358 LETTER TO A DAIRY-WOMAN. 



On pages 231 and 234 I have called your attention to 

 the use of the sponge and clean cloth for absorbing 

 and removing the butter-milk in the most thorough man- 

 ner ; this I regard as of great importance. 



I have stated on page 234 that, under ordinarily favor- 

 able circumstances, from twelve to eighteen hours will 

 be sufficient to raise the cream ; and that 1 do not believe 

 it should stand over twenty-four hours under any cir- 

 cumstances. This, I am aware, is very different from 

 the general practice over the country. But, if you 

 will make the experiment in the most careful manner, 

 setting the pans in a good, airy place, and not upon the 

 cellar bottom, I think you will soon agree with me that 

 all you get, after twelve or eighteen hours, under the 

 best circumstances, or at most after twenty-four hours, 

 will detract from the quality and injure the fine and 

 delicate aroma and agreeable taste of the butter to a 

 greater extent than you are aware of. The cream which 

 rises from milk set on the cellar bottom acquires an 

 acrid taste, and can neither produce butter of so fine 

 a quality or so agreeable to the palate as that which 

 rises from milk set on shelves from six to eight feet 

 high, around which there is a full and free circulation of 

 pure air. The latter is sweeter, and appears in much 

 larger quantities in the same time than the former. 



If, therefore, you devote your attention to the making 

 of butter to sell fresh in the market, and desire to 

 obtain a reputation which shall aid and secure the quick- 

 est sale and the highest price, you will use cream that 

 rises first, and that does not stand too long on the milk. 

 You will churn it properly and patiently, and not with 

 too great haste. You will work it so thoroughly and 

 completely with the butter-worker, and the sponge and 

 cloth, as to remove every particle of butter-milk, never 

 allowing your own or any other hands to touch it. You 



