. 4. 163 



and a few cents a pound higher, than salted butter. Salted 

 butter kept in its usual state, that is more or less exposed to 

 the air, will absorb oxygen, and is therefore more injurious and 

 unhealthy than fresh butter. 



" After Uutter is made, especially if the cream was sour, a 

 decomposition takes place which, to a greater or less extent, is 

 unavoidable, and if this decomposition reaches far, butyric 

 acid is produced and other offensive matters, and the conse- 

 quences must be injurious to the consumer. 



" To prevent the absorption of oxygen, both in the making 

 and keeping of butter, I have, after several years of practical 

 and theoretical examination and experiment, adopted the fol- 

 lowing conclusions, viz. : — 



" 1st. It is not necessary to have a large and expensive 

 cellar for the keeping of the milk. Common house cellars are 

 wholly unfit for keeping milk. Too many other things are 

 often stored there which pregnate the air with gases injurious 

 to the milk. A room devoted exclusively to it, and situated 

 on the north side of the house is better. 



" Cleanliness is essential in every part of the room, and every 

 thing in it. The room should be whitewashed once a year, and 

 all the wood work and the floor should be painted with oil 

 paint. The temperature of the room should not be over 

 seventy-five or eighty degrees Fahrenheit, and never under 

 sixty degrees ; and this temperature, should, in winter, be kept 

 up if necessary, by a stove, and in summer by good ventilation 

 with blinds, or wire screens on the windows. 



" 2d. Milk Utensils. — To prevent, if possible, the milk from 

 turning acid, no utensils should be of wood, as, even with the 

 greatest cleanliness, wood is apt to be infected by the all-pene- 

 trating acidity. The same is the case with those made of metal 

 or stone, which were formerly either round or angular, and 

 which were more or less uneven in their surfaces, and oftered no 

 protection against the infectious acidity. Those not made of 

 metal are easily broken, and those of copper or iron, to prevent 

 their rusting, must be worked over from time to time. The 

 worst kind of utensils are those made of zinc, as milk acidity 

 acts as a dissolvent of zinc. 



" All these disadvantages are avoided by using tin. Tin veg- 



