BUTTER FROM SOUR-MILK.—EXPERIMENTS WITH MUCK. 
51 
out a tolerable share of practical observation, em¬ 
bracing a pretty wide tract of country from a little 
north of Boston to a short distance within the 
tropics ; and after all I have seen, and some I have 
tried, I am perfectly satisfied that here a man can 
enjoy more of those great objects of rational pur¬ 
suit in life, health and contentment , than at any 
other place I have known. Our country is suffi¬ 
ciently productive, and resources sufficiently nu¬ 
merous, to gratify all our rational wants with only 
that degree of labor which is essential to our men¬ 
tal and physical comfort, and too poor to excite 
those feelings of avarice that derange so often the 
mental, moral, and physical harmony of our organi¬ 
zation. While we are removed on one side from 
that lassitude, ennui, and muscular relaxation, of 
a tropical climate, we are equally protected on the 
other from the severity of the northern winters, 
the cause of much severe pain, besides the mor¬ 
tality produced in colds, consumptions, rheuma¬ 
tisms, &c., equal, perhaps, to the bilious fevers of 
the malarious districts of our southern climate. 
But I have digressed—I intended only to give 
you my opinion of this, as a sheep-growing coun¬ 
try. 
John J. McCaughan. 
Palmetto Farm, Mississippi City , 
December ls£, 1843. 
BUTTER FROM SOUR MILK. 
As many of the farmers in Orange county, and 
elsewhere, are in the habit of churning their milk 
sweet, and fresh drawn from the cow, as our cor¬ 
respondent thinks is the best method, we should 
be glad if they could inform us whether butter 
thus made, keeps longer than that made from the 
cream of the loppered or soured milk. Previous to 
our late visit to Orange, we supposed that it did; 
but we were informed there, by many with whom 
we conversed, that such was not the fact, at least, 
so far as our northern climate was concerned. 
Whether the rule holds good for the tropical cli¬ 
mate, we did not inquire. We presume there 
are those in Orange county, who have shipped 
butter to the West Indies, and can give us full in¬ 
formation on this point. 
New York, Jan. &th, 1844. 
In a late number of your paper, in the account 
of your visit to the Orange county dairies, you re¬ 
mark that the milk is suffered to stand upon the 
cellar-bottom until it becomes loppered, or sour, 
and that the people have an idea that it makes 
more butter in that state, than in any other, and 
of a better quality. This statement is believed to 
be incorrect, as far as the quality of the butter is 
concerned, and it is doubtful whether there would 
be more in quantity, if the whey or butter-milk 
were properly extracted. It is a well-known fact, 
that in many parts of Europe, as well as several 
instances in our own country, there are farmers 
who have not cows in sufficient numbers to churn 
every day themselves, but unite with their neigh¬ 
bors, and chum their milk together, in order to 
preserve a good quality in their butter. This will 
at once be obvious in examining the nature and 
decomposition of milk. When it is new and fresh, 
the butter or oleaginous part separates more per¬ 
fectly from the whey or butter-milk, than it does 
when old and sour; and even it is possible for a 
chemical union to take place between the parts, 
when sour, that would be difficult to separate by 
the process of churning. 
Milk becomes sour, in consequence of the fer¬ 
mentation of the whey which it contains; and the 
cause of butter being rancid, is the fermentation 
of the whey that remains incorporated within it. 
If butter be made from new milk, and the whey 
be totally extracted therefrom, it will remain fresh 
for several months without salting; yet, if made 
from sour milk, howmuchsoever it may be salted, 
and carried into a tropical climate, it will become 
rancid in a few weeks, unless kept cool by ice or 
some other means. Butter made from new milk 
will more perfectly imbibe salt, in like manner as 
fresh, untainted meat; but when made from sour 
milk, it will not readily combine with salt, neither 
will putrid meat receive salt at all. B. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH MUCK- 
As you considered my lucubrations on marl of suf¬ 
ficient importance to publish in your December 
number, I now forward you an account of a little 
experiment with swamp mud, or what, I reckon, 
you call muck at the north. 
I had a few acres of swamp on the corner of my 
plantation, which, in particular seasons, I have no 
doubt has been the cause of some sickness among 
a part of my negroes who had their quarters there. 
I accordingly determined, two years ago this 
month, on draining it. This I easily effected in a 
few days, by digging a ditch through the centre 
four feet deep and five feet wide. As I had read 
much of the virtue of swamp-muck with you at 
the north, I thought I would try it on cotton in a 
different field, though nearly of the same quality 
of soil as that on which I spread the marl. I put 
on about the same quantity and in the same way 
as I did marl, but for some reason it did not pro¬ 
duce as good an effect as the marl, though I an¬ 
ticipated a better one. Another little experiment 
I made with the muck was more successful. I 
had a barrel of lime left over from a small job done 
by my masons, and this I mixed with two wagon¬ 
loads of muck, and laid it up in a heap for three 
months. This compost I applied in March to my 
garden, and it had a wonderful effect on the growth 
of the vegetables during the whole season—better 
I think even than the usual quantity of stable-ma¬ 
nure I am in the habit of using. Now did the 
lime make the difference ? (a) If it did, I shall 
almost regret it, as lime is too costly as I am situ¬ 
ated to use as a manure for my land. 
C. Me. D. 
Sumpter District, S. C., Dec. 1 2th, 1843.. 
(a) The difference must undoubtedly be attribu¬ 
ted to the lime, in consequence of its destroying 
the acidity of the muck, and hastening the decom- 
