VOL. XVH N!»- 33 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER, 



261 



rniit tree on the leaves of which millions of the 

 aphis were feeding. It is for this substance that 

 colonies of the aphis are so frequently visited by 

 the ant, which drinks tlic sweet fluid as it is thrown 

 out by the aphis. Soapsuds, and a strong decoc- 

 tion of tobacco, have been deemed most effectual 

 in destroying them ; though when a foothold is 

 once obtained, from their rapid multiplication, ex- 

 termination is diflicult. 



Apiary. The place or building in which bees 

 are kept, is termed an apiary; and where these in- 

 dustrious insects are kept for profit, or for observa- 

 tion, much care is sometimes taken in this depart- 

 ment of domestic management. There is no ques- 

 tion that keeping of bees, may be made a source 

 of considerable profit at very little expanse, as 

 their food costs nothing, and a residence is provi- 

 ded with the very hive in which they are placed. 

 Movable apiaries are common in eastern countries ; 

 and a long boat, with a hundred swarms of bees 

 on board, accompanied by the owner, may be seen 

 floating down the Danube, the Po, or the Nile, an- 

 choring where materials for honey promise to be 

 abundant; and moving onward when the district is 

 exhausted of its sweets. Among farmers, too little 

 attention is usually paid to the apiary ; the hives 

 being left exposed to the storms and cold of winter, 

 and the intense heat of summer, without protection. 

 Bees, like other domesticated creatures will well 

 repay care and attention. 



(To be continue,!.) 



(From Chamber's Edinburgh Journal.) 

 MAKING AND SALTING BUTTER. 

 3 The following notes on this subject are by an 

 individual (a female) who has been personally en- 

 'gaged in tlie preparation of butter for fifty years : 

 Some time ago I observed in the Journal a com- 

 parison between Dutch and English Hutter. Could 

 .the particulars of the Dutch method be obtained, 

 Mt would be a very desirable acquisition ; but I 

 apprehend the superiority of their bulter is chiefly 

 owing to the pastures, and an unremitting attention 

 to the duties of the dairy. In our own country, 

 »the pasture alTects in a high degree the quality of 

 the butter, old pasture produces much richer butter 

 than new ; and on some hilly gTounds where wild 

 flowers and certain kinds of grass abound the flayor 

 is much finer than on low grounds, where the pas- 

 ture is more luxuriant. 



In the want of better information regarding this 

 ■veiy necessary article of domestic comfort, I am 

 induced to send you a few remark,?, which may 

 ■perhaps induce others who are better informed to 

 do the same, so that the most approved methods of 

 curing butter may, by the medium of your widely 

 circulated paper, be known throughout the length 

 and breadth of the land. 



As a preliminary, I must beg the indulgence of 

 being very particular, for the whole process is made 

 up of small things, the neglect of one of which 

 might aff'ect the whole. I also wish it to be un- 

 derstood that my observations are chiefly adapted 

 for the use of small establishments, where from 

 three to six cows are kept. It is inferreil that 

 everytliing in the dairy is conducted with the most 

 strict regard to cleanliness. It ought to be a cool, 

 dry, well aired place, free from all damp and bad 

 smells. It is a great mistake to suppose that the 

 art of making good butter consists merely in hav- 

 ing it properly churned, thoroughly washed and 

 sufliciently salted. All this may be most pointedly 



done, and yet the butter turn out very bad. The 

 main thing, and it must never be lost sight of, is to 

 keep the milk in all its stages from contracting the 

 least degree of taint By taint I do not mean 

 sourness. Sourness will not injure the butter ; on 

 the Contrary, it greatly facilitates churning; and to 

 obtain this in winter when cream is slow to sour, 

 it is necessary to place it for twentyfour hours be- 

 fore churning, within the influence of a fire, and to 

 stir it thoroughly two or three times during this 

 period. 



Cream ought never to remain on milk above 

 thirtysix hours. This I consider to be a very im- 

 portant point, for if, by any omission, cream be 

 suffered to remain for a longer time on milk, it is 

 sure to contract an old bitter taint ; and it would 

 be more true economy to pour such cream into the 

 pig's trough than to introduce it into the churn, as 

 it will spoil the whole. A properly leaded stone 

 jar is better than a wooden vessel for keeping 

 cream, because wood is more apt than stone ware 

 to get mouldy ; a slight mould soon communi- 

 cates itself to the cream, and of course to the but- 

 ter. 



A wooden rod must be continually kept in the 

 jar, and every time cream is added, the contents 

 must be stirred from top to bottom with the rod. 

 This is very essential, for if neglected the cream 

 first put in will gradually rise to the top, and so 

 get tainted. Cream ought never to be kept above 

 five days ; but four is still safer for butter that is 

 to be salted. 



If the atmosphere at the time of churning be 

 above fiftyfour degrees, one quart of the coldest 

 spring water to every three gallons of cream, put 

 into the churn at commencing, will be a great ad- 

 vantage, and will injure neither butter nor milk. 

 If there be the slightest cause for suspecting that 

 tlie butter has suifered from hasty churning in 

 warm weather, it ought to be salted for present 

 use, and not put into the kit with keeping but- 

 ter. 



Butter on being taken out of the churn, ought 

 to be instantly washed in spring water until the 

 water comes off" colorless. After this, the sooner 

 it is salted the better. In salting, use the best Eng- 

 lish salt, such as is used in the curiug of herrings. 

 To three parts of salt, add one part of loaf sugar, 

 both finely pounded, and perfectly well mixed. 

 One ounce of this to si.xtecn ounces of butter is the 

 proper quantity. Let it be thoroughly incorporated 

 with the butter. In cleaning and salting butter, a 

 a stout creaming dish is preferable to the hands. 



Kits made of wood are much superior to stone- 

 v/are in keeping of butter. The top of the kit 

 ought to be about one-fourth narrower than the 

 bottom, and the wood nearly one inch in thickness. 

 A thin wooded kit is not so favorable for preserving 

 butter. 



In the process of salting, a little salt and water 

 ought to cover the butter from the first, and a piece 

 of °thin linen should also be spread over it. The 

 sides of the kit must be daily wetted with thin salt 

 and water, by which mould is prevented from form- 

 ing on the empty part of the kit during the time of 

 fillino-. The kit ought to be filled within one inch 

 of the top, and kept constantly covered by linen, 

 and a pickle of salt and water. Butter is apt to 

 rise above the pickle. This is easily prevented by 

 turning over the butter a dinner plate. By placing 

 a weight on the lid, the plate will be kept 

 down. The kits must be kept on a cool, airy shelf 

 of the dairy, not on the floor, and occasionally 



moved a little round. Butter for keeping, may 

 with safety be salted during all the time the cows 

 are on pasture. It is a most useful thing to have 

 a slate in the dairy, whereon to note down the date 

 and produce of ev.ery churning ; also what is salted 

 or otherwise ; and these notes to be set down occa- 

 sionally in a book. A jar of ready made pickle, 

 just strong enough to move an egg, but not so strong 

 as to cause it to swim to the top, ought .alw.iys to 

 be kept in the dairy. Have also at hand a can of 

 prepared salt and sugar, to be kept in a dry place, 

 as the dairy will bo too damp. The kits ought to 

 be all numbered, and those first salted should be 

 first used. 



I have still to beg your indulgence for a few 

 thoughts suggested by the above observations. In 

 this enlightened age, when each class of the com- 

 munity is vieing with the rest in improving the 

 commodity which comes under their immediate care, 

 it is surprising that public attention has been so 

 little turned to the improveme/it of the mode of 

 salting butter. The same complaints from the 

 same cause are constantly to be board, and there 

 the matter rests, and so it will rest, unless general 

 attention be directed to it, and a decided effort be 

 made. Nothing is wanting to remove this griev- 

 ance but a few slight attentions. There is no ad- 

 ditional toil ; no additional expense. What a pity 

 then it is, that those to whose care the preparing of 

 this article is entrusted, cannot bethink themselves 

 to bestow these slight attentions. They should 

 take into consideration the comfort of thousand of 

 decent householders, who are both able and willing 

 to pay for a wholesome article, but who have no 

 alternative, but either to use the butter that is 

 offered for sale, or to want it altogether. There is 

 another consideration which ought to have its own 

 weight, namely, the honor of their country ; and 

 none, however humble, should tliink themselves too 

 insignificant to contribute to this. It is the many 

 that make a whole ; and if we always throw our 

 influence on the right side, we have the satisfaction 

 at least of having done what we can to create the 

 happiness of our fellow creatures. 



The famous Pickman farm, in Salem, the best in 

 the country, is lined round the borders of the fields, 

 with engrafted apple trees. These trees are very 

 thrifty, deriving most of their nourishment from the 

 ground under the walls, which keep the soil loose, 

 warm and moist, and preserve the roots of the 

 U-ees from e.xtcrnal injury. The trees in this situ- 

 ation are an ornament to the farm, while they are 

 no hindrance to the farmer in cultivating his field, 

 nor injury to the crops by withdrawing nourish- 

 ment, like those in the interior of the field. Yft 

 those trees round the field are believed to yield a 

 greater profit than the annual crop within, with a.l 

 the labor necessarily bestowed upon it — and the 

 annual sales of the apples and fruit on this farm 

 are said to be enough to purchase a farm of mod- 

 erate dimensions in the interior of the State. — 

 J\/'twbun)port Herald. 



The Largest and Fi.'«est Hoo. — The Alba- 

 ny Argus says the palm must be awarded to the 

 hog, imported when four weeks old, by Erastus 

 Coming, Esq., raised on his farm near Albany. It 

 was of°the Cheshire breed, and three years old at 

 the time it was slaughtered, and weighed, when 

 dressed, nearly eight hundred pounds. This was 

 a " whole hog." •" 



