230 Ttt^ PARM. 



killed; the salt water is then drawn off, and for a long time the trough will 

 remain pure and the water bright. 



Bitter Milk. — Bitter milk ia a matter of frequent occurrence every fall 

 and winter, or soon after the cows are off from grazing. It is caused, first, 

 by bitter herbs in the hay — such as May weed, rag weed, John's wort, etc. — 

 and also by the use of too much over-ripe food, such as straw, corn stover, 

 or late-cut hay. It never occurs when cows are f d on good food, and are 

 thriving, or even holding their own, and are kept comfortably warm. It can 

 be avoided, first, by correcting the error ia feeding and exposure; and, sec- 

 ondly, by scalding the milk when it is first drawn, by settiag it in pans over 

 a kettle of boiling water till the skin which forms on its top is well wrinkled, 

 and then setting it away to cool for the cream to rise. This treatment will 

 drive out the cause of the bitter flavor, and improve the butter and make it 

 easy to churn. 



Borax for Salting Butter. — The Italian minister of agriculture ad- 

 dressed a communication to the chamber of commerce of Milan relative to 

 experiments in salting butter with borax which have been carried out at the 

 agricultural station at Florence. From the account which appears in the 

 Giornale di AgncoUura, borax would ajipear to have a most marvelous effect 

 in insuring its absolute preseiwation. Samples of fresh butter made at the 

 Florence station, and purposely not carefully freed of their buttermilk, were 

 found, on the addition of about eight per cent, of borax, to maintain their 

 natural fine flavor, without the least change whatever, for upward of three 

 months. To attain this satisfactory result, it is necessary that the borax 

 sliould be perfectly diy, and in a very fine powder, and care must be taken 

 to its thorough mixture with the whole mass of the butter operated on. 

 Among the further advantages of this plan, it is noted that borax imparts no 

 flavor of any kind to the bixtter, while it is entirely harmless in its nature, 

 and also reasonably cheap. Still later experiments have shown that a very 

 much smaller proportion of borax suffices to produce the desired effect, and 

 also that simple sohitions of the salt act quite as well as the dried powder. 



Don't Flavor Yotir Butter too Mncli. — It is too true that unless we 

 adopt the improvements of the day and look carefully after our interests, we 

 shall be left iu the background as to quality and profit. But why is it that 

 western creamery butter brings a better price ? We are told it is because of 

 its uniformity of quality. The butter is made from day to day, from week 

 to week under the same conditions, and always free from anything that would 

 impart impleasant flavors. Milk set in a farmer's kitchen or in any place 

 where it will absorb unpleasant odors from cooking vegetables, from to- 

 bacco smoke or from clothing fully charged with the odor of the stables, 

 cannot make butter free from unpleasant flavor. We complain of low prices 

 received when we ourselves are to blame. The flavor of the butter is af- 

 fected by the feed of the cows. We lay the blame at the door of the dairy 

 woman, when he who feeds the cows is responsible. 



To Color Butter. — As a rule, it is absolutely essential in the winter to 

 color butter in order to make it marketable, or at all attractive as an article 

 of table iiso at home. There may be a possible exception to this rule, in 

 cases where cows are fed largely upon yellow corn, pumpkins, carrots, etc., 

 but this does not lessen the importance of the rule. Of the various sub- 

 •tances used in coloring butter, we think that carrots (of the deep yellow 



