V 
SEPT. M 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
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ABOUT BUTTER, AND HOW TO KEEP IT. 
The Loudon Milk Journal Rives several 
curious processes for preserving biltter. 
They may not always be of the highest 
practical utility, still they afford more or 
less useful hints, and we present several of 
these methods, not only to show our read¬ 
ers what has been done in this direction, 
but to call the attention of experimenters 
and inventors to a branch of dairy economy 
quite too much neglected. During the past 
ten years there has been great improvement 
made in the manufacture of butter, and 
much interest is felt by dairymen in obtain¬ 
ing information concerning the best prac¬ 
tice, from the setting of the milk to the 
salting and working of the. butter; and here 
the matter has not unfrequeiitly rested. 
What is needed now perhaps as much as 
anything connected with butter making, is 
a knowledge of the best plan of butter 
preservation. The loss, from Ignorance or 
want of attention on this one point, is enor¬ 
mous, and it seems astonishing that people 
should take so much pains to manufac¬ 
ture a good article, and then allow it to run 
the chances of spoiling by being imperfect¬ 
ly packed, or put up poorly for market. 
We need to know much more than wo do 
about the proper preservation of many 
kinds of food, but especially of butter, 
which so easily deteriorates from a luxury 
into a state intolerable for human food. 
We must regard, therefore, any attempt at 
the better preservation of this food as 
praiseworthy, and we think the Milk Jour¬ 
nal is doing important service to manufac¬ 
turer and consumer in opening up this most 
neglected branch of the dairy. Wo con¬ 
dense the account or the several preserving 
processes, giving simply the main features 
of each. 
Daudrant’s Method consists in rolling 
the butter in an envelope of thin vegetable 
paper, or tissue of some kind. I he package 
is then plunged into a bath of liquid resin, 
and if it is found necessary to form a thick¬ 
er crust of gum or rosin, it is subjected to 
a second immersion. 
In Girard’s Method the butter requires 
to be well washed, so as to extract from it 
all the milky particles, and when this is 
satisfactorily done, the butter is spread out 
and a quantity or brandy or alcohol is 
poured over it. It is then kneaded to¬ 
gether or worked up so as to effectually 
mix the two substances together. It is now 
made up into balls, and these are wrapped 
in paper which has been previously steeped 
in brandy or alcoholic spirit. This is after¬ 
ward folded in another paper which will 
exclude the air as much as possible. For 
loag sea voyages those packages are recom¬ 
mended to bo packsd in air-tight packages. 
Beliu'a Process is first to beat up the 
butter between two linen cloths within -J 
days after it is churned, in order to remove 
the whoy or other matter which might 
cause rankness of flavor. The butter is 
now euveloped in paper prepared for the 
purpose by being coated with albumen 
made from the white of eggs. For every 
egg whose white is beaten up, about lifteen 
and a-half grains of chloride of sodium and 
half that quantity of salt of niter is dis¬ 
solved in this albumen, but the uiter need 
not be used except the butter shows signs 
of rancidity. The paper, however, is not to 
be considered ready uut il it has been before 
and after its preparation subjected to a 
great heat by means of a hot smoothing 
iron or some other contrivance. For long 
preservation, the rolls are to be kept in 
a dry place, especially if the weather is hot. 
Redwood’s Process consists chiefly in 
covering the butter with paraffine. 
Brining Butter.—Butter is sometimes 
effectually preserved from the Summer to 
the Winter time by mixing it with salt and 
by merely inclosing lumps of it in canvass 
wrappers and putting these in jars contain¬ 
ing a quantity of brine. The brine does 
not enter into the substance of the butter 
or render it in any way disagreeable. In 
the preparation of brine for butter we find 
it best to heat the brine scalding hot, skim¬ 
ming it and then allowing it to cool and 
settle, pouring off the clear, cold brine, 
which is then lit for use. 
Sugar and Saltpeter. —These substan¬ 
ces are regarded by many old and experi¬ 
enced butter makers as important aids in 
the preservation of butter. In ono town 
among the butter factories of Orange Co., 
N. Y., the account of which was given in 
last year’s Rural New-Yorker, we refer¬ 
red particularly to these preservatives, 
naming the proportion to be used as 
t hought best by Orange Co. dairymen. We 
now present the Milk Journal's formula. 
To ton ounces of line salt add two ounces 
of saltpeter and two ounces of best brown 
sugar. The different ingredients are to be 
evenly mingled together and an ounce of 
this mixture used for every pound weight 
of butter and well worked in. Butter so 
treated, if close packed and kept in a cool, 
well ventilated place, it is said will keep 
sound for several years. 
Another Rule—Is to mix one ounce of a 
finely powdered white sugar with one ounce 
saltpeter and two ounces large-grained 
Cheshire salt, and after incorporating them 
well together one ounce of the compound 
is used to every pound of butter. The 
mixture must be well worked into the bat¬ 
ter, which is then closely packed into dean 
earthen crocks or jars. Those are then sot 
aside and kept, in a very cool place, and the 
butter, it is asserted, will remain in good 
condition for years, and has been borne a 
voyage to the East Indies and still been 
serviceable. Butter t hus packed, it is rec¬ 
ommended, should Btaud untouched tor 
two or three weeks after being packed, or 
it will taste rather unpalatable, but after 
that time it is said to acquire a fine mar¬ 
rowy fiavor. 
The French Method—Is to take ono 
part sugar, ono part niter, and two parts 
salt, and reduce them by grinding to a fine 
powder. Two ounces of this mixture is 
kneaded into about two and a quarter 
pounds of butter. 
Restoring Rancid Butter.—Rancidity 
is caused by the presence of butyric acid, 
and such butter is well washed with good 
new milk, in which substance the acid is 
freely soluble. After this treatment it is 
to be washed with cold spring water. 
Another Plan—Is to boat up a quarter 
of a pound of good, fresh lime, in a pail of 
water, and after allowing it to stand for an 
hour, until the impurities have settled 
from off the clear portion, wash the rancid 
butter in that. 
< )thor processes for preserving but ter are 
given, but we have selected those which 
seemed most practical and useful, adding 
remarks of our own when deemed neces¬ 
sary. 
-♦♦♦--- 
IMPROVING CHEESE HOUSES. 
Howto regulate temperature in curing 
rooms, for the hot weat her cheese, lias been 
a question of great interest to cheese man¬ 
ufacturers and dairymen for a long time. 
What is needed is something simple, cheap, 
and which requires but little attention 
There are very few curing rooms in the 
country that are constructed with any re¬ 
gard to preserving an equable tempera¬ 
ture. In hot. weather tin y vary in temper¬ 
ature with the surrounding atmosphere and 
the cheese is often overheated, thus causing 
rapid fermentation and deterioration in 
flavor. The principle has been abundantly 
established by experiment that cheese will 
not retain a sweet, clean and nutty new 
milk flavor if exposed to high degrees of 
heat incuring. It has also been demonstra¬ 
ted by experiment that a temperature of 
about 70 Fahr, is the best range of heat in 
the curing process for desirable results. 
Notwithstanding these facts are generally 
known, little or no effort is made to im¬ 
prove cheese-curing rooms, and, in conse¬ 
quence, serious losses obtain year after 
year on account of cheese getting off flavor 
before it can be sold. 
A large number of factories, on account 
of imperfect curing rooms, put their cheese 
forward in market during hot weather, at 
low prices, and often below its true value, 
because it is feared bad flavor will result 
from holding. The main question which is 
considered, it would seem, is whether to 
accept a known loss in making immediate 
sales, or to run the risk of holding and 
marketing an inferior-flavored product. In 
either case, a loss must result; whereas, if 
proper curing rooms were constructed so 
that cheese would not deteriorate, the mat¬ 
ter of holding it must, not unfrequeiitly, 
appear to be the better course. A very 
few factories have adopted the plan of 
double walls in the construction of curiug 
houses, and they are of considerable ser¬ 
vice in regulating temperature. But for 
upper rooms something more is needed, 
and perhaps the plan proposed by a corre¬ 
spondent of the Nation may offer sugges¬ 
tions to inventors for arranging a cheese- 
curing house where temperature in hot 
weather may be controlled. 1 1 is as follows: 
“It is proposed to lead a considerable 
number of small air-pipes several times 
through a very large box or bin, which is to 
be packed full of some light substance- 
moss, for instance—through which air could 
easily find its way. Water from above will 
be suffered to drip all over the top of this 
moss and will trickle'through it to the bot¬ 
tom of the bin. Through the moss, from 
the bottom upward, a current of air will be 
forced, and thus produce rapid evaporation. 
This will cool the air-pipes, and they will 
cool the air which passes through them. To 
force a current through these pipes, and to 
force another through the moss, a very large, 
but light pair of bellows will be used, 
worked by a sort of clock arrangement in 
which the immediate motive power will be 
heavy weight. A horse will, with toil or fif¬ 
teen minutes' heavy pull (once a day or once 
a week, according to the heat- of the weath¬ 
er) wind this dock affair. It Ims a pendu¬ 
lum, and can be started or stopped at pleas¬ 
ure, and by altering the lengt h of the pen¬ 
dulum, will run fast or slow, according to 
t he heat. The cold air which the air-pines 
furnish will he let through cheap wooden 
pipes to t he various rooms of t he house, al¬ 
ways near the ceiling, and be turned on or 
off like the hot air of ordinary furnaces. 
The doors and windows will bo kept, closed 
in the hot test weat her as carefully ns in the 
Coldest. There will be no flies or mosqui¬ 
toes nor dust. Tile Winds will be. open and 
rooms light. The air will be us dry as that 
outside, and the lamporut ure will be be¬ 
tween 111) and 70 degrees, according to what 
degree may bo the healthiest. Such a ma¬ 
chine will not cost much, and the projector 
thinks that, the extra work it will enable 
him to do in the hottest weather will soon 
repay him for the outlay." 
Mechanical powers like that above refer¬ 
red to for working the bellows, have been 
exhibited at some of our recent State Fairs 
applied to the common dash churn. This 
meohanical movement Consists in a system 
of gearing driven by a heavy weight attach¬ 
ed to a stout rope which is wound about the 
cylinder of the machine. The Scientific 
American, in speaking of t he merits of this 
machine, says:—“ Mechanical powers of this 
character have not heretofore been very 
acceptable for domestic purposes, sonio re¬ 
quiring too heavy weights and thus using 
too much rope. The inventor of this move¬ 
ment has produced a churn-power that 
seems very free from the objections named. 
It is very compact, occupying a space only 
of IK by 20 inohes, applicable for pumping 
water, and many other kinds of light 
work.” 
There may be other and better ways for 
rogidating temperature in curing rooms 
during hot weather, and the plan suggested 
may bo too complicated or faulty when put 
to a practical test, still we are In hopes that 
some plan will be inaugurated for overcom¬ 
ing the bad influences of heat In Curing 
rooms. What is especially needed in this 
direction at the present time is a plan that 
may be easily applied to old factories so 
that the buildings now in uso may be util¬ 
ized, Considering the immense losses that 
are sustained every year in overheated 
cheese, and the great desire of cheese man¬ 
ufacturers for suitable curing rooms, the 
subject is well worth tho attention of in¬ 
ventors. A cheap, simple and efficient plan, 
one that could be easily adopted at the fac¬ 
tories, could he made to pay largely, not 
only to the dairy interest of the country, 
but to the inventor. Will not some ingen¬ 
ious Yankee turn, his attention to this 
branch of dairy economy V 
3 ndu 
STEAM MOTOR FOR THE FARM. 
Hon. M. L. Dunlap, Champaign, Ill., in 
an article on Steam Plowing, in the Chicago 
Tribune, after reviewing the various Amerj 
can steam plows, speaks of what is required 
of steam on a farm, and of a new steam 
motor he had recently seen tried at Peoria, 
111., in the following language: — We must 
have a farm engine for farm work that can 
grind and steam food for our animals, that 
can do our threshing, the pumplngof water 
for stock, the making of cider and of wine, 
the sawing of wood, the pressing and bail¬ 
ing of hay, the cutting of forage for Winter 
feed, tho making of drains, the grading of 
highways, and, lastly, for cultivating tho 
soil and the preparing of hemp, ffax and 
cotton for market. All these things the 
coining motor must do, and do them well 
and cheaply - more cheaply than the same 
work can be done by the uso of horses, 
mules, or oxen. Nothing short of this will 
satisfy the American farmer, or induce him 
to invest in that poetic steed. 
In “Farvin’s Steam Motor” I think we 
have a traction engine that can be made to 
do all these things iu the most satisfactory 
manner. I say that I think so, for this is 
simply an opinion, after having seen it in 
operation and moving six plows through 
tough sward land, at Peoria, and that with 
a ten-horse-power en giue that had been 
made for tho uso of hard coal, but which 
had to be run with Illinois river coal — an 
article not suited to such an engine. But 
nothing short of a long-continued and 
thorough trial will make tho opinion con¬ 
clusive, or break its force. 
The farm engine must have the power to 
move itself from fluid to field, from farm to 
farm, up hill and down hill, over uneven 
roads and soft meadows. This the Earvin 
mot or will do, and it is only the question of 
the power of steam to propel it up hill and 
over rough grades, for it will not slip any 
more t han if on a segment trade, as in the 
railway up Mt. Washington. So much wo 
know of its capacity, and it is on this fact 
that I predict its success as a farm engine, 
for all tho work that may bo reasonably de¬ 
manded of it. If it can ascend steep grades, 
it cannot be expected to haul the same load 
as it would ou level land ; if it can go over 
soft ground, it cannot haul the same load 
that is possible ou a smooth, solid road. 1 
am aware that the opinion is general that 
no tract ion engine is capable of hauling a 
load over soft meadow or plowed fields, on 
account of the yielding nature of the sur¬ 
face, or up the more moderate grades of the 
prairie-swell, as It would be liable to slip 
on the hill-side, or sink into the soft soil; 
but such is not the case. 
In this engine of Parvin's we have a solid 
truck like a railroad tie, upon which tho 
engine moves—not like a sled-runner or a 
moving series of logs, as in some of the 
traction engines. This tie or track, in the 
engine that I saw at. Peoria, is fourteen 
Inches wide and four feet long, and has a 
small roller at each end, upon which tho 
frame rests and nmves along. This gives 
sufficient base fur ordinary work, but may 
be greatly Increased in size, if occasion 
should demand. There are five of these 
logs, or ties, that revolve on an elliptical 
frame, and are thirty-two inches from cen¬ 
ter to center. One of these is brought for¬ 
ward and dropped in front of the frame 
that sustains tho hind part of tlx* engine, 
and remains stationary until the engine has 
passed over it, when it is replaced by an¬ 
other, and this is taken up and again passed 
forward in turn - Tho front part of the on- 
giiwi rests upon two broad wheels, that sus¬ 
tain the coal and half the boiler,—the other 
part, including tho machinery and water- 
tank, resting on this track, as mentioned. 
Tho engine Is in no way attached to the 
track, but is operated as In a common loco¬ 
motive, .he track being simply laid down 
and taken up as the engine moves forward. 
The weight may bo throe or four tons. As 
1 said before, the log, when it forms the 
truck, does not move until the engine has 
passed over, when it is taken up and makes 
a forward motion of thirty-two inches at a 
revolution, until it comes again in place for 
the trade, and does not move until the en¬ 
gine lias made a forward motion of thirty- 
two inches, when another log takes its 
place; and thus, by an endless chain of five 
links it is kept in place. This is the great 
feature of tUo engine, and distinguishes it 
from traction engines that have thus far 
been put on trial. It will be seen that the 
power is in no way applied to the track as 
a moving power, but simply rests on it, and 
is applied to the engine direct by the means 
of endless chaius that move the machine. 
Imagine, if you please, a locomotive mov¬ 
ing over a twenty-foot section of rail, and 
some Titanic power dropping a section of 
rail in front and taking up one in the rear, 
as the engine moved forward, and you have 
an idea of how this new farm engine is to 
be propelled. It can be seen how this en¬ 
gine is to pass over soft meadows, through 
prairie sloughs, and over plowed land, and 
yet be able to have heavy loads after it. 
Of its capacity for work, just what it will 
cost to do a given amount of work, and the 
profit it will bo to the farmer over the use 
of teams, aro questions yet to be settled by 
actual trial, and I leave this part of the dis¬ 
cussion out of sight. That it will do all tho 
things named in a satisfactoi'y and work¬ 
manlike manner, I have no doubt. 
Gordon's Self-Binding Harvester is 
the name of a harvesting apparatus recent¬ 
ly tried near Toronto, Canada. A trial of 
three days occurred in wheat so ripe and 
dry that it. could not be bound by hand in 
the ordinary way. It cut uud bound the 
whole field, leaving the sheaves in good 
order and ready for tho barn. It weighs 
1,1.00 pounds, appears to be of light draft, 
does its work smoothly and easily. The 
bundles are tied with No. 11) iron wire. It 
is a new machine not yet on the market— 
not even patented. 
