119 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Jllomcstic ^conom^. 
BUTTER MAKING. 
Messrs. Gavlord & Tucker —I observed in your 
last paper, that some lady is desirous of obtaining par¬ 
ticular information in regard to the process of making, 
and manag«n»ent of butter. For fear that those actively 
cngage'l in the employment, may not take time to satisfy 
her inquiries, I have concluded to give her and her 
'•neighbors” my own ideas on the subject, derived from 
past experience. 
Some thirteen or fourteen years ago, with but little 
more knowledge of the matter than your correspondent 
professes to have, I undertook the charge of a small 
dairy. I found thei'e was an English dairy woman in 
the neighborhood, whose butter vvas the criterion by 
Which all other butter was judged, when submitted to 
the epicures in that article. With the aid of her friendly 
instructions, and such books on the subject as I could 
resort to, a satisfactory result was soon obtained. 
The first requisite to the production of good butter is 
%Ooi cows. By good cows, I mean those that will give 
plenty of such milk as will yield a large quantity of 
good butter. It is a well known fact that cows running 
in the same pasture, or feil precisely alike, will afford 
butter varying much in quality. A poor cow is more 
injury to the ilairy than she is worth, and should there¬ 
fore be rejected. I have always observed that cows 
which gave the richest milk, generally have soft, velvet¬ 
like yellow skins. I will not say of what tint the hair 
should be, as I should not like to commit myself on the 
long vexed and important question of color. 
Cows, to yield good butter, as every farmer and dairy 
woman knows, should have good keeping. Plenty of 
good succulent food, both in summer and winter. 
The Dairy House should be cool and airy, command¬ 
ing plenty of pure cold water, either by a running stream, 
or by pipes laid from a well ; ice, too, is an excellent 
auxiliary. V/ood or stone troughs, which can be kept 
full of water, are very good to set the pans of milk in. 
Great care should be taken that every thing connected 
With the dairy, should he managed with the most scrupu¬ 
lous neatness. 
If milking is done but twice a day, the time should be 
divided as nearly equal as convenient. The milk should 
be carried to the place where the dairy work is done, 
immediately strained, and left a short time for the warm 
steam to pass off, before it is carried into the dairy. 
Of all the pans I have used, I much prefer the tin. 
They are lighter, less expensive in the end, and easier 
Kept cissan. Zlno is not fit to keep milk in at all, as a 
Slight degree of acidity decomposes a cei ta.in portion of 
the zinc. From 24 to 48 hours is sufficient time for the 
milk to stand before skimming. I should much prefer 
that milk should never sour before the cream is taken off. 
Some persons think it highly important that cream should 
acquire a certain degree of acidity before churning, but 
1 can confidently affirm that the best butter I ever made. 
Was from cream that was perfectly sweet when the churn¬ 
ing was commenced. The remarks of a writer in a late 
number of the “Maine Farmer,” so exactly coincide 
with my own views, that I will give them in his own 
language; 
“ Butter is an article which is very ready to receive a 
flavor from any gas, or from contact with other substan¬ 
ces; unless it is entirely freed from every particle of its 
mucilage.” He says further, that “ the mottled or streak¬ 
ed appearance in butter, is owing to the coagulated 
lymph, coagulated from sotlring; it is indissoluble in wa¬ 
ter, and can never be worked out of the butter. Salt 
Should not be added at the commencement of the first 
Working, as it is kpwn to every housewife that salt will 
Curdle sour buttermilk, and should also be known that 
eurd once formed in with butter, can never be worked 
out. They can work out the whey and leave the butter 
apparently dry, but the cause of the mischief is still left. 
Incipient decay has already commenced in the coagulum 
or curd, and will proceed. Unless something can be ap- 
l)lied that will put an entire stop to it.” 
The frequency of churning may be regulated according 
to the quantity of cream and state of the weather.* The 
best churn for a moderate sized dairy, that I have any 
knowledge of, is “Gault’s Patent.” It operates easily 
and effectually. It may be had of Ruggles, Nourse & 
Mason, Boston, and probably at other implement stores. 
In the largest size, from otie to twenty-five poumts of 
butter can be made at a time. 
Experience has led me to deprecate the practice of 
leashing butter, when it can possibly be managed with¬ 
out. Butter that comes so soft as to require cold water 
to harden it, cannot by washing, be made to keep sweet 
any length of time. When the butter is taken from the 
churn, and the buttermilk worked out, put in oz. best 
salt to one pound of fresh butter; or if the buttermilk is 
not well worked out, more salt will be needed. Set it 
away in mass for 24 hours in a cool place, when every 
particle of moisture should be extracted, and the butter 
made into rolls or prints for use. For this purpose, a 
flat smooth board or marble slab is necessary; a flat sur¬ 
face is preferable to a dish, as you can so much more ea¬ 
sily get rid of the moisture from the butter. Some use 
a wooden slice or spatula, to handle th^e butter with; 
this requires more strength, especially if the butter is 
hard, than is required by the use of the hand alone. To 
In cold weather the cream should be brought to the fire 
sometime before churning. I think about 65“Farenheit, is about 
the right temperature. ’ 
prepare the hands for working butter, rub them well with 
wet corn meal, then wash in water as hot as can be borne, 
plunge them in cold water for a moment, and you are 
ready to handle butter in the warmest weather without 
melting it, if it is done early in the morning, before the 
hands get heated by exercise. 
Butter for keeping, should be made when the weather 
is cool. To every pound of fresh butter, add 1.^ oz. best 
salt, and ^ oz. saltpetre, taking particular care to extract 
every particle of moisture, as on this mainly depentls the 
future excellence of the article. Pack close in stone jars. 
Doubtless every one has observed when butter is not well 
worked, the watery particles diffuse through it, destroy¬ 
ing that waxy appearance so much prized by lovers of 
good butter. 
Salt should never be used for butter without sifting; it 
is extremely disagreeable to encounter lumps of salt, ei¬ 
ther in spreading or eating what should be such a luxury. 
Winter butter can be made as good in color and con¬ 
sistence, as at any other season of the 3 'ear. This asser¬ 
tion will perhaps appear strange to some of my neighbors, 
as the bad quality of the butter in our market, has been 
a subject of continual complaint and inquiry during the 
past winter. To find one of the causes, no one need go 
far. Let him only ride 20 miles in any direction, during 
the severe winter just past, and he would have seen hun¬ 
dreds of these poor abused creatures, the cows, standing 
around, (not even permitted to enter,) the log barns 
which appear to have been made expressly for free ven¬ 
tilation, chewing the cud, not of “ sweet and bitter fan¬ 
cy,” but some old dry cornstalk, or perchance, if so for¬ 
tunate as to have a saw mill in their vicinity, a nice strip 
of bark gnawed from a log that had lain in water till 
sour and half rotten; looking for all the world as if they 
could give their owner more tears than milk. This is 
no “ fancy sketch”—and now, need one ask why the but¬ 
ter is poor? 
With good cows, well fed, and a place to raise the 
cream without freezing, there is no difficulty in the mat¬ 
ter. If the natural richness of the milk does not impart 
sufficient color, take deep colored carrots, (the Altring- 
ham is best,) grate fine, jiour boiling water on the pulp, 
and strain into the cream till sufficiently colored; so far 
from imparting a carroty taste, it gives adilitional sweet¬ 
ness and richness to the butter. Yolks of eggs beaten 
up, two to a gallon of cream, do very well; These are 
the. only coloring materials I ever used. 
I have extended this communication to a greater length 
than I intended, and if I have been led into pfolixiiy, 
(which, by the way, I detest,) a desire to assist fteginwers, 
for whom I have written, must be my apology. Should 
any experienced dairy IVoman be in possession of impor¬ 
tant facts on this, qp any other subject, which are not fa- 
niUiar to all. I hope she will not withhold them from 
your readers. m. W. H. 
Zanesville, O., May 30, 1843. 
anil tlje 0Drcl)arir. 
BASSANO BEET. 
In compliance with the request of the Editors of the 
Cultivator, I can inform them that I have cultivated this 
beet for the two past years, and consider it decidedly the 
best beet for table use which I know. The rools are as 
flat as the flat Norfolk lurnep, and grow as large; often 
eight inches in diameter on fertile soil. They grow 
mostly above ground, and are consequently easily ga¬ 
thered. They suffer less by being crowiied than any oth¬ 
er root I am acquainted with, often attaining considera¬ 
ble size when growing in actual contact. As an early 
beet, it is very excellent; and it may prove one of the 
best field crops we can cultivate. Specimens were exhi¬ 
bited at the State Fair at Albany. J. J. T. 
Macedon, N. F., 1843. 
NEW MODE OF GRAFTING. 
Editors of Cultivator —Mr. C. L. Vfhiting of 
Granville, showed me a mode of grafting which I do not 
recollect having before heard of. It was done by taking 
young trees or sprouts from the root or stump of a tree, 
of the size of the finger, splitting them through the cen¬ 
ter at intervals of a foot or so, inserting scions in these 
splits at right angles with the tree, and then bending 
down the tree and covering it slightly with earth—leav¬ 
ing above the surface two or three buds of the scions, 
and leaving out, also, a few inches of the top of the tree. 
Thus fixed, it is said each scion will become a tree, and 
when sufficiently grown, may be taken out and trans¬ 
planted. Mr. Whiting showed me several apple trees 
which had been grafted in this way, one of which had 
some half dozen pear scions in it, that all appeared grow¬ 
ing well. 
PROTECTING TREES from CATTLE and HORSES. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —It not unfrequently 
happens when trees are taken from the nursery or from 
the forest to be transplanted, that we are obliged to set 
them where cattle and horses can reach them. To pre¬ 
vent them from injuring them, if they are small, I drive 
a stake firmly by their side, and nail a piece of basswood 
bark fast to the stake, with the inside of the bark to¬ 
wards the tree. I then twist a band of hay or grass and 
braid it around the tree, commencing at the fop of the 
bark, in order to prevent the tree from wearing against 
the bark as it curls around it. If the harks are green 
they will need no binding, for the influence of the sun 
will soon fasten them. S. E. T. 
Lansing, Tompkins co., N. Y., 1843. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —Reading the Cultiva¬ 
tor last evening, 1 saw a request that some one would 
furnish an article on making butter. The following is 
at your disposal. There is a great deficiency in the art 
of taking care of milk and making good butter. Many 
think they must have Durham cows or Goshen milk sel- 
lars, or they cannot make butter to command a high 
price; but I know from experience, that this is not the 
case. My butter always commands a high price and 
ready sale. I think the sisters will not he offended if I 
write a little, seeing men have wrote so much on the sub¬ 
ject. One man wrote a piece sometime ago, without 
fear of contradiction, that washing butter was the best 
mode of cleansing it. Good buttfer can be made without 
cold water. I don’t use any about my butter. I skim 
my milk as soon as it begins to sour, and churn very of¬ 
ten. When churned, I scrape it down with my hand, 
take it out with a ladle, salt it well, and put it in the cel¬ 
lar till morning. I always churn at night, then work 
out all the buttermilk I can, and put it away till I get 
two or three churnings, then work it over again and 
pack it down—turn on strong brine two dr three inch¬ 
es deep. This I turn off and on, as often as I want 
to lay down, till my tub is filled. Keep on the brine, 
and make butter this way, and you will not have to use 
cold water to wash out the sour milk; but let me tell 
you, if you want to make good butter and a good deal of 
it, you must see to it yourself—hired help will not. You 
must have plenty of pans—strain them half full—j'ou 
will get a great deal more cream than in any other way. 
This I know from experience. I scald my pans and 
pails in boiling water. Our cows are milked early at 
night and early in the morning, so to divide time equally. 
My cream is kept in the cellar, churned at night in a 
cool place. I weigh my butter when I work it over. I 
made last season from three cows, seven hundred and 
fifty-three pounds of butter; sold five hundred and sixly 
for 12|and 10 cents per pound, in Hamilton village. 
We raised three calves, and made some cheese. Cows, 
common breed; one eight, and two four years old. If 
any one can beat me in quality or quantity, I would like 
to see it—by washing or any other process. Ladies take 
courage. This season see what you can do. Don’t let 
Durhams and Herefords beat us. For my part I don’t 
believe they are what they are cracked up to be. If 
farmers would take more pains to have good feed for 
their cows, they would be well paid for their trouble. 
Our cows were pastured on four acres of seed clover till 
after feed. I think the old fashioned churn the best; 
tin pans likewise. Keep your cellar free from air if you 
want it cool. L. B., a Farmer’s Wife. 
EarlviUe, N. Y., May 12, 1843. 
SALT FOR THE CURCULIO. 
We copy the following from Hovey’s “ Magazine of 
Horticulture,’' for June. The suggestions are well wor- 
th 3 ’' of consideration: 
“Now that the season is approaching when the Cur- 
culio begins to emerge from the ground, we are induced 
to request fruit cultivators to try the effect of salt in de¬ 
stroying them. We have been assured by several expe¬ 
rienced fruit cultivators, that they have found salt a per¬ 
fect preventive against the ravages of this destructive 
insect, and that they have had annually good crops of 
plums, while their neighbors have lost a large portion 
of their fruit. Our friend, Capt. Lovett of Beverly, in¬ 
forms us that he has applied half a peek or more of sail to 
each tree, spreading it on the ground as far as the branch¬ 
es extend. \ This is done about the first of June, and as 
it is washed into the ground by the rains, it appears to 
prevent the Curculio from making his way alive through 
it. The salt does not appear to injure the tree in the 
least. We would advise all our friends who have plum 
trees subject to the attacks of the Curculio, to try this 
remedy, and send us an account of their experiments for 
publication, in order that all the information possible 
may be elicited which may lead to a certain remedy for 
this insidious enemy of the plum cultivator.” 
Vermin on Vines. —We hope our gardeners will 
make various trials this summer, to destroy the bugs and 
worms tliat are so officious among garden plants. Char¬ 
coal dust can be readily procured in most places, and this 
article is beneficial to the plants in several wa 5 's—it im¬ 
proves the soil by attracting nitrous substances, and it 
raises the temperature about the plants around which it 
is placed, since the rays from the sun are not reflected 
back as they are from light colored substances. But 
charcoal dust is always offensive to insects and grubs, 
and though it may not kill them, it will drive them away. 
A little may be sifted over the plants every day or two, 
and we incline to think that charcoal will prove to be as 
good an article as any that has been recommended for 
garden plants.— Mass. Ploivman. 
Quince Trees. —These should be pruned but little 
where the limbs ride; should be watered with slron"- 
soap suds; have ashes placed about them three times in 
the course of the season. Those branches which grow 
very near the ground, may be laid doivn and covered 
with earth five or six inches deep, leaving six inches or 
a foot, or more, according to the length of the limb. 
Thus you can obtain new trees, to be taken up and trans¬ 
planted next spring— Farmer’s Advocate. 
