WASHING OF BUTTER 265 



revolving the churn a few times on high speed while others put 

 the rolls in motion using the slow gear. 



Butter from cream of good quality, churned at the right 

 temperature, needs less washing than butter from cream of poor 

 quality or butter churned at too high a temperature. Two 

 washings should suffice when the cream is of good quality, and 

 with such cream some wash the butter only once if the wash- 

 water runs off clear. In order to possess good keeping qualities, 

 butter must have the buttermilk well washed out of it. Butter 

 from cream of poor flavor requires more washing than butter 

 from cream that is clean in flavor. 



Kind of Wash- water to Use. In the washing of butter, it is 

 very essential that water used should be the best obtainable. 

 The creamery water-supply is evidently much better now than 

 it was years ago. Pond- wells and shallow wells are gradually 

 passing out of existence, but there are yet many shallow wells 

 from which water is drawn for creamery purposes. Water from 

 wells may appear to be pure, and yet contain germs which are 

 deleterious to dairy products, and especially to the keeping qual- 

 ity of butter. That water of average purity contains such germs 

 has been demonstrated in this country, as well as in foreign 

 countries. Shallow well water contains on an average about 

 15,000 germs per cubic centimeter, but Miquel has found that a 

 rapid power of multiplication characterizes the bacteria in pure 

 spring- water, while in impure water the multiplication is slower. 

 Water containing only this number of germs is, as a rule consid- 

 ered very pure. Most creameries, however, pump their water 

 into a tank overhead in the creamery, where it is contaminated 

 with bacteria and impurities of different kinds. 



Shallow wells are usually surrounded with conditions which 

 do not guarantee a creamery pure water during the different 

 seasons of the year. In the spring, when rains are frequent and 

 heavy, unwholesome surface-water is likely to seep in through 

 the sides. Such wells may also serve as traps for small animals. 

 The presence of an animal in the well is sure to cause undesirable 

 odors and a multitude of undesirable and putrefactive organisms. 



Water from deeply drilled wells, even if it is pure in so far 



