80 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



osa" — was in the centre, and was filled with 

 its waxen pinlsT and crimson bells. A ivhite 

 Geranium was on one side, and a bright pink 

 of tlie same species, llanked the other. A 

 white Eupatorium and scarlet Bouvardia com- 

 pleted the loveliest stand we ever saw. Any 

 nigenious boy, or even a girl who liked to use 

 hammer and nails, could construct a similar 

 one. A wooden circle could be substituted 

 for the tin pan, and gnarled roots and branches 

 would ornament prettily. 



We hope IVliss Etta will try her hand at its 

 manufacture, and inform the readers of the 

 FAitMEK of her success. 8. O. J. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 COLOKING BUTTER. 



USE OF SALTPETRE. — WASHING BUTTER. 



"A Subscriber" at Harmony, R. I., desires 

 information on this point. As we are coloring 

 butter weekly, with a new preparation, called 

 Annotto. we obtained from Whitman & Buz- 

 zell, of Little Falls, N. Y., who are the agents 

 for its sale, we can tell of its desirability. X. 

 A. Willard, the great authority on dairy mat- 

 ters, recommended it to us and procured it 

 from the above-mentioned firm. It is much 

 used in New York and Pennsylvania by dairy- 

 men of the highest stamp. The famous butter 

 of Philadelphia is all colored with it. 



Annotto-ine is produced from the seed of a 

 plant grown in Brazil. The process is to wash 

 the coloring from the surface of the seeds, by 

 letting them soak for some time in cold water. 

 When this is done, the water is drawn off and 

 the Annotto-ine is dried and then pulverized. 

 The old process was to boil the seeds, but this 

 dissolved the. entire seed, which was not desira- 

 ble, and did not produce so pure an article for 

 coloring butter. The Annotto-ine is sold at 

 $2 per pound. One pound of pure potash, of 

 full strength, and half a pound of sal soda are 

 mixed with it, according to directions 'fur- 

 nished by the agents, who will also furnish the 

 potash at tAventy-five cents per pound, and the 

 sal soda for six cents per pound, and with 

 cold water, four gallons of Annotto-ine can 

 be prepared. This should be bottled and 

 corked tightly, and kept in a dry place. 



When the cream is ready for the churn, 

 pour in one large tablespoonful of it to every 

 sLx (juarts of cream. This amount will give 

 a fine golden hue and a good flavor ; it cer- 

 tainly does not detract from the sweetness of 

 the butter. We have used it for six weeks, 

 and are much pleased with it, haAing always 

 had a decided dislike to tallowy butter for ta- 

 ble use. All who see our butter exclaim, 

 "where did you get your butter? It exactly 

 simulates the color of June butter." 



O. 8. Bliss, Secretary of the Vermont Dai- 

 ryman's Association, in an essay delivered at 

 Montpelier, March .5, 1870, says of Annotto : 



"It is a r nrely vegetable extract, and the Brazil- 

 ians, who manufacture it, make use of it to tint 



very many of the most delicate and luxurious 

 dishes served at their i-epasts. We have a friend 

 who has traveled in South America, and he speaks 

 of it as analogous to our butter in some respects ; 

 one of which is that the really pure article is of a 

 comparatively imperishable or self-preserving na- 

 ture, and that it imparts to milk, butter and cheese, 

 in some degree this preservative principle." 



He also says in the same essay : — 



"Many persons affect to be very averse to the 

 use of colored butter, but we have never seen one 

 yet who does not like good, rich-looking, yellow 

 butter better than a poor, lardy, white article, and 

 would not eat a nicely colored article much more 

 satisfixctorily than the other, provided, of course, 

 that he does not know that it is colored ; and the 

 smartest of the class are unable to distinguish the 

 colored from natural butter of the same shade of 

 color." 



To all of which we say amen. Mr. Bliss 

 has taken some exceptions to our style of 

 butter-making, but we fully agree on the sub- 

 ject of "coloring" it. As to the saltpetre, to 

 which he alludes in your paper of Nov. 19, 

 the practice of twenty years has confirmed us 

 in the belief of its non-injui'ious properties in 

 infinitesimal doses. It prevents all cheesy 

 and bitter taste in the butter, so prevalent at 

 this season in small dairies, and so disgusting. 



A prominent farmer in Grafton County went 

 to Boston some years since with his butter. 

 The market price was fifty cents — he could 

 get but thirty -five. With praiseworthy curios- 

 ity, he insisted upon knowmg why his butter 

 could not command the same price in market, 

 and what his wife should do the next season to 

 make it saleable ? He was answered that the 

 best of butter was cured with salt, saltpetre 

 and sugar — so much to a pound ; that the two 

 latter ingredients were as preservative as salt, 

 and if combined with it, would produce an A 

 No. 1 article. He profited by the advice, and 

 has ever since received the highest price for 

 the product of his dairy. 



As to washing butter, we must agree to dis- 

 agree with Mr. Bliss, but should like to place 

 some;of our unwashed Alderney butter, made 

 in September, beside of his washed butter, in 

 the spring, and see if he could not discern a 

 "difference in the sweetness." He also takes 

 exceptions to the amount of butter made by 

 "Mrs. A.'s cows." 



We know of several Alderney cows which 

 averaged fourteen pounds of butter per week, 

 all the summer months. A four-year-old made 

 from eleven to thirteen pounds last summer, for 

 jmany weeks. We are strangers to IMr. Bliss, 

 though well knoAvn to his friend, X. A. Wil- 

 lard ; but we venture to assert that should we 

 meet we should enjoy a friendly chat on butter 

 and its manufacture, even though we might 

 differ on some points. s. o. J. 



Jan. 2, 1870. 



— Thomas J. Field, of Northfield, Mass., has sold 

 six head of Short-horns to the Agricultural College. 

 and two to Mr. Ellison, of Leesburg, Va. 



