86 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 14, 1896k, 
) 
IS 
risk of taint from exposure in pans is avoided, the trouble 
expense, and anxiety of heating a large dairy in winter it 
avoided, and the cream, being in close compass can readily be 
prepared for churning. 
Close attention to temperature is always important; it is 
even more so in winter than in summer. The cream should be 
kept in a room where there is a steady temperature of 55°; it 
can then be ripened readily for churning. By ripening the 
cream a slight thickening and sourness in it is meant. This 
comes naturally under a temperature of 55°, and with the whole 
of the cream slightly sour the greatest possible quantity of 
butter will be made. If the cream become too sour there will 
be less butter ; it will not keep well, it will be of bad flavour, 
it may even be rancid, it will be practically worthless Even¬ 
ness of ripening is essential. Without it there will be some 
loss, simply because the butter grains come first from the sour 
cream, and those in the sweet or unripened cream will be lost 
in the buttermilk. That is why cream is stirred in the cream 
crock five or six times a day, and also when fresh cream is 
poured in. No fresh cream should be mixed with it for ten or 
twelve hours before the churning. When there is a large 
quantity of cream to deal with churning is more frequent, and 
recourse is had to artificial ripening. This is done by raising 
the temperature of the cream to 70°, adding and well stirring in 
4 per cent, of sour milk or buttermilk, and keeping it covered 
and warm. It is then ready for churning in about eighteen 
hours; in some dairy schools four or five hours longer is allowed. 
In the churning temperature is again an important factor. 
The best temperature of the cream for churning in winter is 
58 ; if it is at about 60° just before it is put in the churn 
it will be at the right temperature when churning begins. 
Before the cream is put in, scald the churn with boiling water to 
close the pores of the wood, follow immediately with a dash of 
cold water, then put in the cream, which has been brought to 
the right temperature, if necessary, by placing the cream crock 
in a larger one containing hot water. With the churn not more 
than half full of cream the churning is best done. Brisk 
churning is desirable in winter, but it is best to go slowly for 
the first ten minutes at all seasons of the year, so as to avoid 
frothing the cream, and the ventilator should be pressed down 
frequently so long as air rushes out. Then the rate of speed is 
increased to sixty turns a minute for end-over end churns, and 
forty-five for churns with a dasher. Avoil over churning. 
Never suffer the butter to be churned into a mass, or butter¬ 
milk will be so mixed with it that it cannot be washed out; the 
butter will then be streaky, of bad flavour, and will not keep well. 
If the churn is stopped when the grains are well visible the 
butter is then of one distinct colour, because the grains are 
unbroken, the buttermilk is clear, and is easily removed by 
about three washings, each lot of water being run off from the 
churn through a hair sieve. Flavour in winter is considered to 
be improved by leaving in a slight quantity of buttermilk. 
This and brining or salting is entirely a matter of taste, 
requiring careful ttudy and management to suit special require¬ 
ments. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
^rting of every kind is being pushed on now bo as to have the horses 
at liberty for work on the land when required a little later on. We 
Mver like missing an opportunity of sowing spring corn early, and 
therefore always endeavour to get through as much estate work at mid¬ 
winter as can be managed. Such demands on the home farm for 
horses and men are often very inconvenient, and are not easily met 
without some hindrance to farm work. They are, however, inevitable, 
and the best plan for the home farmer, in view of avoiding friction and 
hindrance to his own work at a critical time, is to grapple with estate 
work now as full-handed as may be, and to get well forward—if possible, 
to tinish—all carting of gravel, timber, and similar things. While at 
the gravel pit bear in mind any blemishes in yard-bottoms, roads, gate¬ 
ways, and drinking places, and if it can be managed, get material carted 
for all such purposes during the winter. 
We have seen threshing machines at work on a few farms, and again 
recommend caution in threshing after so much wet weather. The 
exceptionally high winds in December may have done something to 
drive moisture out of the ricks, but we still say. Be cautious. Damp 
di^ulty*^^* is it ground or crushed without much 
As calving goes on throughout the winter the number of calve® 
mounts up, and due care must be exercised in their management. Snug- 
warm quarters, clean dry litter always, wholesome nourishing food 
fiequently, are the main points. Let them have milk or gruel at the 
least three times daily. The older method of suckling calves morning- 
and evening only had nothing but custom to induce anyone to follow it. 
It is certain that under it calves became terribly exhausted ; that the 
effect of going so long without food, and then loading the stomach 
hastily, was so trying as to cause much sickness and loss among them. 
Teach them to eat some of the best meadow hay early. Once get them 
to do this and they have always something to turn to; then with 
abundance of gruel they thrive apace and afford pleasing evidence of the 
effect of really good management. 
HOW TO MAKE GOOD BUTTER. 
I HAVE found a very simple method by which butter can be made 
with no difficulty whatever and in a remarkably short space of time, 
however hot the weather may be. It becomes, loo, perfectly hard, while 
its keeping qualities are very greatly improved. I think, therefore, it 
may be worth while calling attention to it. Experienced butter- 
makers, to whom it has been mentioned, have tried it, and were 
astonished at the result. It is simply to surcharge the cream with salt 
by adding a great excess above the usual amount which is, of course, 
always put into it. 
My plan is to put 3 lbs. of salt into a bowl, and mix it thoroughly- 
with the first day’s cream. I then keep on adding the cream of each 
day’s supply, stirring it and thoroughly mixing it, until about 4 to 
4| quarts of cream have been mixed and thoroughly combined with the 
3 lbs. of salt. This being then churned the butter “ comes ” in a sur¬ 
prisingly short space of time, even in the hottest weather, and turns out 
perfectly hard and firm. 
The interpretation of the process is that, in the first place, the excess 
of salt forms a more complete union with the whey than a smaller 
amount can effect. Secondly, it dissolves the nitrogenous matter 
(casein) more thoroughly ; consequently the butter, by the more perfect 
elimination of the latter highly decomposable substance, is less liable to 
become rancid, and so keeps a much longer time than it does by the 
ordinary method of making it. 
The advantage of rdding a superabundance of salt is more pro¬ 
nounced in the summer than in autumn and winter. Thus —e y., there 
was no difference in time in churning between fresh and highly salted 
cream on December 10th ; but when the temperature of the air itself 
becomes cool as the season advances the usual method of warming the 
churn will be found advisable. The other advantages, however, of 
rendering the butter firm and less liable to rancidity remain the same. 
As a practical illustration of the advantage of this method to pro¬ 
fessional butter-makers, I will add that a farmer in Gloucestershire to 
whom it was mentioned last summer informs me that his butter is so 
greatly improved in quality, both in firmness and sweetness, that the 
demand for it by his customers has much increased in consequence.— 
Geo. Henslow. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Cbemlcal Manure for Meadow Kand (^Pasture ),—The mixture 
recommended in our Farm article of the 10th inst. (page 42) will answer 
your purpose well. Apply early in February, and if the land is of a 
dry nature follow in a month or less with 2 cwt. of salt and 1 cwt. of 
nitrate of soda per acre, both crushed into fine powder. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Oamdbn Squarb, London. 
Lat.51'’32'40" N.: Loag. 0° 8'0" W.; Altitude. Ill feet. 
Date. 
9 A.M. 
In the Day. 
& 
1895. 
January. 
1 Barometer 
at 32°, and 
1 Sea Level. 
Hygrometer. 
Direc¬ 
tion of 
Wind. 
Temp, 
of soil 
at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature, 
Radiation 
Temperature 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max, 
Min. 
In 
Sun. 
On 
Grass. 
Inchs. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
leg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
Inch!' 
Sunday .. 13 
29-033 
35 2 
34-9 
E. 
35-0 
42-7 
26 6 
56-6 
26-2 
0-040 
Monday .. 14 
28 973 
38-3 
37-9 
S.E. 
34 9 
43-3 
35-0 
60-6 
31-9 
0-040 
Tuesday .. 15 
29 109 
39-7 
39-0 
S.E. 
34-9 
42-9 
38-2 
43-7 
32-4 
0-010 
Wednesday 16 
29-059 
41-7 
40-8 
S.E. 
35-9 
45-7 
38-1 
48-7 
34-0 
0-098 
Thursday.. 17 
29*092 
42 2 
40 3 
S. 
37-2 
44-6 
40-8 
49-9 
37-3 
Friday ,. 18 
29-729 
37-2 
35-9 
S.W. 
37-4 
45-0 
32-8 
60-9 
29-1 
— 
Saturday .. 19 
-79-811 
43-1 
42-4 
S. 
37-1 
48-0 
35 9 
52-5 
29-3 
0-747 
29 258 
39-d 
38-7 
361 
44 6 
35-3 
51-8 
31-3 
0-935 
REMARKS. 
13th.—Snow from about 2.30 to 7.30 A.M. ; a little sun in morning ; spots of rain about 
1 P.M. ; fair afternoon, clear evening. 
14th.—Dull, with drizzle and slight showers from 6 A.M. to 1 P.M. ; sunshine from 
1.30 P.M. 
15th.—Overcast and slightly foggy throughout. 
16th.—Overcast with frequent drizzle and showers till 2 P.M. ; gleams of sun at 
3.30 P.M. ; showers again in evening and night. 
17th.—Rain from 3.30 A.M. to 6 A.M., and dull end showery later ; generally sunny in 
afternoon. 
18tb.—Sunny throughout and cooler. 
19th. —Overcast morning; rain from 3 P.M., and steady, heavy rain from 5 P.M. to 
midnight. 
Remarkably low mean barometric pressure, but not much wind. Rain above the 
average, temperature near it.— G. J. SYMONS. 
