THE SOJ-l'HERN CULTIVATOR. 
151 
daily siirring. The quality of the butter is 
much improved by this management. It the 
milk be not drawn off, and it be churned with 
the cream, the butter will be longer in coming, 
and it will show specks ot sour curd, taste like 
cheese, and will soon bee ime rancid- Butter 
will come quickly at all seasons ot the year, it 
the cream be ot a temperature of from 60® to 70°; 
to this end, use hot water in winter, and ice in 
summer; but never add either to the cream, in or 
out of the churn. 
Salt. — Pure sa It chrystalizes into perfect cubes. 
All other forms of chrystalization found in com- 
mon salt, arise from impurities; those of a 
needle .shape in Liverpool bag, or blown salt, 
indicate the presence of lime, magnesia, &c. — 
One greatcause of the failure of making good 
butter, may be traced to the use of impure salt. 
Rock salt, and the large lumps of Turk’sisland, 
washed, dried, and finely pulverized, are pre- 
ferable to all other kinds, being highly pre- 
servative, and hardening the butter, so that 
it will be sooner ready to work over in warm 
weather. The Liverpool bag or blown salt, 
the Salina salt in small bags from New-York, 
and the fine part of every kind of imported 
salt, contain a great portion ofimpurity. Less 
than one ounce of pure salt, is sufficient for a 
pound oi butler, many put in but haltan ounce. 
In the manufacture ot cheese, a preference is 
sometimes given to Liverpool bag or blown salt. 
This contains salts of lime and magnesia, 
which attract moisture from the air, and have 
the desirable effect of softening the cheese, and 
the pungent bitter taste which they impart to it, 
is an improvement in the estimation ofsome. 
General Remarks. — The cieam should not 
rise more than 36 hours; it should be sweet 
when taken off, and sweet when churned; yet 
there is a degree of maturity to be acquired bv 
keeping. 
The kegs for packing butter should be made 
of while oak, bilging in the form of casks for 
the more perfect seclusion of air, and conve- 
nience of transportation. If the butter is not to 
be sent to a warm climate, or a foreign market, 
let the bilging kegs have moveable covers, to 
accommodate inspection; they should be soak- 
ed in strong brine, made also of pure salt, in 
order that justice may be done to the purchasers 
in tare, and to save the butter from beingspoiled 
for one or two inches deep all around, from its 
contact with dry wood. In case the wood is 
anything but white oak, there is danger of its 
giving an unpleasant taste to the whole. For 
the convenience of families, the size should 
vary from twenty-five to fifty pounds. A keg 
of butter is expr sed to the air for a long time, 
while on broach in a small family, and the 
bottom, in consequence, becomes rancid. 
The consumer will cheerfullv pay an extra 
price for one hundred pounds ofbutter. racked 
in four kegs instead of one. No salt should be 
put on the sides, bottom or between the layers 
If the kegs are made with covers, put a cloth 
over the ton, and cover that with pure fine salt. 
Keep a cloth wet with strong brine over the 
butler, while the keg is filling, to exclude the air. 
The practice ot washing butter is not approved 
of in Europe; it destroys its fragrance and 
sweetness by dissolving the sugar of milk, 
which it is said is al ways present in good butler. 
It is practiced in Holland, when the article is 
designed for exportation to India; then the 
operation is usually oerformed with cold, strong, 
limpid brine made of pure salt and water; water 
that has lime in it will not answer, as the lime 
is readily absorbed by the butter. 
To exclude the air more eflectuallv during 
the process of puding down, let a little melted 
sweet butter be run into the cavity, where the 
bottom, head and staves come together, then 
after each layer is completed, let the dairy- 
woman pass her finger round so as to press the 
butler hard and close against the side. 
Don’t be prevented by shame from asking 
questions when ignorant, was the remark of a 
celebrated Persian Philosopher. 
From lh« N. Y. Shipping and Commercial List. 
Cotton Crop of the United States for the 
year ending August 31, 1846. 
NEW OBLEANS. 
Export : 
To Foreign ports.. 
Coastwise 
Slock on hand, 1st 
Sept., 1846. ...... 
Deduct : 
Stock on hand, Isl 
Sept. 1815 
Rec’d from Mobile. 
Rec’d from Florida. 
Rec’d from Texas.. 
Export : 
To Foreign ports. . . 
Coastwise 
Stock on hand, Isl 
Sept. 1846 
Deduct ; 
Stock 1st Sept 1S45. 
Reo’dfrom wrecked 
ships 
Ree’d from Texas.. 
Rec’d from N. O’lns. 
Esport : 
To Foreign ports.. 
Coast s'ise 
Stock on hand 1st 
Sept. 1816 
301,735 
115,698 
7,476 
Bales. 
1,061,189 
■.24,045 
425,109 
Total. 
1846. 
1,037,144 
929,126 
Deduct : 
Slock on hand 1st 
Sept. 1645 
609 
1,275 
666 
5931 
FLORIDA. 
49,981 j 
90,215 
3,143 421,966 
517,196 
1,068 1 
141,2841 
Export : 
To Foieign ports.. 
Coastwise 
Stock on hand Isi 
September, 1846.. 
Export Pm Savan’h: 
To Foreign ports — 
Uplands 
Sea Islands 
Coastwise— Upl’ds . 
Sea Islands 
TEXAS. 
11,324! 
14,184 
l,50ol 
GEORGIA. 
1001 141,184 
27.003 
133,693 
60 330 
8,472 
106,229 
2,225 
186,306 
Burnt in Savannah. 1,848 
Stock in Savannah 
1st Sept , 1846. .. . 5,922 
Stock in Augusta & 
Hamburg, Isl Sep- 
tember, 1846 9,906 203.982 
Deduct : 
Slock in Savannah 
and Augusta, Ist 
Sept., 1845 9,071 
SOUTH CARO LINA. 
Exp I’m Charleston 
To Foreign ports — 
Uplands 160.233 
Sea Islands 19,527 
Coastwise — Upl’ds . 87,841 
Sea Islands...... 476 
194,911 
295,440 
Exp. f’m Qeorget’n, 
To New York 
Slock in Charles- 
lon, 1st Sepiem- 
ber, 1846 
Deduct : 
Stock in Charleston 
1st Sept., 1345. . . . 
Rec’d Pm Savannah 
Rec’d from Florida, 
Key West, &c... 
268,077 
3,852 
8,709 
10.879 
16,397 
1,957 
260,638 
29,233 1 251,405 
426,361 
NORTH CAROLINA. 
Export ; 
Coastwise. 
10,637 1 12,487 
Exports : 
To Foieign ports.. 
Coastwise 
Manufactured.. . .. 
Slock on hand 1st 
September, 1846.. 
Deduci : 
Slock on hand, Ist 
September, 1845. 
Received at Phila- 
delphia and Balti- 
more, overland.. 
Total crop of the 
U States 
Total crop of 1846, 
as above 
Crop of last year... 
Decrease, 
1,308 
3,505 
10,787 
100 
15,700 
2,418 
13,282 
25,200 
3,000 
2,100,537 
2,394,503 
2,100,537 
2,394,503 
298,9tK 
GROWTH. 
Crop of 182G-7, 
b’s 937.000 
1836-7. 
1827- -8 
1837-8. 
1828-9 
18^-9 
1829-30 
. .. 
1839-40 
18:30-1 
1840-1, 
1831-2 
987^477 
1841-2. 
1832-3 
1833-4 
1843-4. 
1834-5 
...1,254,328 
1844. 5. 
1835 -6 
1845-6. 
.bales, 1,422,930 
1,801.497 
1.360,5;3'2 
2,177,835 
1,634,945 
1,683.574 
2,378,875 
2,030,409 
2,394,603 
2,100^37 
CONSUMPTION. 
Total crop of the U State*, 
2,100,5.57 
Add- 
Stocks on hand at the com- 
mencemept of the year, 
Isl iSept., 1815 : 
III the /Southern ports 
a),783 
Ill the Northern pons 
67,687 
98,420 
2,198,967 
Deduct Iheiefrom— 
The export to Foreign ports 
Less Foreign included 
1.666,792 
349 
1,666,443 
i8tock on hand at the close 
of the year, 1st <8eptem- 
ber. 1846 : 
41,033 
In the Southern ports..... 
In ihe Northern ports 
66,089 
1,848 
347 
107,lffi 
Burntat Piiiladelphia 
2,795 
1,776,360 
600 
Taken for home use 
422,697 
Quantity consumed by and in the hands of Man- 
ufacturers. 
1845-6.... bales, 
18:36-7 
IS35- ' 
. . .bales 
222.540 
. 2:16,7X3 
184:3- 4..,, 346.744 
1.84-2-3 3:5.129 
1834-5 
. 216 883 
1833- 4 

. 196,413 
1841-2 267,850 ] 
183’ -3 
. 194,412 
1340--1 297,2'-8 
1831-2 
. 173,800 
1839-40 295.19-3 
1833 9 276.018 
IN.5II..I 
. 182.142 
1829-30 
. 126,612 
1837-8 246,063 
1828-9 
. 118,853 
By the foregoing statement, it will be seen, that the 
crop falfS short of iast year’s by 293,966 bales — add to 
this the quantity pul Jown for Texas, and the actual 
difference is 320,974. 
Our estimate nf the quantity taken for consumption, 
does not include any Colton manufactured in the 
iSiates south and west of Virginia, nor any in that 
Slate, except ill the vicinity of Petersburg and Rich- 
mond. 
The quantity of new Colton received at the shipping 
pons up to the first insi. amounted only to about 200 
bales, against 7,500 bales last year. 
Philadelphia Its high flavor, and 
the source whence this is derived. — My Dear Sir: — 
During one of your late visits to Philadelphia, 
we had some conversation relative to the rare 
qualities of Philadelphia butler, which, though 
good at all times, is at one seae.m distinguished 
by a peculiarly high and delightful flavor, not to 
be found, in the same degree, so far as I oan 
learn, in butter made in any other part oi the 
Union. I told you that 1 thought I had discover- 
ed the sou-me of this peculiarly grateful flavor, 
and now undertake to ledeem a promise made to 
write you on the subject. It is only at one 
season of the year that the flavor is in great- 
est perfe tion, and hence our housekeepers call 
it ‘ .May Butter,’ and sometimes ‘ Grass Butter.’ 
The limits of the season of highest flavor may 
be set from a 'out the middle of April to the 
middle of June. Now it is precisely during this 
time that the old, unplowed meadows and pas- 
ture fields, in the vicinityof Philadelphia, abound 
with a species of grass so highly odoriferous as 
to have obtained the name of Sweet-scented Ver- 
nal Grass. Botanists call it Antho.vanthum odor- 
atum. The scent somewhat resembles that of 
vanilla. It grows about a foot or eighteen inch- 
es high, rising above the surrounding grass. Its 
stem is tery small and round, with a few long 
and slender leaves. Its odor will alone be sufii- 
cient to distingui h it from all other grasses 
found in our pastures. When in blossom, the 
air is often hijihly charged with its scent, and at 
this time I seldom ride into the country without 
gathering a hand nil of the grass to enjoy its 
rich perfumes at leisure, and perhaps store it 
away in a drawer. As it is so very forward In 
its growth, so does it show the earliest signs of 
decay. About the middle of June the fields and 
meadows where it abounds assume a yellowish 
appearance foom the dying of the stems of the 
firs: growth. The cattle press these aside to 
get at greener herbage, and now the high flavor 
ot our butter declines. 
The Sweet-scented Vernal Grass is a native 
of Europe, whence it has doubtless been intfo- 
dueed into the vicinity of Philada. — JPar. 
