PRESERVATION OF CUCUMBERS.-BUTTER MAKING. 
173 
portion of the conductor every facility for dissipat¬ 
ing its charge, it is better that the rod should ter¬ 
minate by several branches in a sunken bed of well- 
burnt charcoal, wood ashes, or spent tan bark. 
Another important point to be considered, is the sit¬ 
uation and position in which the rods are to be pla¬ 
ced after they are pul up. In all cases, they should 
be elevated above every other point of attraction, at 
least, four times the diameter of the area to be pro¬ 
tected; say, in a common-sized house from 10 to 
15 feet above the top of the highest chimney, or 
other object extending above the roof. And as 
before intimated, the integrity and upright position 
of the rods should be maintained, as far as practi¬ 
cable, avoiding, also, all abrupt angles and short 
turns. If a house, barn, church, factory, &c.. be 
Seated in the immediate neighborhood of each 
Dther, and only one of them be protected, the dan¬ 
ger of all the others will, thereby be increased. 
The remedy, in such a case, is so obvious, that no¬ 
thing is necessary to be added on that score. 
The question now presents itself, How are the 
rods to be affixed to the building, by conducting , or 
by insulating staples. Our unequivocal reply 
would be, by conducting staples—not those cover¬ 
ed with copal varnish, or insulated by necks of 
glass bottles, as has often been recommended by 
Titers on this subject; for, let it be remembered, 
lat the flash, which may have forced its way 
nrough many yards of air, would find no difficulty 
in passing so slight obstacles as these, if such a 
lirection formed a part of the lightning’s path pre¬ 
viously prepared, or “ felt out.” It is a well-es¬ 
tablished truth, that, if a conductor pass near a mass 
of metal in tolerable connexion with the earth, 
the flash will sometimes divide itself between the 
two channels, one portion of it continuing its course 
down the rod, and the other portion leaving it to 
pursue the side path. Therefore, in order to alle¬ 
viate this “ lateral discharge,” or deviation from the 
main channel, all suspected vicinal electrified bo¬ 
dies should be united to the conductor itself, by 
means of metallic wires or bands. Then, if the 
building is predisposed, by the antecedent inductive 
action, to share with the rod, in conveying away 
the fluid, let it be done i i good sooth, without an 
explosion, without a racas , as the French em¬ 
phatically call it. 
Conductors should neither be painted nor var¬ 
nished, as that would diminish their conducting 
power. If made of iron, they should be coated 
with metal, as before suggested, and may be erect¬ 
ed at either, or both sides, or ends of a building, at 
a distance of about four inches from the walls, sup¬ 
ported by iron staples or wooden supports. 
Thus we have endeavored to point out the ne¬ 
cessity and value of lightning rods, and faithfully 
describe their chief characteristics, without en¬ 
tering much into theoretical speculations or trivial 
detail. 
Preservation of Cucumbers. —In Germany and 
Poland, it is said barrels of cucumbers, of various 
sizes, and ages, headed up water tight, are preserv¬ 
ed fresh, from one year to another, by immersing 
them in deep wells, where the uniform temperature 
and exclusion of the air seem to be the preserving 
agents. 
I 
BUTTER MAKING. 
That portion of milk, of which butter is made, 
it is conceded by chemists, consists of minute glob¬ 
ules of semi-fluid fat, about one ten thousandth part of 
an inch in diameter, each covered with a thin pel¬ 
licle, or shell, of a peculiar substance, resembling 
curd, but slightly differing from it in composition. 
When set aside and left undisturbed, where the 
temperature of the air is about 50°F., these globules 
of fat, with their coatings, generally rise to the 
surface of the milk, within 24 hours, forming a 
thick, soft, white or yellowish crust, commonly 
known by the name of cream. This crust consists 
of two layers, the uppermost of which contains a 
larger proportion of butter than the under one. 
After this cream has been kept in the dairy, four 
or five days, at a constant temperature of from 46° 
to 50°, and then violently agitated for a time, in a 
churn, or otherwise, at a certain temperature, the 
thin coatings burst, or are torn asunder, and the 
particles of half-fluid fat unite and form butter. 
The latter substance includes some of the thin en¬ 
velopes of the fatty globules, with a little curd, 
sugar of milk, and a considerable proportion of 
water. 
There are several facts known to the dairy maid, 
in the preparation of her butter, which are not 
without interest, both in a chemical, and in an 
economical, point of view. One is, butter obtained 
on the same farm, and by the same process, or 
method of churning, is frequently observed to be 
harder at one season of the year than at another : 
and even the same milk, under different manage¬ 
ment, yields butter of different degrees of hardness, 
at all seasons of the year. This has been satisfac¬ 
torily and chemically explained, instating, that the 
same m$k, or cream, by the absorption of oxygen 
in greater or less abundance, produces a butter pro- 
portionably hard or soft. Yet, it must be conced¬ 
ed, that the presence of the air and oxygen, or 
their renewal, are not necessary to the operation of 
churning. For this can be as completely ef¬ 
fected by prolonged agitation in a close vessel—by 
corking up the cream, for instance, in a. glass bot¬ 
tle, and shaking it rapidly for nearly half an hour. 
When this is the case, the quality of the butter thus 
formed, and the changes which the milk, or cream, 
undergoes, are obviously entirely independent of 
any chemical influence from without. 
In the process of churning, the oxygen of the at¬ 
mosphere may exercise an influence, upon the seve¬ 
ral ingredients which the milk contains. And it is 
highly probable, that churning with an excess of 
air, causes the envelopes to absorb oxygen, to be¬ 
come partially soluble, to. thin off, and finally burst, 
and thus liberate the fatty matter within. It is 
equally probable, also,, that, in ordinary churning, 
the presence of air exercises a real influence upon 
the process, by modifying its rapidity and the quality 
of the butter obtained. The form of the churn, 
therefore, which admits the air to the most intimate 
and renewed contact with the milk, or cream, may 
also facilitate the changes by which churning is at¬ 
tended. 
It is supposed by some, that, if the cream for 
churning is not taken off whilst the milk is sweet, 
the butter cannot be good; but this is an error. 
Milk should stand, undisturbed, as long as it is 
