Supplement  to  the  “ Tropical  Agriculturists 
[March  I,  1807, 
GoG 
prohibition  is,  in  my  opinion,  the  only  safe 
method  to  follow. 
The  theory  mentioned  at  the  beginning  of  this 
note  comes  no  doubt  from  pe  sous  interested  in 
lac  and  is  a purely  sellidi  one. 
Others  have  accepted  it  from  want  of  evidence 
to  Combat  it,  and  .so  it  has  come  to  be  very  gener- 
ally accepted  as  fact.  For  this  reason  it  woukl 
probably  be  useful  to  circulate  the  facts  and  e.vpe- 
rience  given  in  this  note. 
M.  RIDLFY, 
Siiperiatendent  Government  Gardens,  iMchnow. 
6th  June  1896. 
[In  Ceylon  we  have  a number  of  lac-produc- 
ing trees,  among  which  are  the  two  mentioned  in 
the  above  note,  viz.,  I’eepul  {Ficus  religiosa), 
Sin.  Bo  ; Fakar  (Ficus  infectoria)  Sin.  ivalaha.l — 
Fn.  A.M. 
MIMv  AND  iMlLiv  I’liODUCTS. 
By  Mr.  Jame.s  Mor.i.isov, 
Superintendent  of  Farms,  liombay. 
{ Continued.) 
The  butter  is  luw  suliieieuily  washed  to  be  re- 
moved from  the  churn  to  the  butter-worker  by 
means  of  two  wooden  scoops.  The  butter-worker 
is  a simple  arrangement,  whei’eby,  iu  a wooden 
trough,  a grooved  roller  kneads  the  butter  com- 
pletely free  of  butter-milk.  The  l)utter-milk  es- 
capes down  the  iucliued  plane  wliich  forms  the 
floor  of  the  trough,  and  runs  through  a tap  hole  to 
a ve.ssel  placed  to  catch  it  below. 
When  thoroughly  worked,  the  butter  is  iu  a 
condition  to  be  made  up  into  marketable  form. 
By  the  use  of  “ Scotch  hands”  and  wooden  butter 
prints  or  moulds,  it  can  be  made  up  at  once  into 
pats  for  immediate  sale.  If  it  is  necessary  to  keep 
the  butter  any  time,  it  should  be  preserved  with 
salt.  One  per  cent,  salt  is  sullicieut  to  presen  e 
butter  in  good  condition  for  a few  weeks,  whilst  3 
to  4 per  cent,  will  keep  it  good  for  months. 
Fine  table  salt  shouM  be  used.  Before  it  is 
mixed  with  the  butter  it  should  be  powdered  very 
fine  with  the  roller  (an  empty  buttle  does  very 
well  for  the  purpose).  The  salt  should  be  mi.xed 
with  the  butter  by  thorough  working  on  the 
butter-worker,  a little  .salt  being  sprinkled  each 
time  the  butter  is  kneaded  by  the  butter-worker. 
1 have  proved  that  butter  preserved  iu  this  man- 
ner, if  packed  tight  iti  earthenwuire  ‘‘  crocks”  with 
tight-fitting  lids,  will,  iu  a comparatively  cool 
place,  keep  good  for  mouths.  Moreover,  when 
required  for  use,  the  butter  could  be  washed  almost 
free  of  salt  by  the  free  use  of  pure  cold  water  and 
of  the  butter-worker.  Improved  dairy  machinery 
is  de.signed  with  the  object  ot  making  it  unne- 
cessary for  the  dairyman  to  touch  with  the  hands, 
either  milk,  cream  or  butter,  which,  iu  India,  is  a 
point  of  sigt.ificant  importance. 
The  ordinary  method  of  hastening  the  ripening 
of  cream  is  to  add  to  it  a little  sour  milk  which, 
how'ever,  must  be  clean  and  free  from  any  foreign 
taint  or  flavour. 
Butler  should  b{‘  nnob;  in  India  in  the  early 
morning  w hen  I he  dairy  is  cool. 
Ripe  cream  Indore  it  is  churned  should  be 
cooled  ; oo°  F.  or  60  F.  is  the  i/ro])er  temperature. 
The  temperature  of  cream  is  lowera<l  by  adding 
ice  or  by  setting  the  cream  in  its  vessel  in  cold 
water.  The  cooler  the  cream  is  churned,  the  firmer 
the  butter  will  be.  The  churn  should  revolve 
about  55  times  per  minute.  Tluf  best  results  are 
got  when  the  butter  comes  in  half  an  hour.  If  it 
comes  much  sooner  it  is  prol)able  that  the  cream 
has  been  over-ripened.  If  the  cream  is  not  equally 
ripe,  f.".,  if  during  ripening  it  has  not  been  well 
stirred  and  thoroughly  exposed  eguallif  to  the  air, 
that  at  the  bottom  of  the  vessel  will  be  less  ripe 
than  that  at  the  top,  and  in  the  proce.ss  of  churn- 
ing the  ripe  or  overripe  portion  of  the  cream  will 
form  into  butter  granules  first.  If  this  occurs,  a 
good  deal  of  cream  which  has  not  been  converted 
into  butter,  will  be  removeil  with  the  butter- 
milk, and  w’ill  be  lost  unless  the  butter  milk  i.s  kept 
for  21  hours,  during  which  period  tlie  unchurned 
cream  will  rise  to  the  surface  of  the  butter-milk 
and  may  lie  skimmed  off.  In  India  a good  deal  of 
cream  is  recovered  iu  thi.s  manner  during  the  hot 
weather.  Even  under  the  most  careful  manage- 
ment some  cream  wdll  bo  lost  iu  the  butter-milk  at 
this  season.  The  cream  from  buff.ilo’s  milk  can 
be  churned  at  a liigli  temperature  tlian  that  from 
cows  and  yet  produce  equally  firm  butter.  The 
feeding  of  the  milch-cattle,  as  already  noted,  also 
influences  the  temperature  at  which  firm  butter 
can  be  churned.  Colouring  matter,  if  desired, 
should  be  added  before  churning.  It  is  made 
from  3 oz.  annatto  seed  digested  for  an  hour  in 
8 oz.  pure  olive  oil  and  then  strained  through  fine 
muslin.  One  tea-spoonful  is  sufficient  for  the 
cream  of  40  lbs.  buffalo’s  milk,  ie.,  for  about  4 
lbs.  of  butter.  Colouring  matter,  which  is  more 
concentrated,  is  made  as  follows  : 4 oz.  of  ground 
annatto  seed  is  ijut  in  a glass  flask  and  just  cover- 
ed with  rectified  spirit.  This  mi.xture  is  allowed 
to  digest  for  7 days.  The  rectified  ."ipirit  dissolves 
the  colouring  matter  from  the  seed  and  a pure 
solution  is  obtained  by  straining  through  muslin. 
This  solution  is,  however,  unsuitable  for  colouring 
butter,  because  tlie  spirit  w'ould  taint  the  butter. 
Tlie  mixture  is  tlierefore  placed  in  a cooking  ves- 
sel with  1 11).  of  .sesamum  oil  and  carefully  heat- 
ed ; the  spirit  is  entirely  ev!ii)orated  and  the  solu- 
tion is  transferred  to  the  oil-  The  colouring 
matter  thus  prepared  is  placed  in  a bottle  when 
cool  and  kept  corked  to  be  used  as  required. 
♦ 
BOTTLING  AND  CANNING  FRUIT. 
To  preserve  fruit  in  a fresh  state  it  is  necessary 
to  raise  the  temperature  above  100  deg.  F.  to  des- 
troy the  germs  of  fungoid  growths  which  pro- 
mote decay,  and  to  close  the  receptacles  perfectly 
airtight  while  at  or  above  the  degree  of  temper- 
ature given  above.  For  general  use,  an»l  to 
allow  a margin  on  tlie  operator’s  side,  tlie  boiling 
|)oint  212  deg.  F.  is  usually  adopted.  Tire  fruit 
should  be  sound,  firm,  ripe— but  not  “ sqiiasliy” 
to  the  touch.  The  tin  or  bottles  should  be  of 
the  size  suited  to  holding  enough  for  one  dish 
for  the  houseliold,  and  it  must  be  observed  tliat 
the  fruit  will  decay  if  allowed  to  stand  for  any 
length  of  time  after  being  exposed  to  the  air — 
for  at  once  on  being  oiienod  fresh  germs  fall  u[)on 
it  from  tlie  air  and  set  up  growflis  wliich  hasleii 
decomposition.  Tins  are  cheaper  than  glass  jars 
ami  therefore  are  used  more,  but  as  they  have  a 
leiideiicy  to  oxidize  artd  become  useless  iu  about 
a couple  of  seasons,  Hie  glass  jars  are  probably 
