S60 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[July, 
Barley—certainly the largest of them being no 
larger than grains of wheat. A little experience 
will enable any one to judge at which stage he can 
effect the most perfect draining off of the batter- 
milk, and most thorough washing of the butter. 
It will be observed-that if the grains are not large 
enough, they will hold the buttermilk by capillary 
attraction, and the whole mass will appear mush}'. 
When, however, the gathering goes too far, the lit¬ 
tle masses of butter will enclose completely some 
buttermilk, which it will be quite impossible to 
wash out, and it must be worked out. This, of 
course, is fatal to the process which we are consid¬ 
ering. We must stop churning when the grains are 
well formed, and float up distinct from the butter¬ 
milk, and yet are not too large. In my experience 
grains as large as small peas are entirely too large. 
The washing of grains of butter, of just the 
right size, is easily and quickly accomplished. 
They must first be chilled by a little cold water or 
ice water, if convenient, and then the buttermilk 
WIRE STRAINER. 
may be drawn off. A few of the finer grains are al¬ 
most sure to run off with the buttermilk, and I have 
found a little wire-gauze strainer , like that in the 
engraving, common in the shops, indispensable in 
saving them and preventing what in the end would 
he a notable waste. With this the escaped grains 
are skimmed out of the buttermilk, or it may he 
made to flow through the strainer. 
WASHING. 
The granular mass in the churn may now be 
washed with pure cold water, which should cer¬ 
tainly be strained before it goes into the churn. No 
one who has not carefully observed, has any idea of 
the specks and minute particles in ordinary, pure 
natural water. We do not notice them any more 
than we notice the birds far up in a clear sky ; if we 
see one a moment and lose sight of it, it is gone. 
It may be a question whether “ if the sky were to 
fall we should catch larks,” but it is sure enough 
if we strain water we shall get specks out of it. 
The quantity of water should be proportioned to 
the quantity of butter; fully as much should be 
used as the original mass of the cream—more does 
no harm, for water certainly does not wash out the 
flavor—except the flavor of buttermilk. Two wash¬ 
ings are usually sufficient, and then the butter may 
he removed from the churn. If the water is cold, 
and especially if ice water is used, the grains will 
be very hard, and bear considerable handling with¬ 
out packing in masses ; but it is usually best to 
lift them out of the water with a butter-ladle, if 
THE BRINING PROCESS 
is to be followed, in which case they are placed at 
once in a clean tub or crock, covered with linen 
cloth or towel, and a barrel head, stone lid, or other 
“ follower,” which shall so nearly fit the tub as not 
to go to the bottom, but rest agaiust the narrowing 
sides some inches below the top of the tub. Then 
fill up the tub with clear, strong, strained briue. 
The butter would of course float were it not for the 
follower, which may be weighted if necessary. 
The brine should be made of the purest and most 
odorless salt; it should be perfectly clear, and be 
decanted or poured off from undissolved salt. One 
hour’s soaking in the brine is sufficient for the pro¬ 
cess, as is generally believed, and I know nothing 
to the contrary.—We need experiments to settle 
this and other points.—It is certainly desirable to 
lift the follower,—barrel-head, or whatever it be— 
and stir the mass of butter once or twice ; and it is 
very important that the brine should be icy cold. 
Brine made with cold spring water, when freshly 
made, is always considerably colder than the water 
of the spring, and if one has no ice it is cold enough. 
The brine may either be drawn off, or the butter 
taken out of it. It may be rinsed out with brine, 
or with pure water, and the butter may then be 
salted or left “sweet”—that is, not salted.—It 
keeps well without salt, and as this is not the case 
with other “ sweet butter,” and as there is a large 
and growing demand for this article, it is quite 
worth while for farmers to know how they may 
prepare it so that it will keep. 
WHAT THE BRINE REMOVES 
is a question often asked. I have no record of 
such definite and accurate experiments that it is 
quite clear to me what is removed. This much 
seems certain;—it is something very much like 
casein, for when the brine is boiled or heated, 
flocks of curd separate. The membranous sacks 
which enclose the butter—the cel! walls—are sup¬ 
posed to be dissolved. The butter will not bear 
much working after brining before it becomes 
greasy. (There is, however, no need of working it 
more than enough to mix in the salt, and to get it 
into form).—And this fact leads us naturally to sup¬ 
pose that the salt dissolves the cell membranes, to¬ 
gether with any casein which may be adhering to 
them, and leaves the butter nearly or quite pure. 
This curdy substance, whatever it is, is prone to 
decompose, and in the ordinary treatment of butter, 
salt is used to preserve this extra substance from 
change,—not to make the butter itself keep. The 
casein, as it is called, in the butter, is what always 
changes first, and the rancidity of the butter 
follows in due time. For my own part, I do not 
see why butter thus purified by brine should not 
keep as well as any pure oil, or fat, like lard, tal¬ 
low, or sweet oil. Experience may demonstrate 
that such butter is not adapted to all seasons and 
all markets, hut so far it stands the test well. 
Nevertheless, without most careful analyses, it is 
too much to assume either that all the cell walls or 
all the casein, together with everything else is thus 
removed, leaving only the pure fat—or butter. 
I have before alluded to certain Irish butter, 
which is wonderful for keeping sweet in all cli¬ 
mates, and for a long time—and to the fact that 
this butter is worked and salted with semi-liquid 
salt, rubbed up with water to a pasty consistence— 
thus virtually working it under brine. Some but¬ 
ter-workers, notably the Eureka and the Reid, are 
adapted to working the butter in or under brine, 
which recommends them especially to those who 
pack butter for long keeping, because butter thus 
worked does not need so much salt to keep it. 
City Horses at Pasture. 
Grass is the natural food of the horse. In spring 
and summer the fresh green herbage of the field 
and mountain springing up among the rocks, along 
water-courses, or in the valleys, seasoned with the 
twigs of shrubs and trees, and the great variety of 
other plants which are both pleasant to the eye and 
good for food, constitute a rather bulky but nutri¬ 
tious and acceptable aliment. This food distends 
the paunch and gives an outline to the animal, 
which, as concerns city horses, is, to say the least, 
unfashionable. Very heavy horses, high-bred 
horses, and even those accustomed from coltliood 
to concentrated food, especially to receiving oats 
regularly, and whose skins are thin from having 
had regular grooming, protection from the weather 
and from the attacks of flies, do not do well' as a 
rule when turned to pasture. It is hard to make 
city people understand this. 
Horses are taken to pasture at various rates from 
§5 to $10 per month in the vicinity of New York. 
It will certainly cost 50 cts. a day in the city. It is 
thought to do horses “ a world of good ” to have 
a run upon grass—and the horses certainly appear 
to enjoy it. All such classes of horses inevitably 
run down if turned out to grass for the summer, and 
it will take weeks of good feed in town, and careful 
use, to get them back again to where they were. 
A case in poiut has just fallen under my observa¬ 
tion. A city-bred man owned a large farm and 
pastures—where the grass was thin, sweet, and 
abundant for active horses. A firm of Sugar Im¬ 
porters and Refiners, doing a large business, and 
employing very heavy draft horses, went out of 
business, and could not dispose of all their horse 
stock. Several were taken to pasture by the farm 
owner at a low rate, no provision being made for 
graining, and no stipulation that they should be 
sheltered. Permission was given to work them 
in consideration of the charge for pasturage. 
In autumn the horses were returned in pitiful, 
nlight, healthy, so far as I know, hut run down, 
thin, and weak enough—utterly unfit either for sale- 
or for work. A lawsuit was instituted for dam¬ 
ages, and the case was dismissed on the ground 
that the farmer acted as the agent of the owners of 
the horses, took care of them and fed them as he 
had agreed. Besides, he had given grain to those 
which he had worked. It follows that in the opin¬ 
ion of the Court, the owners had damaged their 
own horses by sending them to pasture. This is 
true,—and being true, ought 
CITY HORSES EVER TO BE TURNED TO GRASS ? 
Certainly not as these were. If they had had a 
good, deep, dark shed to go under at will, to get 
away from insects, and to protect them during cold 
storms, copse and young woody growth in which 
they might at will take shelter from the flies ; run¬ 
ning water in the pasture; plenty of good sweet 
grass, not too close cropped, nor yet too rank; and 
about one-thiid to half their usual feed of grain 
daily—say four quarts of oats and an equal meas¬ 
ure of bran—and access to salt at all times, they 
would have done well,—not gained in flesh, proba¬ 
bly ; but they would have come through the sum¬ 
mer looking fly-bitten, perhaps ; but, nevertheless, 
in such shape that they would soon get into first- 
rate working order, with a new lease of life from 
the change. It is quite as important for farmers to 
understand this as for the city owners of horses—and 
much hard feeling saved and perhaps the annoyance 
of lawsuits may be avoided by the knowledge. There 
should always be a proper understanding of exact¬ 
ly what is to be done by the party taking the horses. 
-... 
Hungarian Grass and Millet. 
By proper management, a second crop may often 
be grown upon a stubble, or upon a sod which is not 
to be kept in grass the next year. A quick grow¬ 
ing plant is needed for this purpose. One of the 
best, if not the best of all, is Hungarian Grass or 
Millet, which are similar plants in nearly all respects. 
Either of these may be brought to maturity in six 
or eight weeks, the time depending upon the season 
and the condition of the soil. A warm season, with 
sufficient moisture, and a warm, dry, rich soil, will 
bring the crop into condition for cutting in six 
weeks. Although Hungarian Grass is very often 
written about, yet there is alack of proper informa¬ 
tion in regard to it. It is unjustly charged with being 
injurious to horses, with being coarse, hard, woody, 
and innutritious for cows; and the latest error in 
regard to this useful plant, is a statement made by 
a Pennsylvania journal, which pretends to be agri¬ 
cultural, in part-at least, to the effect that, “ as the 
seed cannot he freed from chaff, 3 bushels per acre 
should be sown.” This grass, and the related Ital¬ 
ian Millet, resemble each other, except in the form 
of the panicle or head ; Hungarian Grass having a 
close head, and Millet a looser and more broken one. 
In point of leafiness, yield of crop, and manner of 
growth, both are alike; and although Hungarian 
Grass is the more popular, yet there seems to be no 
reason for this preference. Either of these crops 
require good, warm, light land ; three pecks to one 
bushel of seed per acre; the seed is small and yel¬ 
low, or yellow and black, and is quite free from 
“ chaff,” like clover seed. The seed is sown broad¬ 
cast and slightly harrowed in upon well mellowed 
ground. It may be sown as late as July, but for 
fodder it is well to sow in succession through June 
and the early part of July. It is best cut as soon 
as the head is formed, and when the foliage has be¬ 
come fully grown. It is then green and succulent, 
and not so hard or woody, as when the seed is ripe. 
The grain is surrounded by a number of short, 
barbed bristles or awns ; when the seed is ripe, these 
bristles are fully grown, hard and sharp, and when 
eaten by horses, are found to irritate the stomach 
and intestines. For this reason the fodder has 
gained a bad reputation without deserving it; all 
possible danger may he easily avoided by good 
managemant in cutting early ; when in the condi¬ 
tion to make nutritious hay, the bristles can do no 
harm. The grass is cut and cured as common hay,, 
and when harvested in good time, and cured green,, 
is palatable and nutritious. For a successive fod- 
