Production of Butter. 



31 



as possible. From the period of drawing the first milk from the 

 heifer, to the time she is intended " to be put up " for the butcher, 

 gentleness and kindness should be exercised towards her. No 

 doubt some cows are very capricious and troublesome — such ought 

 to be sold, or sent to the slaughterhouse as soon as possible ; if 

 a cow cannot be managed with kindness, thumps and kicks will 

 be found of no avail. Some cows yield their milk with a copious 

 flow on the gentlest handling, others require great exertions. 

 The udder of the former will have a soft skin, with short teats ; 

 that of the latter will possess a thick skin, with long and tough 

 teats. Before leaving this part of the subject it may be men- 

 tioned, that in some parts of Sv\^itzerland and France it is a not 

 uncommon practice to spay milch cows whilst in a full flow of 

 milk, a short time after calving, by which means they continue in 

 milk some years. 



It is almost unnecessary to remark that every utensil connected 

 with the dairy ought to be kept perfectly clean and sweet, being 

 well scalded, and subsequently washed out with clean cold water. 

 The milk, being drawn from the cow, should be put into a 

 vessel to cool — a clean tinned vessel is the best for this purpose ; 

 it ought not to stand so long, or be allowed to cool so much, as 

 to permit the cream to partially separate ; being cooled, it should 

 be strained through a hair sieve into the milk dishes (glass ones 

 are the best) . The depth of milk should not exceed four inches ; 

 it is stated that two inches is the most profitable mode. In a 

 dairy maintained at a proper temperature, the cream should be 

 gathered every 24 hours ; but in very hot weather the milk ought 

 not to stand more than 18 hours, at the utmost. The common 

 mode of procuring cream is by a skimmer ; others have con- 

 structed vessels by which the blue or skim milk is allowed to 

 flow through an orifice in the bottom of the vessel. Recently it 

 has been proposed to use a syphon for this purpose ; the ordinary 

 syphon is, however, very troublesome. If syphons ever come into 

 general use, they ought to be formed of the annexed figure. When 

 constructed with a curved terminal 

 to each leg, the syphon may be car- 

 ried about, or hung up ready for 

 use at any moment, it being only re- 

 quisite, in using it, to maintain the 

 leg placed in the milk at a slight 

 degree of elevation above the outer 

 leg. Syphons of this kind have been 

 long in use in acid manufactories. 



The processes used for making f\ Jj W 

 butter in different districts are much — ^ — ^ 

 more numerous than is generally imagined ; a similar remark 



