332 



NEW ENGLAND FAIiMER. 



May 9, 182S. 



[From Memoirs of Iho New York Board of Agriculiurc] 



ON THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTER 

 AND CHEESE. 



BY S. DK WITT, ESQ. OF ALBANY. 



(Concluded from page 325 ) 

 In the counties of Ulster and Orange, celebra- 

 ted for the excellence of their butter, in the New 

 York market, the utraostattention is paid to clean- 

 liness. Thoir strainers, churns, creaming vessels, 

 bowls and ladles, are, as often as they are used, 

 washed, scalded and scrubbed, and tin- milk rooms, 

 which are commonly dry, airy cellars, without 

 wooden floors, are kept very free from any thing 

 in the least offensive. The milk is carefully 

 strained, and as soon as the cream is completely 

 formed, it, together with the crpam, is emptied in- 

 to the cliurn, when the churning is immediately 

 Commcnred, and continued, uith short intervals, 

 till the butter is come. The butter is then taken 

 off with a ladle made for the purpose and kept ex 

 clusivoly for the service, and put into a large 

 wooden bowl, wiiere, with the same ladle, the j 

 whoy, or rather buttermilk, is thoroughly worked 

 out of It. No hand or finger is ever suffered to 

 come in contact with it. Where dairies are any 

 way considerable, churning is a daily operation, 

 and done early in the morning, especially in sum- 

 mer. 



There is a period when cream will be complete- 

 ly formed, and be in its highest perfection, after 

 which it will deteriorate, and should not be suffer- 

 ed to remi'in unchurned. Inattention to this is 

 one of the principal causes of the bad quality of 

 butter. 



In this manner is, not only the best butter, but 

 also the best buttermilk obtained ; which, besides 

 affording an excellent beverage, makes, with the 

 addition of a little sugar or molasses, and rusk or 

 good bread broken in it, a dish to crown the far- 

 mer's dinner, more refreshing and more exquisite- 

 ly relished than the strawberry flavored ice creams 

 of the luxurious rich. 



There are a few, and it is sadly to be lamented, 

 yet but a few, farmers left in the country surround 

 ing Albany, Vi'ho manage their dairies in this man- 

 ner ; But their butter is mostly all pre-engaged, 

 at twenty-five cents per pound, by their oldeniime 

 acquaintances, who cannot help recoiling at the 

 sight and smell of what is generally brought to 

 our market, and with difficulty sold for eighteen 

 cents. This fact, it is true, is not very creditable 

 to our country, but it is, notwithstanding a fact. 

 Every citizen knows that it is extremely difficult, 

 in Albany, for a family to get a supply of eatable 

 butter. But where the object is to cure an evil, 

 it is necessary that it should be pointed out and 

 correctly described, whatever effect sucli a pro- 

 cedure mav have on the feelings, reputation or m 

 terest of those whom it may immediatoly concern. 

 Such thingi affect the general interest as well as 

 the character of our country, and therefore it is 

 proper that they should be faithfully exposed, and 

 duly attended to. 



The making of butter, one would suppose, were 

 well understood in the vicinity of Boston ; and yet 

 '.here is no market in any of the largo capitp.l cit- 

 ies in the United States, so noted for the bad qual- 

 ity of its lurnp-butter as this very city of Boston. 

 I'hiladelphia has been long celebrated for the uni- 

 form excellence of its butter, and its clean and 

 wholesome appearance in the market. In Nevv 



York many individuals, with laudable liDeraliiy ; 

 have recently awarded premiums foi the best but- | 

 ter brought into that city for sale; whirh it ia ^ 

 said, has produced an obviously good effect in the 

 general quality of the article. 



It deserves consideration, whether our Agricnl- | 

 tural Societies, alive as they are to every thing 

 which will benefit our reputation, and whilst they , 

 are granting premiums for raising the best cattle ; 

 for dairies — should not also bestow some attention 

 on the manufacture of butter and cheese. 



It is useless to possess good cows and good milk, 

 if the butter which is brouglit to market, is only 

 a disgrace to the farmers. We hope the Massa- 

 chusetts Agricultural Society may be induced to 

 offer a premium for the best butter which may be 

 brought to market, by any individual dairy during 

 the summer months 



Mode of makinf; butler, as it is practised in the 

 neighbor) rhood of Rennis, in Briltnny, where the 

 best butter in France is made — milk is composed 

 of three parts, essentially different from each oth- 

 er ; they are a.=i follows: 



1st. The aqueous part, called whey, which is 

 very acid. 

 2d. The cheese part, which is substantial, 

 .^d. The butter part, called cream, of an oily na- 

 ture, and which comes up naturally to the sur- 

 face of the milk, even before its decomposition. 



It is this cream that is turned out into butter 

 by churning. 



In order to make good butter, the decomposition 

 of milk must have begun ; I mean its three parts 

 must be exactly separated, as it happens when it 

 begins to turn sour. Milk must necessarily be 

 sour before beginning to churn ; but it is urgent 

 to churn it as soon as it is sour ; and not to wait 

 its fermentation. 



It must have curdled and soured of itself with- 

 out fire. In the winter season, however, it is prop- 

 er to pour a little sour milk into it to make it co- 

 agulate. 



Though the cream is the elementary part of but- 

 ter, and neither the whey northe cheese part con- 

 tain any of it, yet it is necessary to throw into the 

 churn the three parts of the milk, and to churn 

 them altogether. The reason of it is evident. The 

 churning, which must be always uniform and con- 

 tinual, communicates a slight degree of lieat,which 

 would give a disagreeable taste to the butter, if 

 the cream were churned ainne ; while churning 

 the whole together, the acidity of the whey tem- 

 pers the heating effects of the churning, thecheese 

 part helps the separation, and the butter comas 

 fresh out of the churn. It is to preserve the fresh 

 taste, that in summer our butter women, as soon 

 as llicy sec the small globules of butter beginning 

 to form, do not fail to throv,- into the churn (by 

 the hole of the churn staff, and without stoppinsr 

 the churning) some pints of spring water every 

 ten minutes, that is, a pint to every fifty or sixty 

 pints of milk: in winter, on the contrary, they add 

 warm water, but they pour it in as soon as they 

 begin to churn, in order to accelerate the slight 

 degree of heat necossaty for the formation of but- 

 ter ; but when they perceive the first butter-glo- 

 bules forming round the churn-stafl', then they 

 cease pouring warm water, and the temperature 

 warns them putting any more cool water. Thus, 

 to make butter it is required — 



1st. That milk must have curdled and soured, 

 but not fermented. 

 2d. That milk must have naturally soured, with- 



out any help but a little quantity of sour milk, and 

 especially without warming it. 



3d. That all milk should be put into the churn 

 together, and churned without extracting any 

 parts of it. 



4th. That the churning should be continual and 

 always uniform, avoiding to strike the bottom of 

 the churn. 



5th. That churning, without interruption, com- 

 municates to the milk a slight degree of heat, 

 which is necessary, and which in winter may be 

 accelerated, by adding some warm water from the 

 moment one begins to churn, and without stopping 

 the churning motion. 



6th. As soon as one perceives the little globules 

 of butter forming, one must then think only to cool, 

 with spring water, if in summer, for in winter, it is 

 not necessary. 



7th. If, when one wishes to churn, one has some 

 sweet milk not yet sour, but which one wishes to 

 churn, it must be put into the churn with the curd- 

 led milk twelve or fifteen hours, more or less, ac- 

 cording to the relative quantity, before beginning 

 to churn, in order that the part of sweet milk you 

 have added be entirely curdled. 



8th. This mode is, no doubt, much longer than 

 when the cream alone is churned ; for one must 

 chnrn during about two hours in the most favo a- 

 hle season, and it is common in winter to take four 

 hours churning to have your butter made. 



Preparation for butter. When butter is made, 

 if the weather is hot, it is well, after having gath- 

 ered it in the churn, to let it cool about two hours; 

 but when it is very hot weather, as that time is not 

 sufficient to cool it, it is well to put it in a very 

 cool plrice during some hours, till it is very firm, 

 in order to extract the buttermilk out of it. 



It IS by kneading and repeatedly with a wood- 

 en box spoon, and a beech dish made of one piece, 

 that tho women about Rennis extract the butter- 

 milk; leaving it now and then to rest and grow 

 hard, and then beginning again till it does not 

 yield any buttermilk ; it is only in the last e.x- 

 tremity, and in the hot days of summer, that they 

 knead it in cool water in order to extract tho 

 buttermilk out of it : they put nothing in it, but 

 some salt for preserving and relishing it. 



They never touch tho butter but with the vvood- 

 en box-spoon, which must be impregn.ated, and 

 als') the dish, witli some light brine to prevent the 

 bolter from adhering. 



All the utensils employed for milk must bocarc- 

 fullj washed with boiling water every time they 

 have been made use of, then washed again with 

 cool water and exposed to thfl sun, that they do 

 not ret a musty smell. It is necessary to remove 

 from the dairy all the disagreeable or strong 

 smolls and to observe the most scrupulous cleanli- 

 I iiessin it, but without humidity, which would give 

 a mouldy taste to milk 



I The churn is made of chesnut wooil ; it is scald- 

 ed eiery time it is emptied to churn again ; it is 

 I rubbid with a bunch of holly-oak, that scratches 

 I and deans it well ; and then washed again with 

 cold water. 



j Th; pots and churn must keep no smell of the 

 sour milk, and none of the utensils employed 

 ; shoud be or have been put to any other uses, for 

 fear if spoiling the whole. 



.Issanese 7nethod of blasting rocks. — An Assa- 

 mesi stone-cutter has shown me a mode of blast- 

 ing neks, which I think is superior to any thing 



