300 



the servant, the master, and the bane of the dairyman. 

 And the presence of this acid in excess is a thing out of 

 place, hence an uncleanliness, an impurity, and destruc- 

 tive of the good qualities of butter. The mere presence 

 of the acid in milk or cream is enougli ; one must not 

 wait for its action. It is the same in regard to cheese. 

 As the cream is ripe for the churn as soon as the acid 

 becomes perceptible, so the curd is ready for the press 

 when acid is apparent, and in either case its action is to 

 be prevented by completing the final process at once and 

 before it can produce decomposition in the cream or the 

 curd. Every fine butter-maker will tell us to skim the 

 cream before the milk is sour to the taste ; it then has a 

 slight acid reaction and turns blue litmus paper red or 

 reddish j)urple, and the cream is to be churned as soon 

 as it is slightly acid. At a temperature of sixty degrees, 

 in a pure atmosphere, milk exposed to the air will be 

 precisely in the right condition for skimming, and at the 

 same temperature and under the same circumstances 

 the cream will be ready for the churn in twenty-four 

 hours ; or if the milk has been kept in the deep pails 

 in water of a temperature of fifty degrees or less and 

 skimmed in twenty-four hours, when all the cream will 

 have risen, the cream will require to stand thirty-six 

 hours at a temperature of sixty degrees to acquire the 

 right stage of acidity for the production of good butter. 

 There is no secret in all this ; it is the alphabet, the 

 rudimentary knowledge, in dairy business. 



The disposal of fine butter is an element in the profit 

 of making it of no little importance. When one men- 

 tions the fact that choice butter brings a much higher 

 price than the regular market rates for that of an average 

 good quality he is apt to be overwhelmed with requests 

 for information as to where this good butter can be sold 

 for high prices. This is a point upon which dairymen 

 and farmers must exercise their own skill and discretion 



