Recent Improvements in Ddiry Practice. 
85 
accompllsliod by a vertical, a l()n<»-Itu(linal, or a rotatory motion, 
the effect is the same ; and notwitlistauding the many attempted 
improvements in the construction of the utensil emph)yed, then; 
is not for general purposes, anything superior to, or that is likely to 
supersede, the old barrel-churn. In it, either a large or a small 
quantity of butter, and that of the best quality, may be produced. 
As to the working the butter — which is generally performed 
])y the hand— the object is the extraction of all the buttermilk. 
Some persons use small wooden spades, others envelope their 
hands in a cloth, but nothing of this kind can be termed a " late 
improvement." The greatest step in advance consists in the 
fact that observation and the introduction of the thermometer 
has enabled us to lay down a rule for the temperature to be 
maintained in churning. It is found that if the cream be put 
into the churn at from 55° to 60° in summer and not less than 
(U)° in the winter, it will be churned in good time, that is, from 
half an hour to forty minutes, and, if properly worked, will pro- 
duce good butter. If it be churned at a lower temperature it 
will be too long in churning, and will require heating during 
the process. If above that temperature, it will " come " too soon 
and will be frothy and oily ; in both cases the butter will be 
inferior. Until a comparatively recent date, it was a diffi- 
culty in cold weather to get the butter churned ; the process not 
unfrequently occupied several hours, and I have known the 
produce to be thrown away as utterly useless after all. This 
<lifRculty is now entirely overcome. 
Experience, moreover, has taught us that although, if milk be 
allowed to stand till it becomes stale or sour befoi'e the cream is 
removed from it, the butter thus made will not be good ; on the 
other hand, if the cream be taken while the milk is sweet, the 
cream may be kept until it becomes sour, without the butter 
being materially affected. 
The process of butter-making varies in different countries. In 
Scotland, Ireland, and Wales they churn the milk, and, when 
this is done properly, I believe that the butter, for delicacy of 
flavour, cannot be surpassed. 
In the making of cheese a much greater improvement has 
been effected, in consequence of its having received more atten- 
tion than butter-making, cheese being the staple commodity of 
the district, and, when well made, more remunerative to the 
farmer. For many years past it has been our object to produce 
the best cheese with the least possible labour, — an object we have, in 
no small degree, accomplished. Within my own recollection, a 
week, at the least, may be said to have been occupied in making 
a cheese, — that is, from the time the milk was coagulated till 
the cheese was taken from the press to the cheese-room. During 
this time it was turned in the press twice every day, and had salt 
