CATTLE. 
141 
there be an appearance of shrinking, the cask must be opened, and 
melted butter poured round it so as to fill up the interstices between 
the blitter and the cask. There is a mode of preserving butter for 
domestic use without salt, in the following manner : the butter is set 
in a clean pan over the fire, and melted very gently ; it is not allowed 
to boil, but is heated very nearly to the boiling point. Experience has 
shown this heat to be attained when the reflection of the white of the 
eye is distinctly seen on the surface of the butter on looking down into 
the pan. All the watery particles are then evaporated, and the curd, 
of which a portion always remains in the butter, and which is one cause 
of its becoming rancid, falls to the bottom. The clear butter is poured 
into an earthen vessel and covered over with paper, and a bladder or a 
piece of leather is tied over the jar to exclude the air. When it is 
cooled, it much resembles hogs’ lard. It has lost some of its flavor, but 
it is much superior to salt butter for culinary purposes, and especially 
for pastry. 
The Devonshire method of making butter is peculiar to that county. 
The milk, instead of being set for the cream to rise, is placed in tin or 
earthen pans, holding about eleven or twelve quarts each. Twelve 
hours after milking, these pans are placed on a broad iron plate, heated 
by a small furnace. The milk is not allowed to boil, but a thick scum 
rises to the surface. As soon as small bubbles begin to appear, where a 
portion of this scum is removed with a spoon, the milk is taken off and 
allowed to cool. The thick part is taken off the surface, and this is 
called clouted cream ; it is a sweet, pleasant substance, more solid than 
cream, but not so solid as butter, and is generally considered a dainty. 
A very slight agitation converts it into real butter, after which it is 
treated exactly as we have before described. 
Another method of making butter, which is more generally adopted, 
is to churn the milk and cream together. This method is pursued in 
parts of Holland, Scotland and Ireland, and is said to produce a greater 
abundance of butter from the same quantity of milk. In the Dutch 
method the milk is put into deep jars in a cool place, and each meal, 
or portion milked at one time, is kept separate. As soon as there is a 
slight appearance of acidity, the whole is churned in an upright churn, 
which, from the quantity of milk, is of very large dimensions. The 
plunger is worked by machinery moved by a horse, or sometimes by a 
dog walking in a wheel, which he turns by his weight. When the but- 
ter begins to form into small kernels, the contents of the churn are 
emptied on a sieve, which lets the buttermilk pass through. The but- 
ter is then formed in^o a mass, as described before. 
It is an acknowledged fact, that such are the niceties of the dairy 
that great experience alone can insure a produce of superior quality, 
and this experience would be more readily acquired if the circumstances 
were accurately observed and noted. We would recommend to those 
who have extensive dairies, to mark by the thermometer the tempera- 
ture of the milk and cream in the different stages of the process; occa- 
sionally to test the acidity of the buttermilk by means of alkalis; and 
to note any peculiarity in the atmosphere by an electrometer. A few 
observations, carefully noted, repeated, and compared, would throw 
