58o 



Farm Butter-Making. 



[JAN, 



Other appliances not mentioned in this list but which will be 

 found most useful when any considerable quantity of milk has- 

 to be dealt with are a refrigerator or cooler, with a cooling 

 capacity of 120 gallons of milk per hour, which can be used for 

 cooling both cream and separated milk ; a box refrigerator to 

 harden the butter after making, and in which to store it till 

 sold ; a Gerber or other milk tester ; and a dairy herd recorder 

 for weighing and recording each cow's milk. In practically all 

 cases the most economical method for the production of cream* 

 is by means of the hand or power separator. 



Cream Ripe7iing, — Butter can be produced by churning, 

 from : — (i) Sweet cream ; (2) Sour or ripened cream ; (3) Ripened 

 whole milk ; (4) Devonshire cream. Although sweet cream 

 butter is much appreciated by some, it is usual in most farm' 

 dairies where churning takes place once or at the most twice a. 

 week for sour cream alone to be dealt with. Cream ripening is- 

 brought about in two ways : — ist, by natural means ; 2nd, by the 

 aid of starters. The natural way is to allow the cream to stand 

 from two to three or four days, according to the weather, in a 

 pure atmosphere at a temperature of 60 to 68 deg. Fahr., or say 

 two days in summer and three or four in winter. The cream' 

 should be stirred frequently and the receptacle containing it 

 covered over with a muslin cloth. Souring or acidifying will- 

 then take place naturally, but if required it may be promoted by 

 the following means : — 



1. Adding butter-milk at the rate of about \ a pint to each 

 gallon of cream. Great care must be taken that the butter-milk 

 used comes only from a churning of really good flavoured butter.. 



2. Heating the cream up to 90 deg. Fahr. and then allowing 

 it to cool slowly. 



3. By the addition of about 10 per cent, natural starter. 

 Natural or home-made starter may, with care, be prepared on 

 the farm, and the method of its production is to : — 



{(i) Let one quart of clean new milk be left in a pure 

 atmosphere of 70 deg. Fahr. for 24 hours so that it 

 sours and thickens. 



{b) Skim off the cream which has come to the surface at 

 the end of this period. 



