354 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK n. 



about 50 Fahr. ; it should not be lower than 48 nor higher than 57 3 . 

 As showing the diversity of practice shall we sa} r of opinion ? the ice 

 process of cooling the water described in connection with the Swedish 

 factories in a subsequent part of this chapter is not approved in the 

 American system now under consideration, the butter made with ice- 

 water being found to be, or supposed to be, more sensitive to heat than 

 that made with cold spring-water. 



It is considered of great importance to expose as little as possible 

 of the surface of the milk to the air, in order that the top of the cream 

 may not get dry, this dryness "flecking" the butter, and injuring its 

 flavour. The milk of one day is left in the pools till next morning, 

 giving 24 hours for the morning delivery, and 12 hours for the evening 

 delivery, for the cream to rise. A little funnel-shaped vessel, with a 

 long handle fixed to one side, is used to raise the cream from the 

 pails. As soon as the blue milk level is reached no more cream is 

 taken out. 



The cream in autumn and spring is churned sweet as soon as it is taken 

 out of the pails ; in summer it is put into pails and kept in the pools till 

 it has acquired a slightly acid taste, when it is churned. In some 

 factories the cream, as a rule, is churned sourish, the butter-milk 

 going to the cheese-vats with the skim-milk, to be made into "skim- 

 milk cheese." 



The churning is generally done by steam power, and the churn 

 preferred in American butter-factories is the Blanchard Churn, as seen 

 in Fig. 72, which is made in different sizes to churn from 30 to 150 

 gallons. Quick churning, to which we have in another place referred, 

 is not desired, as butter when churned too quickly is injured. A 

 period of from half to three-quarters of an hour is considered the best. 

 The quantity put into the churn at a time is from 60 to 70 quarts, and, 

 with this quantity of cream, from 12 to 16 quarts of water, to dilute 

 and thin the cream and to bring it to a temperature of about 60 F. 



Some makers prefer to pass the cream through a sieve previously 

 diluting it with water before putting it into the churn. This is done 

 in order to keep back any knott.y particles, and to ensure a perfect 

 uniformity in the thickness of the cream. This mode of working is 

 deemed of great importance by some makers of the best qualities of 

 butter, who also prefer thin cream got by putting the milk in deep 

 vessels to the thick "seething cream," obtained by putting it up in 

 shallow ones, which is not evenly churned. The dashers of the 

 churns are arranged to go within an inch of the bottom of the down- 

 ward stroke, and to rise above the cream in the upward stroke. The 

 temperature of the cream during churning should not be above 60, 

 and if at the finish the butter-milk should exceed this, the butter will 

 be injured both in flavour and colour. In cold weather the temperature 

 of 62 is the best. 



The working up of the butter after it is taken out of the churn is a 

 most important process, much of the quality being dependent upon the 

 way in which this is done. There are various methods of carrying out 

 the process, some dairymaids preferring hand-working, and this used 



