30 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



oil-sweet, that strong odor is not noticeable, bat as soon as that 

 combination by some cause or another is disturbed, their objec- 

 tionable odor and taste become manifest, and we say the butter 

 is rancid. Practice seems to endorse in the interest of the mak- 

 ing and preserving of a good butter, the following rules : have 

 your apparatus for butter-making well cleaned ; do not churn at 

 a higher temperature than from 50 to 56° F. ; keep off all offen- 

 sive odors, for fats as a general rule absorb them very readily ; 

 carry the entire process on with speed, and shorten thus the in- 

 jurious access of air under very disadvantageous circumstances ; 

 wash the separated butter under little agitation with a saturated 

 solution of best dairy salt, and repeat this last treatment but a 

 few times. Too much washing injures the quality of the butter 

 as far as the nicety of its flavor is concerned ; too little washing 

 leaves too much milk-sugar, and particularly caseine (or cheese- 

 stuff) behind. This caseine is, in the language of chemists, a 

 nitrogenous substance, and is most remarkable on account, not 

 only of its disposition to break up into very disagreeably smelling 

 and tasting substances, but also to have the property to impart 

 its own instability upon other more stable compounds, as, for in- 

 stance, the neutral fats of the butter. Its effect on the butter 

 is a mere question of degree, which salt under the most favorable 

 circumstances, will only prevent for a limited time. The larger 

 the amount of caseine left, the sooner will the butter be changed, 

 a result which a perfect tight-packing, and thus most efficient 

 exclusion of the air can only somewhat delay. The following 

 analysis may give some idea about various kinds of salt, — com- 

 mon, fine and dairy salt, which we are consuming for family 

 use, and in the dairy business. 



Common Fine and JBoiled Salt. 



Of Onondaga, 

 N. Y. 



Portsmouth, 

 JUich. 



Mason City, 

 Ohio. 



Sulphate of lime, . 

 Chloride of calcium, 

 Chloride of magnesium, 

 Moisture, 

 Chloride of sodium, 



1355 

 0.155 

 0.136 

 3000 

 95.353 



0.805 

 0.974 

 0.781 

 6.752 

 90.682 



0.614 

 0.041 

 3.470 



95789 



