586 TRAySACTlOKS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



when much must Ite ill-directed, I would saj that the farm has been 

 brought into good order, and that under the present S3'stem of culture 

 it can be made to pay. 



Condition of Ckeam for making good Butter. 



Mrs. L. J. Trask, Muscatine, Iowa. — Has anybody ever heard that 

 sweet cream will make insipid butter, or that it will be inferior to 

 that made from sour cream ? 



Prof. J. A. Whitney. — When cream perfectly sweet is churned, 

 the butter globules are broken by mechanical action alone, and the 

 product is apt to be mashed or greasy, the grain being destroyed. 

 When the cream is slightly soured the lactic acid helps chemically to 

 weaken the caseine coverings uf the globules. The butter comes 

 more quickly, and all other things being equal, it is better to have 

 the cream somewhat sour. 



Mr. J. B. Lyman. — When I visited the famous butter dairies of 

 Pennsylvania, I found that the owners were particular to keep the 

 milk and cream in cold water, and, in skimming, I learned it was 

 the practice to leave no milk with the cream. They use a skimmer 

 with very small holes, as fine as a sieve, and put no milk into the 

 cream-pot ; but, when the milk is set, they put a little sour milk 

 into the pan. This addition of a little sour milk does not affect the 

 taste of the cream, yet the acid eats the surface of the little globules 

 of caseine whicli inclose the butter, so they have no difiiculty in 

 churning. One gentleman assured me that scarcely a single spoonful 

 of milk went into his churn with the cream ; but this was in July. 

 Their winter treatment is somewhat different. 



Dr. Isaac P. Trimble. — I judge butter by the price it brings. The 

 Philadelphia brings at least one-third more than the best product of 

 other sections, that is from seventy cents to one dollar per pound, In 

 Chester and Delaware counties, where most of it is made, they use 

 spring-houses, placed over running streams of water, and the pans 

 are set in and kept at a uniform temperature. 



Prof. J. A. Whitney. — Experiments were made many years ago in 

 the dairy districts of England, which proved that five per cent more 

 butter was obtained when the milk was churned than when the 

 cream only was churned. It is a settled chemical princij^le that butter 

 comes more uniformly and in a shorter time when the milk is 

 allowed to sour. 



Dr. J. V. C. Smith. — This discussion brings to mv mind a visit 



