THE CULTIVATOR. 
49 
1846. 
BCTtBcaca™ 
be required to draw the plow and perform other farm- 
labors—and they must possess a hardiness of constitu¬ 
tion that will adapt them to the climate in which they 
are placed. All will admit that for these purposes the 
blood should be properly decarbonized, that it may re¬ 
ceive from the atmosphere a due portion of that life- 
giving principle which alone can insure the health of 
the system, or infuse into it power and energy to per¬ 
form strong muscular action—effects which can be pro¬ 
duced only with a full development, soundness, and 
healthy action of the organs of respiration. This point, 
upon which physiologists are agreed, is so abundantly 
supported by experience and observation as to render 
any further attempt at illustration unnecessary. 
That a tendency to fatten readily and to any desirable 
extent, is not incompatible with strength of constitu¬ 
tion and muscular vigor, is practically demonstrated in 
certain breeds of cattle—a striking example being fur¬ 
nished by the Kyloes, or West-Highland cattle of Scot¬ 
land. In hardiness and activity, these cattle, according 
to the accounts given of them, are scarcely surpassed by 
the buffaloes of our western prairies; yet it is the opin¬ 
ion of many whose experience well qualifies them to 
judge, that their fattening properties are not exceeded 
by any other race; and the superior quality of their 
beef, in the markets where it is known, is universally 
admitted. We do not mean to say that these or any 
other animals, acquire fat to a great extent while in 
very active or laborious exercise; but we refer to them as 
showing that a constitutional ability to perform or en¬ 
dure all that can reasonably be required of cattle, is not 
inconsistent with good fattening qualities. 
In a future number we propose to make some re¬ 
marks on the subject of breeding from near affinities, or 
the ee in-and-in ” system as it is called, which has been 
referred to in the remarks we have quoted from Mr. 
Karkeck. 
THE DAIRY—BUTTER MAKING- 
Luther Tucker, Esq.— I enclose an extract from 
a report on butter, made to the R. I. Society for the 
Encouragement of Domestic Industry. If you think it 
worth inserting in your valuable paper, let it appear as 
early as possible. The rock salt must go up this win¬ 
ter, to avoid the heavy canal tolls, and the small white 
oak kegs must be contracted for soon. Half the winter’s 
butter used in Rhode Island comes from the state of 
New-York, and its price is diminished from four to six 
cents a pound by the use of Salina salt. This is a heavy 
tax on the farmer. 
Butter made agreeably to the following directions 
sells in the Providence market readily—in large 100 lb. 
kegs, at 25 cents per lb. If in the small kegs, of from 25 
to 50 lbs., it brings from 25 to 27 cts. The same but¬ 
ter salted with New-York salt, would only be worth 
from 19 to 22 cents per lb.,—and by the first of April 
it would be bitter and rancid. Your salt is not preser¬ 
vative; it will not answer for beef, pork, or fish. Why 
should it be used for so delicate an article as butter. 
Its bitter taste, and its easy solution in damp air, are no 
objections to its use for cheese. 
Stephen H. Smith. 
Smithjield , (R. I.) Dec. 23, 1845. 
BUTTER MAKING. 
Mi Lit Apartments, &c.— The milk cellar should be 
deep, well ventilated, and dry; the bottom covered 
with stone flagging. Well rammed clay is preferable 
to bricks, as they will absorb milk, and other liquids 
that may fall upon them; they cannot be cleansed, and 
will soon contract mildew, the smell of which, like the 
odor of cheese, vegetables, fish, or foul air of any kind, 
will be imparted to the cream and butter. Over this 
cellar should stand the dairy room, with shelves to 
set milk upon in cool weather; the cellar to fie used 
during the extremes of heat and cold. The tempera¬ 
ture of the milk apartment, if possible, should never be 
above 65 degrees nor below 45 degrees. Set-kettles 
should not stand in the dairy-room; neither should 
churning, cheese-making, or cleansing milk vessels be 
done there, but in a convenient room near by. 
Cream may be kept good much longer, if it be kept 
in a white-oak vessel, with a tight cover, and a faucet 
or tap near the bottom, to draw off the milk, when it 
settles, before the customary daily stirring. The quali¬ 
ty of the butter is much improved by this management. 
If the milk be not drawn off, and it be churned with the 
cream, the butter will be longer in coming, and it will 
show specks of sour curd, taste like cheese, and will 
soon become rancid. Butter will come quickly, at all 
seasons of the year, if the cream be of a temperature of 
from 60 to 75 degrees; to this end, use hot water in 
winter, and ice in summer, but never add either to the 
cream in or out of the churn. 
Salt. —Pure salt chrystalizes into perfect cubes. All 
other forms of chrystalization found in common salt, 
arise from impurities; those of a needle shape in Liver¬ 
pool bag, or blown salt, indicates the presence of lime, 
magnesia, &c. Epsom and Glauber’s salt are frequently 
found in small quantities; in the process of making salt 
they chrystalize last; when water is added, or on expo¬ 
sure to damp air, they dissolve first; hence washing 
salt purifies it. One great cause of the failure in mak¬ 
ing good butter, may be traced to the use of impure 
salt. 
Rock salt, and the large lumps of Turk’s Island salt, 
washed, dried, and finely pulverized, are preferable to 
all other kinds, being highly preservative, and harden¬ 
ing the butter, so that it will be sooner ready to work 
over in warm weather. The Liverpool bag or blown 
salt, the Salina salt in small bags, from New-York, and 
the fine part of every kind of imported salt, contain a 
great portion of impurity; they are not preservative, 
do not harden the butter, and give it a bitter taste. 
Less than one ounce of pure salt, is sufficient for a 
pound of butter; (many put in half an ounce; in all 
cases leave out sugar and saltpetre.) 
In the manufacture of cheese, a preference is some¬ 
times given to Liverpool bag or blown salt. This salt 
contains salts of lime and magnesia, which attract 
moisture from the air, and have the desirable effect of 
softening the cheese; and the pungent, bitter taste 
which they impart to it, is an improvement in the esti¬ 
mation of some. 
General Remarks. —The cream should not rise 
more than 36 hours; it should be sweet when taken off 
and sweet when churned; yet there is a degree of ma¬ 
turity, to be acquired by keeping. The kegs, for pack¬ 
ing butter should be made of white oak, bilging in the 
form of casks, for the more perfect exclusion of air, and 
convenience of transportation. If the butter is not to 
be sent to a warm climate, or a foreign market, let the 
bilging kegs have movable covers to accommodate in¬ 
spection; they should be soaked in a strong brine, made 
also of pure salt, in order that justice may be done to 
the purchaser, in tare; and to save the butter from be- 
ins spoiled, to the depth of one or two inches all round 
from its contact with dry wood. In case the wood is 
anything but white oak, there is danger of its giving an 
unpleasant taste to the whole. For the convenience of 
families, the size should vary from 25 to 50 pounds. A 
large keg of butter is exposed to the air for a long 
time while on broach in a small family; the bottom in 
consequence becomes rancid. 
The consumer will cheerfully pay an extra price foi 
100 pounds of butter, packed in four kegs instead of 
one. No salt should be put on the sides, bottom, or 
between the layers. If the kegs are made with covers, 
put a cloth over the top and cover that with pure fine 
salt. Keep a cloth wet with strong brine, over the 
butter while the keg is filling, to exclude the air. The 
practice of washing butter is not approved of in Europe; 
it destroys its fragrance and sweetness by dissolving 
the sugar of milk, which, it is said,is always present in 
good butter. It is practiced in Holland, when the arti¬ 
cle^ is designed for exportation to India; then the ope¬ 
ration is performed with cold, strong, limpid brine 
made of pure salt and pure water; water that has lime 
