886 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Dec. 
Churning Mills— Bitter Cream, etc. 
Eds. Co. Gent. —Some inquiry has recently been 
made, (Co. Gent. Sept. 16, p. 177) for “ information in 
relation to making butter from sweet milk.” The in¬ 
quirer u wishes to resort to that method in damp weath¬ 
er, when they cannot get the cream except in a bitter 
state.” Perhaps some additional information on the 
process may be useful in the case alluded to, and oth¬ 
ers of like character, and having recently given the 
matter some examination, we take the liberty to offer 
the following hints thereupon. 
Butter cannot be made from sweet milk or from sweet 
cream, while they remain sweet—they become sour in 
churning (by the rise in temperature, and the conver¬ 
sion of the sugar into lactic acid,) before the butter se¬ 
parates from the buttermilk.* It is only a question, 
then where the cream shall be soured—in the milk- 
pans, the cream-jar, or the churn—to sour buttermilk 
ti comes at last. 
This question we shall discuss only incidentally in 
this connection, merely remarking that it is thought 
that in hot weather, the best quality of butter is pro¬ 
duced from churning cream before it sours, well cooled, 
and performing the operation in a leisurely manner. 
From forty to eighty minutes is none too little time to 
make from cream, sweet when put in the churn, the 
best super-extra butter. Other conditions, we need not 
add, must be favorable to secure this result. 
A Broome county dairyman, who took a premium at 
our State Fair, on butter churned from milk, lets his 
“ milk stand until it begins to get thick or ‘ loppered,’ 
then empties into the churn and tempers with hot or 
cold water, according to the weather, before churning.” 
In hot weather, those who churn the milk keep it as 
cool as it may be—while in cool, damp weather they 
would warm the milk-room artificially, to hasten the 
process of souring. Some go so far as to add a quan¬ 
tity of buttermilk to each pan of milk when strained, 
for this purpose. If the temperature is too low, the 
cream rises but slowly and imperfectly, and it may be 
that churning would, by increasing the warmth, so 
hasten the process as to prevent that bitterness too often 
the result of long standing. This, as far as we can see, 
would be the only gain in the case of your correspond¬ 
ent. Whether it would be better to provide artificial 
heat, or to gain beat at the expense of the labor re¬ 
quired to churn a large quantity of milk, he can very 
easily decide. 
Our own experience in butter-making from cream, 
has shown us that artificial warmth is the best means 
of inducing cream to rise in cool, damp weather, and 
that if some means is not employed, the cream is either 
bitter or does not fully rise, and that the product of 
butter is inferior both in quantity and quality. A tem¬ 
perature which will secure the souring of the milk in 
thirty-six hours, with us, produces the most and best 
cream ; less or more time decreases the product as well 
as injures its quality. An autumn and winter milk- 
room, opening from a room in which fires were con¬ 
stantly kept when needed for comfort, would best se¬ 
* So say the chemical writers, but any one who lias 
milked a good cow in winter, has seen little globules of 
butter along the sides of the pail, and has found them in 
the strainer through which the milk had been poured. 
Very rich milk will produce some butter while sweet, un¬ 
der these and similar circumstances—the film of curd 
holding the globule of butter being broken by agitation, h. 
cure the proper temperature, and most economically in 
the case of small or medium dairies. 
The subject of butter-making is on® of wide and 
varied bearings—one which the study of years would 
hardly serve to elucidate—and one in which the writer 
finds something to be learned every day of bis life. It 
is to be hoped that our dairymen will favor you with 
frequent communications of their experience. II. 
Maple Hill, N. Y, Oct. I, 1858. 
- - ♦ » - 
Cultivation of Orchards. 
Messrs. Editors— -Will you or some of your ex¬ 
perienced contributors, inform me through the columns 
of your most valuable paper, how I can best protect 
fruit trees from stock while the land on which they 
stand is in pasture 1 
Intending to plant in fruit a piece of land which is 
too stony and steep for constant cultivation, but very 
light and rich, and finely adapted to fruit, I think of 
setting four stakes about a foot apart around the tree, 
against which I will build a pile of rocks, say to the 
height of three or three and a half feet, and of suffi¬ 
cient circumference to prevent the trees being reached 
by horses, cows, &c. 
Will trees so walled about do well 7 and what kinds 
will do best 7 Is there a cheaper and better plan 
where the rocks are on the ground 7 
I find that the sweepings of the hen house drive 
away the borer, and greatly improve the health and 
productiveness of the peach tree. Will guano do as 
well? and what quantity would be safe 7 “ M. Cer 
vus.” Front Royal , Warren Co ., Va. 
We would not in any case recommend the turning of 
cattle into orchards, and especially into young ones 
All newly set trees should be well cultivated for sev¬ 
eral years ; and the cultivation can be continued after¬ 
wards ; the amount and increased value of the crop will 
more than repay the additional labor. We would never 
recommend the planting of any land with fruit trees, 
which cannot be afterwards subjected to the best cul¬ 
tivation. We have never seen a good peach orchard 
of any age seeded down to grass; that is, we have 
never seen it continue to grow and bear good fruit as 
every thrifty young orchard does, and as every old or¬ 
chard should do. Those who are satisfied with small, 
second-rate fruit, and little of it on stunted trees, may 
seed their peach orchards down to grass. The finest, 
on a large scale, that we ever saw, was kept constant¬ 
ly mellow by repeated borrowings, (and one plowing in 
spring,) no other crop, neither weeds, grass, roots, nor 
gram, ever occupying the ground. 
When apple orchards become large, they may for a 
short season only, be converted to pasture. Horses 
may run in before the apples become large enough for 
them to eat. Cows will injure the trees, and probably 
become choked with the fruit, and should always be 
kept out. Swine, sheep, and poultry are best. The 
swine well be likely to bark some of the trees, and the 
sheep will certainly doit in winter, unless the trees are 
protected. The best protection is to drive three or 
more stakes about the tree, and then tie on a quantity 
of the trimmings of the Osage Orange hedge, the 
sharp thorns of which no sheep or pig will desire to 
encounter. In the absence of the Osage hedge trim¬ 
mings, the sweet-brier will do. The piles of stone pro¬ 
posed will harbor mice ; and be difficult to remove as 
soon as the orchard is cultivated, which should be fre¬ 
quently. 
Guano will probably operate as hen manure in ex¬ 
cluding the borer, but we cannot say what is the largest 
quantity that would be safe. 
