176 THE OX AND THE DAIKY. 



twenty minutes in summer, and no acid taste can be dis- 

 covered in the butter-milk. The change by which the butter 

 is separated in a solid form is accompanied by the develop- 

 ment of heat in churning. 



The common method employed to separate the butter from 

 the thinner portion of the cream is by strong agitation. In 

 small quantities this may be done in a bottle ; but the 

 common instrument is the churn, which is a wooden cask, 

 rather wider at bottom than at the top, covered with a round 

 lid with a hole in the centre. Through this hole passes a 

 round stick about four feet long, inserted in the centre of a 

 round flat board with holes in it ; the diameter of this board 

 is a little less than that of the top of the churn. Various 

 improvements have been made in this machine. The cream 

 should not fill above two-thirds of the churn. By means of 

 this stick, held in both hands and moved up and down, the 

 cream is violently agitated, passing through the holes in the 

 board and round its edge every time the stick is raised or 

 depressed, and thus every portion is brought into contact with 

 the air. In the course of an hour's churning, more or less 

 according to circumstances, small kernels of butter appear, 

 which are soon united by the pressure of the board against 

 the bottom of the churn, and form a mass of solid butter. 

 The butter is collected with the hand, and placed in a shallow 

 tub for the next operation. The butter-milk is set aside for 

 the pigs, or for domestic use. The butter is still mixed with 

 some portion of butter-milk, but much of its quality for 

 keeping depends on their perfect separation. The most 

 usual way is to spread it thin in a shallow tub, beating it with 

 the hand or a flat wooden spoon, and washing it repeatedly 

 with clear spring water, until all milkiness disappears in the 

 water that is poured off. Some experienced dairymen pretend 

 that the butter is deteriorated by much washing, and there- 

 fore they express the butter-milk by simply beating the 

 butter with the hand, kept cool by frequently dipping it in 

 cold water, or with a moist cloth wrapped in the form of a 

 ball, which soaks up all the butter-milk, and leaves the butter 

 quite dry. This operation requires the greatest attention, 

 especially in warm weather, and no person should work the 

 butter who has not a very cool hand. The less it is handled 

 the better, and therefore a wooden spoon or spatula is much 

 to be preferred. 



When it is entirely freed from the butter-milk, and of 



