1042 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



it should remain during the whole time of churning ; which will very much harden the butter. During 

 winter, from the equality of temperature, which (if it be properly managed) will generally prevail in a 

 dairy, it will very rarely, if ever, be necessary to churn near the fire. Should any circumstance, however, 

 require this, care should be taken not to cliurn so near the fire as to heat the wood ; as it would impart a 

 strong rancid taste to the butter. As soon as the butter is made, it must be separated from the milk, and 

 be put into a clean dish ; the inside of which, if of wood, should previously be well rubbed with common 

 salt, to prevent the butter from adhering to it. The butter should then be pressed and worked with a flat 

 wooden ladle or skimming-dish, having a short handle, so as to press out all the milk that may be lodged 

 in the cavities of the mass. A considerable degree of dexterity, as well as of strength, is requisite in this 

 manipulation : for, if the milk be not entirely removed, the butter will infallibly spoil in a short time ; 

 and if it be much worked, the butter will become tough and gluey, which greatly debases its quality. In 

 some places it is the practice to beat up the butter with two flat pieces of board, which may, perhaps, 

 answer very well. In this operation, some persons pour cold water upon the butter, for the purpose of 

 washing it : this practice, however, is not only useless, for the butter can be perfectly cleared of the milk 

 without it, but it is also pernicious, and debases the quality of the butter in an astonishing degree. Nothing 

 is so detrimental in a dairy as water improperly used ; which, if mixed in any way, either with milk or 

 butter, tends greatly to debase the quality of the latter. 



7024. The best temperature f 07- churning butter has been very satisfactorily determined by a number of 

 experiments, sanctioned by the Highland Society of Scotland, and published in their Transactions. From 

 these experiments it is concluded, that the most proper temperature at which to commence the operation 

 of churning butter is from 50 to 55^; and that afno time in the operation ought it to exceed 6.5 : while, 

 on the contrary, if at any time the cream should be under 50 in temperature, the labour will be much 

 increased, without any proportionate advantage being obtained ; and a temperature of a higher rate than 

 65 will be injurious, as well to the quality as the quantity of the butter. {Highl. Soc. Trails, vol.vii. p. 198.) 



7025. The making up of butter is the next process. 



7026. Before being sejit to table or market, sweet or fresh butter is made up into various forms ; some- 

 times into rolls or cylinders, six or eight inches long, and from half an inch to two inches in diameter; at 

 other times into smidl round figures, or casts, with impressions in relief from butter moidds. When the 

 butter is too soft for the last purpose, it may be put into small wooden vessels, which may be allowed to 

 swim in a tub or cistern of cold water; or they may be set in an ice-house for an hour or two; or the 

 water in which the small vessels float may be iced. At all events, wh.itever mode is adopted, no water 

 ought to be allowed to touch the butter. When formed into the desired shapes, it may be placed in dishes, 

 and set in the margin of the central cistern of water till wanted. 



7027. In salting or curing butter the use of wooden vessels is preferable ; and these 

 vessels should be made from timber which has been previously boiled for four hours, to 

 free it from the pyroligneous acid; or they shouldbe formed from the lime tree, which 

 is confidently asserted (Highl. Soc. Trans, vol. vii, p. 355.) to be without this acid. 

 Whatever description of casks are used, they should previously be rendered as clean and 

 sweet as possible, well rubbed with salt, and tlie cavity between the bottom and sides 

 filled in with melted butter. 



7028. An excellent composition for preserving butter may be made, by reducing into a fine powder, and 

 carefully mixing together, sugar and nitre, of each one part, and two parts of the best common salt. Moir 

 to each pound weight of salt adds four ounces of raw sugar. Of this composition, one ounce should be 

 thoroughly mixed with every sixteen ounces of butter, as soon as the latter has been freed from the milk ; 

 and the butter must be immediately put itito the firkin, being pressed so close as to leave no air-holes, or 

 any kind of cavities, within it. The surface must be smoothed ; and, if a day or two be expected to elapse 

 before mofe can be added, the vessel must be closely covered up with a piece of clean linen, upon which 

 should be laid a piece of wetted parchment, or (if this be not procurable) with a piece of fine linen dipped 

 in melted butter, that is exactly fitted to the edges of the vessel all round, so as to exclude the air as 

 much as pbssible. When more'butter is to be added, these coverings are to be removed ; the butter is to 

 be applied Close upon the former layer, pressing it down, and smoothing it as before, till the vessel be full. 

 The two covers are then to be spread over it with the greatest care ; and a little melted butter is to be 

 poured all round the edges, so as to fill up every part, and effectually to exclude the air. A little salt 

 may then be strewed over the whole, and the cover be firmly fixed down. Butter thus cured does not 

 taste well till it has stood at least a fortnight after it has been salted ; but after that period it acquires a 

 rich marrowy taste, and will continue perfectly sweet in this climate for many years. As, however, its 

 quality is liable to be impaired by being improperly treated while it is using, it will be necessary, when the 

 firkin is opened, first to pare off a small portion of the whole surface, especially near the edges, in case the 

 air should, by any accident, not have been entirely excluded. If it is to be quickly consumed, it may be 

 taken up as it is wanted, without any other precaution than that of keeping it carefully covered up ; but, 

 on the contrary, if it is to be used very slowly, and if the person employed to take it up be not very careful 

 in closing it up each time with the covers, the part which is thus exposed to the air will be liable to con. 

 tract a small degree of rancidity. To prevent the occurrence of this inconvenience, when the vessel is 

 opened, a strong brine of common salt (strong enough to float an egg) should be poured, when cold, upon 

 the surface of the butter ; and although the quality of the latter will be slightly injured by the action of 

 the water upon it, yet that is a much less evil than the slightest rancidity would occasion. 



7029. Butter casks. The following is the plan adoi)ted by Moir: "Cut the wood into deals of the 

 lengths wanted; have a boiler of a square form, the length of the wood, full of water : put in the wood 

 with a weight or pressure, to keep it immersed in the water, and have a wooden cover on the boiler, as it 

 must be done by close evaporation. When thus boiled for four hours, the whole of the pyrolignous acid 

 will be extracted. The wood is then dried for use. It becomes closer and more condensed, from the 

 fibres being contracted. By this method, while the wood continues hot, it can be easily brought to any 

 .ihape, and used for various purposes ; and this is the only mode by which barrels for salted butter should 

 be made. {Highl. Soc. Trans, vol.vii. p. 356) 



7030. When butter is to be exposed to the heat of a ivarm climate, it should be purified by melting before 

 it is salted and packed up. For this purpose, let it be put into a proper vessel, and this be immersed into 

 another containing water. Let the water be heated till the butter be thoroughly melted : let it continue 

 in this state for some time, when the impure parts will subside, leaving at the top a perfectly pure trans- 

 parent oil. This, when it cools, will become opaque, and assume a colour nearly resembling that of the 

 original butter, being only somewhat paler, and of a firmer consistence. When this refined butter is be- 

 come a little stiff", but while it is still somewhat soft, the pure part must be separated from the dregs, and 

 be salted and packed up in the same manner as other butter ; it will continue sweet much longer in hot 

 climates, as it retains the salt better than in its original state. It may also be preserved sweet, without 

 salt, by adding to it a certain portion of fine honey, perhaps one ounce to a pound of butter, and mixing 

 them together thoroughly, so that they may be perfectly incorporated. A mixture of this sort has a sweet 

 pleasant taste, and will keep for years without becoming rancid ; there is no doubt, therefore, but that 

 butter might thus be preserved in long voyages without spoiling. 



