276 



Fourth.— The cream should be kept twenty-four to 

 thirty-six hours at a temperature of sixty degrees ; but 

 no longer tlian until it is slightly acid, the time being 

 wholly immaterial. This condition of the cream is the 

 important point to be watched with extreme carefulness, 

 whatever the time or temperature ; but those above men- 

 tioned will be found to secure the desired result as a rule. 



j^'ifih. — Every utensil used in the processes up to this 

 point should be of tin and kept scrupulously clean. 



^'j>^A.— Whenever fresh cream is added to the jar the 

 whole should be stirred, to secure a thorough mixture of 

 the whole, that all may ripen evenly. 



The careful observance of these six rules Vill bring the 

 cream to the churn in the right condition for making 

 butter in the best manner. The French have a proverb 

 to the effect that ''one who excuses, accuses himself." 

 This should be adopted as a guiding rule in the dairy; 

 for whenever anything goes wrong, and an excuse that 

 this or that is the reason for it, the dairyman accuses 

 himself of some mistake, neglect, or ignorance, and one 

 is as blamable as another. Accidents should never (or 

 hardly ever, for we are all weak creatures at the best), 

 occur^ in the dairy; constant vigilance is the price of 

 safety from these blunders called accidents, ill-luck, etc. 



The churn is next to be considered. And there are 

 churns and churns, 1,200 or more of them; but not 

 more than a dozen in use. Perhaps no more painful 

 instance of the waste of energy, thought, time, and 

 money exists in the history of mankind, than is shown 

 by the collection of models of useless churns stored in 

 the Patent Office lumber-room at Washington. And yet 

 they come, more futile efforts to get something for 

 nothing, and to annihilate time or power in futile at- 

 temptsto produce a certain mechanical effect by the use 

 of unavailing substitutes. 



Churning is a mechanical effect, the simple aggrega- 



