320 
LADIES DEPARTMENT. 
Cadies’ ^Department. 
MAKING BUTTER. 
I am glad you express the opinion, in the leading 
article of your August number, that “ good house¬ 
wives are never tired of reading upon subjects of this 
kind,” for I have just prepared a short paper on the 
best way of icorking butter, which, if you think pro¬ 
per to insert, I should not like my fair friends to think 
it one too much. 
In giving directions for making butter, there is one 
omitted, without which all the others are literally of 
no avail; I mean the care of the cream. The milk 
should never stand more than forty-eight hours, for 
if properly treated, all the oily particles will have 
risen by that time. When the milk is skimmed every 
morning and night, the cream in the crock must be 
thoroughly stirred with a wooden spoon, before and 
after each addition. If this is neglected, there will 
be a deposite around the sides which will contract and 
impart a stale taste, that all the after care can never 
remove ; and this is, I believe, the secret cause of the 
bad flavor of half the butter by which our markets 
are disgraced—fit only for the tables of those West 
Indians, who, it is said, prefer butter that has some 
taste, some smell. 
The directions given in the article above alluded to, 
are, I think, very good. The London method I do 
not like. I would use no saltpetre; no pickle; neither 
annato nor carrot juice, as color is of little importance 
if the flavor be good ; and boiling- water gives an oily 
taste, and so do the hands, which should never 
touch the butter. Working a second time, after the 
salt has lain in it for some hours, has a good effect, as 
it frees the butter from all watery particles, and gives 
it almost the consistence of wax. For working butter 
effectually, I know of nothing equal to a simple ma¬ 
chine which I will attempt to describe, and which 
any man who understands the use of tools, can make 
in a few hours. It may not be new to you, but as I 
have not seen any notice of, or allusion to it, in your 
former numbers, I venture to send it, accompanied by 
a rude drawing, to make my description more intelligi¬ 
ble. It is much valued where it is known for the 
complete manner in which it operates, and the amount 
of labor and time saved—a lad of twelve or fourteen 
years being able to work from 40 to 50 pounds at once, 
in one third the time required by the ordinary process. 
Some of the finest butter taken to the Baltimore and 
Philadelphia markets is made upon it. 
The machine is a stout oak three-legged table, 2 feet 8 
inches high in front, by 3 feet behind. The top a seg¬ 
ment of a circle of about 2 feet 6 inches diameter, with 
a rim r, 4 inches high on the two straight sides; a 
groove g, an inch or more deep, around the front to 
catch the butter-milk, with a hole and spout h, in the 
groove, to carry it into a pail beneath ; a heavy bar 
b, 2 inches thick, moving freely on apivotj?, both hori¬ 
zontally and vertically. 
The butter must be spread upon the table, and press¬ 
ed firmly with the bar, moving from side to side, and 
back again—then turned with the paddle, and the 
ressure repeated until all the buttermilk and water 
ave run off, after which it can be printed for market, 
or packed in kegs for exportation. If it is to be sent 
to a hot climate, it ought to be closely packed in stone 
iars, of not more than 121bs. each, covered with a lin¬ 
en rag, upon which put a layer of salt, at the least an 
inch thick, cork the jars, cover closely with coarse 
cotton or linen cloth, and pack the jars in kegs, an 
inch or more larger every way than the jars, with 
pulverized charcoal rammed between and over the top. 
1 have known this done, and when unpacked in Libe¬ 
ria, the butter was perfectly good, and hard enough 
to be spread with a knife—at least so said those who 
ate of it. 
A Butter-worker. —Fig. 72. 
No dairy-maid in our part of the country need be 
told that this table must never be used for any other 
than the specified purpose. She would be almost as 
much affronted as if you told her to wash her milk pail 
or strain the milk. This reminds me of Miss Edge- 
worth’s account of the Irish method of making butter, 
which I will condense for the amusement of those lit¬ 
tle girls who have not had the good fortune to read 
her delightful story of Harry and Lucy. 
She tells of a visit the children made to a dairy, 
where the maid put three gallons of cream into a churn, 
and after churning for three quarters of an hour, pro¬ 
duced nearly three pounds of butter. This was press¬ 
ed to get the milk out, and then often washed in fresh 
waters, after which it was laid upon a flat dish, and cut 
into small pieces with a wooden slice, in order to have 
the cow’s hairs picked out winch had fallen into the 
milk. Many of these hairs stuck to the edge of the 
slice, and the rest she picked out with her fingers ! **** 
This “picking out” is an improvement upon the 
method said to be practised in one of the Western States, 
from whence the story is told of a traveller who request¬ 
ed his hostess to send the butter and the hairs to his table 
upon separate plates, as he preferred mixing them for 
himself. H. S. 
Eutawah. 
BLEACHING STRAW. 
Rye straw only is good—wheat is too brittle when 
dry. In the Eastern States the straw is fit for this 
use when the grain is fully formed, in Pennsylvania 
when it is in blossom; therefore the criterion must 
be, the state of the straw. This will require some 
judgment for the first year; after that, experience will 
be the best guide. My way is to walk round the rye 
field when the straw has attained its full size and the 
blossom has faded, and choose that which feels firm, 
yet yields without cracking, to the gentle pressure oi 
the thumb and forefinger. Have two or three com¬ 
mon sized bundles of this cut as near the ground ai 
possible, chop off the heads with the straw cutter. 
