178 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



from the mountains of Virginia, twelve months 

 old, fully equal to any it had ever been our good 

 fortune to encounter anywhere. We did not 

 fail to avail ourselves of the opportune to lay 

 in a large supply for family use, and so superior 

 did we find the flavor and consistency of this to 

 the best of the fresh butter which is brought 

 daily to our market house from the surrounding 

 country, that we applied for the name of the 

 maker, that we might obtain for general use the 

 process by which its superior excellence was 

 obtained. The grocer refused to gratify us; 

 " for," says he, " if the individual was aware 

 how little of such butter comes to the Richmond 

 market, and the estimation in which his product 

 is held, my customers would have to pay two 

 prices for it." We then asked what quanlity 

 of such butter could be sold in this market ; his 

 reply was, "I myself will contract for ten thou- 

 sand pounds of such butter annually, at twenty 

 cents a pound. Now, to this circumstance we 

 would wish particularly to call the attention of 

 Northern dairymen ; they who think they are 

 doing well to get fifteen cents a pound for their 

 butter. Our lands are better and cheaper, our 

 climate more favorable, and our market higher 

 than any they have been accustomed to, and 

 we doubt if in the Union there is an opening 

 for a better business, than a well conducted dai- 

 ry establishment at the foot of the Southwest 

 mountains, in Virginia, would afford. We have 

 been too much accustomed, in this part of the 

 world, to overlook what are called "little mat- 

 ters :" with even those who sell most butter, the 

 manufacture is, at best, a secondary thing, and 

 an almost unimportant item in their products. 

 Such a thing as a dairy establishment proper, 

 is not, to the best of our knowledge and belief, 

 to be found in the State. 



The art of butter making is one requiring a 

 good deal of skill and attention ; that is, there 

 are ten ways of making bad butter to one of 

 making good ; and if done at random, there are, 

 of course, nine chances to one against the pro- 

 duction of the good article. We have, there- 

 fore, taken great pains to give our readers all 

 the authentic information upon this subject that 

 we could obtain, and we now append some re- 

 marks from an English paper, the "New Far- 

 mers' Journal," that we consider worthy of at- 

 tention. 



There are already to be found in the Planter 

 views and opinions upon this subject very much 



opposed to the common practice of ihe country ; 

 are they right or wrong? We receive commu- 

 nications upon almost every other subject con- 

 nected with rural economy, but nobody ever 

 says a word about butter. Will not some good 

 housewife take up this question, and tell us, of 

 the many methods recommended, which is the 

 best? 



The following is the English article to which 

 we alluded : 



Highland and Agricultural Society of 

 Scotland. — The monthly meeting was held 

 on Wednesday, the 1st inst., Sir Geo. Macpher- 

 son Grant in the chair. The first paper, entitled 

 "Experiments and Observations on the Produc- 

 tion of Butter," by Professor Traill, was read 

 by the author. These experiments were made 

 in connection with the late Dr. Gerard, of Li- 

 verpool, who had paid much attention to the 

 subject, and assistance was occasionally given 

 by L r. Bostock, now of London. 



One of the principal objects in view was to 

 ascertain the comparative advantageof churning. 



1 . Sweet cream alone. 



2. Sweet milk and cream together. 



3. Sour cream, or that slightly acid. 



4. Sour milk and cream together. 



5. Scalded cream, or what is called clouted 

 cream, as practiced in Devonshire. 



The principal results of the experiments are 

 the following: 



1. That the addition of some cold water 

 during churning, facilitates the process, or the 

 separation of the butter; especially when the 

 cream is thick and the weather hot. 



2. That cream alone is more easily churned 

 than a mixture of cream and milk. 



3. That butter produced from sweet cream 

 has the finest flavor, when fresh, and appears to 

 keep longest without becoming rancid ; but that 

 the buttermilk so obtained is poor, and small in 

 quantity. 



4. That scalding the cream, according to the 

 Devonshire method, yields the largest quantity 

 of butter, which, if intended for immediate use, 

 is agreeable to the palate, and readily saleable ; 

 but intended to be salted, is more liable to ac- 

 quire, by keeping, a rancid flavor. 



The process of scalding is troublesome, and 

 the milk, after the removal of the cream, is poor, 

 and often would be unsaleable from the taste it 

 has acquired from the heating. 



5. That churning the milk and cream toge- 

 ther after they have become slightly acid, seems 

 to be the most economical process on the whole ; 

 because it yields a large quantity of excellent 

 butter, and the buttermilk is of good quality, a 

 point of some importance where buttermilk is 

 largely used as an article of diet, as it is in 

 Lancashire. 



