18-4 
AMERICAN AG- RT.C t J U L' U II 1ST. 
[Mat, 
Earthen, or Tin, Milk Vessels. 
I fancy I can tell the difference in the taste of 
milk set or kept in earthen or glass, and that set 
or kept in tin ; nay, I do not think it is a fancy or a 
piece of “ fast-idiocy ”—as a jocose friend would 
say, as he once remarked he was no “fast idiot.” 
I found in use on Col. E. S. Sanford’s farm, last 
summer, some curious 
milk vessels. They were 
wide-mouthed jars, or 
ewers, of common 
earthen-ware, glazed in¬ 
side, unglazed outside, 
with one or two handles, 
according to size. I 
find that they are a 
good deal in use among 
Germans in and about 
New York and the 
group of surrounding 
cities and villages. The 
sizes are two, three, 
four, and six quarts— 
a three - quart jug is 
shown in figure 1, and 
a larger one in figure 2. 
They have covers which fit into a rim like the lid 
of a butter crock. They are filled with milk and 
set into water in pans or tubs—or other crocks—and 
the water is renewed as often as may be convenient. 
The outside is so porous that the water, if it once 
wets the surface, is con¬ 
tinually drawn up by 
capillary attraction. It 
of course evaporates all 
the time, thus notably 
cooling the milk. I 
procured some of these 
German milk crocks, 
and found them excel¬ 
lent where one has but 
a few quarts of milk— 
but we were disappoint¬ 
ed in the degree of 
coolness produced. I 
am satisfied that for 
some reason, milk will 
keep sweet much longer 
in earthen than in tin 
vessels. When travel¬ 
ling at the West — I 
mean what we used to 
call the West, properly 
the Interior—and at the 
South, I have noticed 
coarse earthen pans 
with flat rings, quite 
thick and heavy, cover¬ 
ed with a dark clay 
glaze. Upon inquiry 
I was surprised to 
find that they were milk-pans, in fact—except 
among people of New England or Eastern origin— 
the common milk-pans of the country. I sketch 
one of them (fig. 3) from memory, and a stack of 
them in figure 4, to show how solidly they pack. 
They are, I should say, 5 inches deep and hold, when 
filled to the proper hight, from four to six quarts. 
Very neat milk pans, made of yellow or white 
ware, are sometimes used and are by far the best 
round shallow pans. 
They are called by the 
trade “nappies,’’and are 
round or oval, shown in 
figures 5 and 6. The 
convenient sizes hold 4 
to 6 quarts; the 8- 
Fig. 3.—AN earthen pan. quart ones are heavy 
to handle. The round ones with a lip were 
formerly made extensively for the southern trade, 
but less so now. Square dishes of the same 
ware are called “ puddings they are rectangular 
with somewhat rounded corners, and in common 
use as pudding dishes, but are admirable milk-pans 
when small quantities of milk only are kept. Af¬ 
ter the milk is two days old, in ordinary weather, 
the cream may be loosened from the sides of the 
pan and slipped off from the skim-milk by a dex- 
Fig. 2.—CROCK IMPROVED. 
Fig. 1.—A GERMAN CROOK. 
texous movement, with greater ease than from 
pans of any other form. See the process in figure 7. 
It must not be overlooked that there is little lost 
room on shelves or tables where these pans are 
placed. Cream is often “slipped” from round 
pans of both tin and 
earthen - ware, but a 
good deal of milk is lia¬ 
ble to go with it. The 
influences of the weath¬ 
er on milk are well 
known ; we all think 
thunder and lightning 
sour milk, and the 
warmth and cold, as 
well as the moisture 
and dryness of the 
atmosphere produce . 
, 'Fig. 4.— STACK OF PANS, 
notable effects. These 
effects are increased by metal, and diminished 
by glass, porcelain, and earthen-containing vessels. 
The Peculiar Flavor Caused by Tin. 
We are so accustomed to use milk which has 
been drawn, transported, or set in tin, that most of 
us are quite unaware that a foreign flavor is almost 
uniformly imparted. Perfectly bright, new tin, 
probably imparts no perceptible flavor, but that 
which has been somewhat worn, scratched, or 
scoured, flavors the milk at once. It is fair to con¬ 
clude, then, that it is the iron and not the tin which 
gives the flavor; for 
where the iron is laid 
bare, from any cause, 
it is this and not the 
tin which is primarily 
acted upon by the acids 
of the milk. The least 
action causes the formation and disengagement 
of hydrogen, which, either by itself, or in the form 
of some of its many compounds, of which I know 
little, I believe is ab¬ 
sorbed by the milk 
and imparts a peculiar 
flavor. This taste is 
more perceptible in 
_ „ skimmed milk than in 
Fig. 6. “SQUARE” NAPPY. the creanl _if it be at 
all observable in cream and butter.—I do not at 
present know of any reason why the so-called 
Granite Ware, 
if the glaze which covers the iron basis does not 
crack and does not contain lead in such quantity as 
to render the glaze partially soluble, should not 
form an excellent substitute for both tin and ear- 
then-ware for setting milk, and other milk vessels. 
Bitter Butter. 
Few persons will be troubled with bitter butter 
after this article is before the readers of the Ameri- 
Fig. 5.— ROUND NAPPY. 
Fig. 7.—SLIPPING THE CREAM. 
can Agriculturist, because grass feed, fresh cows, 
and the season of the year prevents its occurrence. 
My attention has, however, been repeatedly direct¬ 
ed to the subject the past winter, and I am certain¬ 
ly inclined to favor the view that the bitterness 
arises from the milk which separates from the cream 
after skimming, and which is usually churned with 
it. It has been repeatedly suggested that this milk 
or sour whey should by all means be drawn off be¬ 
fore churning; but I do not recollect that the 
Washing 1 of Cream 
has ever been recommended. I have proved thatit 
is easily done in this way: one may draw off the 
milk from the stone cream-crock—like the one 
shown in figure 7—or from any other cream vessel; 
add an equal quantity (or say, a portion equal to 
one-fifth of the cream), of skimmed milk, and stir 
the whole together. This may stand awhile, and be 
drawn off before churning, and more may be added 
if one wishes to chum with a portion of milk, or 
the milk of the second washing may be drawn off 
and the cream then cleansed, washed and rinsed, 
and churned by itself. 
This washing of cream is a matter which I have 
experimented with very little, and know little 
about. So far as I know it is an original idea, and, 
I would be glad to have older and wiser dairymen— 
and I am not properly a dairyman—experiment with 
it. That cream may be washed with sweet milk, 
sour milk, whey, buttermilk, water, or brine, i& 
certain. What the effect of washing with these 
fluids will be upon the butter has yet to be proved, 
so far as I am aware. I certainly should expect the 
best results from washing with sweet skimmed 
milk, water, or brine. The use of brine is strongly 
favored by a very sensible Vermont dairyman, with 
whom I was recently conversing. He is a great ad¬ 
vocate of brining butter, and uses three strong 
brines in preparing his butter, which, by the way, 
he finds to add the equivalent of a quarter of an 
ounce of salt to the pound. It may be that he re¬ 
gards the brine as applied to washing cream with- 
too great favor. Nevertheless brine is the butter- 
maker’s sheet anchor in modern butter-making, and 
I see no reason why it should not answer—and an¬ 
swer well—for washing cream. Thus far I have only 
experimented in the use of skimmed milk and water. 
Something About Milk. 
The following remarks, abstracted from a foreign 
scientific journal, are applicable to this meridian, 
and may be useful to producers and country users 
of milk, as well as to consumers who live in cities. 
First of all, it should be understood that a hard 
service is required of milk. Nearly the whole of 
the vast demand made upon it by civilization is- 
outside of its natural functions, and is—so to say— 
rather unfair treatment of a very sensitive nature, 
for Nature never designed milk for exposure to the 
air, or for much variation of temperature. It was 
intended to be taken directly from the fountain. 
It is what chemists call a transition compound, there¬ 
fore, changeable and transitory, and requiring deli¬ 
cate handling. It comes directly from the blood, 
which is very similar, it naturally passes, without 
delay, exposure, or appreciable change of tempera¬ 
ture, from the body of the parent to that of the 
offspring, there to be immediately converted to 
blood again, and so used in growth and sustenance, 
How can we expect that such an exquisitely deli¬ 
cate compound will not occasionally resent out¬ 
rageous changes from heat to cold, and cold to 
heat, and the ruthless joltings of transportation 
and contact with air of every degree of impurity P 
To refer only to the latter, which is probably least 
understood. Almost everything is capable both of 
giving out and of imbibing effluvia, or vaporous 
compounds, which are often quite beyond the reach 
of chemical estimation. Probably but few persona 
outside of scientific circles are aware that it would 
be next to impossible to devise a compound liquid 
more susceptible to effluvial influences than fresh 
milk. It possesses a slight and agreeable effluvium 
of its own ; and also a wonderful aptitude for re¬ 
ceiving and retaining that of every sort of volatile 
matter approaching it. Oily matters promptly take 
up odoriferous principles of every kind ; the mi¬ 
croscopic globules of the rising cream, in their 
state of minute subdivision present a large surface, 
absorbing with extreme avidity. When the milk¬ 
man leaves the daily supply of, we will suppose, 
pure milk, this is what is likely to happen to it in 
England, according to our narrator : 
“ It is poured at once into a clean earthenware 
jug.” [The Englishman means pitcher, butafashion 
