RURAL LIFE IN LITCHFIELD COUNTY 



in which it is to be kept. Make a brine, boil it, and 

 skim it till it begins to crystallize and when it is per- 

 fectly cold cover the butter with it and carefully cover 

 the vessel from the air; it will keep good during the 

 summer. M. Chaney." 



From the Report of the Connecticut State 

 Agricultural Society, i8^g. 



"Two tubs butter presented by E. A. Phelps were 

 manufactured in Colebrook, Litchfield County, churned 

 from the milk. The dairy consists of twelve cows; the 

 churning is performed every day. The churn used is a 

 large dasher churn holding forty to fifty gallons, which, 

 with a thermometer, combines all the advantages of any 

 churn now in use. Butter taken from the churn is 

 washed in pure spring water, which does away with the 

 necessity of working the butter too much — the great 

 fault of most butter makers. No ingredient is used ex- 

 cept pure rock salt to give it flavor or for its preserva- 

 tion. The tubs used are made of white hemlock, a kind 

 of timber devoid of all flavor and perfectly sweet. The 

 tubs are soaked some three weeks in a strong brine be- 

 fore packing. When they are full they are set away in 

 a comrrfon cellar and the butter is marketed in Novem- 

 ber and December to private families. No cheese is 

 made from the dairy and no difference is made in price 



1:74] 



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