282 



THE SOUTH 



EKN PLANTER. 



wool, especially to the owners of sheep at 

 Moreton Bay. 



The Americans are not fond of fat mutton ; 

 a carcase of 50 to 60 pounds is just fat enough 

 to suit the American taste. Of the varieties of 

 domestic animals, the flesh of sheep is that 

 least used in the States, except in a few cities, 

 in proportion to the quantity that might be 

 profitably provided. And yet mutton is per- 

 haps the best kind of meat that can be con- 

 sumed by a civilized people. New York 

 is beginning to consume large quantities of 

 mutton, 000,000 to 700,000 head, or ab'out one 

 sheep per annum to each of the population, be- 

 ing now the ratio of consumption. Philadel- 

 phia slaughters about 100,000 head. In Ohio 

 four or five million sheep are now owned. 



Considerable attention i3 now paid to the 

 rearing of sheep in the United States. The 

 merino crossed with the common breeds is the 

 stock of which the flocks are composed."* The 

 high price of wool and mutton has given in- 

 creased impetus to sheep husbandry in the 

 States ; and they have even begun to export 

 sheep and wool to a small extent. 



From the Plow, the Loom, and the Anvil. 



Butter Making. 



[Our attention has recently been called to a 

 very valuable and eminently practical Prize 

 Essay, read before the Eoyal Agricultural So- 

 ciety of England. We published several arti- 

 cles on this subject, in our last volume, and 

 are happy to find our own views confirmed by 

 the very careful and scientific experiments, the 

 results of which are given in the report de- 

 scribed. We beg leave to invite the attention 

 of our farmers to the following portion of this 

 subject, being all that relates to their particu- 

 lar business. The experiments were conducted 

 by Professor Traill and the late Dr. Bullock. 

 Their accuracy was^ subsequently tested by the 

 writer of this essay, and his results, with one 

 exception, " agreed remarkably with those 

 made by the gentlemen named. ;; J 



One series consisted of the comparative 

 quantity of butter yielded by the following : 



1. Sweet cream churned alone. 



2. Sweet milk and its cream churned to- 

 gether. 



3. Sour cream churned alone. 



4. Sour milk and its cream churned to- 

 gether. 



5. Scalded or Devonshire cream churned 

 alone. 



On the 24th of May, the milk of four cows 

 was drawn in the same vessel, passed through 

 a strainer, and then divided into five portions 

 of six English pints each, which were placed 



* Which shows that the writer does not know all 

 about sheep in the United States.— Ed. So. Pl. 



in similar basins of earthenware, in a place, 

 the temperature of which ranged from 55 to 

 60 degrees Fahr. 



Monday, 25th. — The temperature of the air 

 was very hot, 76 degrees ; but that. of the milk- 

 house, by constant evaporation of water, was 

 kept about sixty degrees. 



Tuesday, 26th. — Thirty-nine hours after the 

 milk had been drawn from the cows, it was 

 removed from below the cream of No. 1 and 

 No. 3, by a syphon ; the cream from No. 1, 

 and the milk and cream from No. 2, were im- 

 mediately churned in glass vessels. 



No. 1. — Sweet cream churned alone. From 

 previous trials, it was found that the addition 

 of cold water to thick cream facilitated the 

 separation of the butter ; half a pint of water 

 was added to the cream ; the temperature of 

 the mixture at the commencement of the churn- 

 ing was 62 degrees. In fifteen minutes butter 

 appeared in grains ; the churning was con- 

 tinued for twelve minutes longer, or twenty- 

 seven minutes in all, when the temperature was 

 found at 70 degrees. The butter was collected, 

 but from the warmth of the weather was very 

 soft. It was put into cold water until the 

 next day, when it was worked and washed 

 in the usual way, and weighed 1386 grains. 

 It was of a good color, and perfectly well fla- 

 vored. 



No. 2. — Sweet milk and its cream churned 

 together. The mixture of sweet milk and 

 cream was churned at the same time ; though 

 cold water was added, after one and a half 

 hour's churning no butter was seen. The 

 churning was continued three hours without 

 obtaining butter. 



No. 3. — Sour cream churned alone. On 

 Thursday, the 28th May, the cream of No. 3, 

 which had been separated on Tuesday, and 

 placed in the milk-house, was now slightly acid, 

 and was churned after half a pint of cold wa- 

 ter had been added to it. In twelve minutes 

 butter appeared; and in eight minutes more 

 united into one mass. During the churning 

 the temperature of the cream had risen from 

 54 to 63 degrees. The butter was well washed 

 and worked, and weighed 1756.5 grains. The 

 color and taste were good. 



No. 4. — Sour milk and its cream churned to- 

 gether. On the same day, 28th May, the milk 

 and cream churned together, and half a pint 

 of cold water was added. It was fully fifty- 

 seven minutes before any butter appeared, and 

 before the churning appeared to be completed 

 one hour and fifty minutes had elapsed; show- 

 ing clearly that more time is required to churn 

 milk and cream together, than to obtain the 

 butter from cream alone. The butter was dif- 

 fused in small grains, and when washed and 

 worked as long as any color was communicated 

 to the water, it weighed 1968 grains. Color 

 paler than the last, but of good flavor. 



]\ T o. 5. — Clouted cream churned alone. On 

 Tuesday, the 26th, the milk and cream of No. 



