238 THE DAIETMA:sr'S MANUAL. 



of ice-water, where they float with the tops of the pails 

 exposed to the air, differs somewhat from the covered 

 pail system. The difference consists in tliis, that the 

 cream is exposed to air which is warmer than the milk. 

 » Now warmth moves upward and cold downward, and 

 every one knows that hot water may remain npon ice 

 without melting any more than a very small depth of it 

 downward. Further, cream needs to undergo a process 

 of ripening before it is fit for churning, and this ripen- 

 ing is merely the oxidation of the cream by its exposure 

 to air. This change occurs with greater rapidity in 

 warm air than in cold, and most so with the shallow pan 

 setting. In the case above noted, the warm air of the 

 room in contact with the cream hastens this ripening 

 process, at the same time that the cold water hastens the 

 rising of the cream. But, after practicing both these 

 methods with the utmost care and constant observation 

 of results for some years, the author has not been able 

 to distinguish any difference in the product of the butter 

 either in quantity or in quality. The only difference is 

 that cream raised in shallow pans is pure and too thick 

 to be churned without adding an equal bulk of milk or 

 water, and that one quart of it will produce a pound of 

 butter, while that raised in deep pans is half milk, and 

 two quarts produce one pound of butter ; yet the same 

 quantity of milk in the dairy week after week yields pre- 

 cisely the same amount of butter from either system of 

 setting, in the same time of churning. So that after all, 

 if the same care is used and the principles upon which 

 butter-making is based are skillfully followed from first 

 to last, it matters little which system is practiced, ex- 

 cepting so far as one may be more convenient than 

 another, under varying circumstances. 



The shallow pan system of setting is the most com- 

 mon, and will be first commented upon. The con- 

 struction of the dairy used -for this method differs some- 



