GRAVESEND. 37 1 



but in the winter they allow it to stand for thirty-six 

 hours, so that of the milk that is siled in the morning the 

 cream is not taken off before the evening of the next day. 

 From this cream butter is afterwards churned. 



I related to the English women how long we in 

 Sweden let the milk stand before we take the ' curds,' 

 filet, off it, when they answered that we could not in 

 this way make such [T. II. p. 6] good butter as they. 

 For they said they had proved that when one churns 

 butter of such a cream as is taken off so sour a milk, the 

 butter, has not one-half of the delicious and agreeable 

 flavour, smacken, that the English generally has. A 

 butter churned from so very thick a milk they here called 

 girughets Smor, ' rank butter,' lit. 'butter of avarice.' 



They believed also that as much butter can be made 

 of sweet cream as of sour. They never let the milk stand 

 here in England so long that it becomes like our 

 filbunkar [flat wooden dishes of curdled milk] with so 

 thick cream and milk. Moreover, they do not know 

 here what a filbunka is. They said that they use 

 leaden vessels to sile the milk in, because in summer it 

 keeps fresher therein. I asked if they did not use wooden 

 vessels to sile milk in ? They answered, ' no,' because an 

 acid settles in the wood and corrupts the milk, which 

 acid they cannot so easily wash away. 



The leaden vessels are well washed with warm water 

 every time they are used, so that not the least milk or 

 acid therefrom is left in them, because it would corrupt 

 the cream and consequently the butter. 



Very little or no cheese, ost, is made in this part of 

 Kent. 



In Essex they have a large number of cows and cattle. 



Karnan. The Churn* which they use is a tun lying 



* The Churn is still called Kern in Yorkshire. [J. L.] 



26 2 



