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THE) RURAX> NEW-YORKER 
FARM BUTTER MAKING. 
Much has been said about the mak¬ 
ing of good butter, but it has been 
only during recent years that farmers 
have given consideration to systematic 
butter making. The essentials for good 
butter are proper utensils, ambition, 
cleanliness, and good judgment—these 
are certain to bring good results. A 
few of the most common causes of im¬ 
paired flavor which we must guard 
against are cream exposed to odors, 
over-ripe cream, decaying feeds, im¬ 
pure drinking water, stable odors, and 
sick cows. Next, starting with the 
cream after it comes from the farm 
separator, or separated by the gravity 
system, is to ripen it. The purpose 
ot ripening the cream, rather than 
churning immediately, is to produce the 
desired flavor. 
Fortunately, nature has provided that 
the bacteria which will produce the de¬ 
sired flavor are most likely to predomi¬ 
nate in the cream if the milk has been 
handled under good, clean conditions. 
The ripening of the cream under farm 
conditions usually depends on the bac¬ 
teria which have accidentally gotten 
into it. Good results can be obtained 
by keeping the cream sweet at a tem¬ 
perature of 40 to 48 degrees until enough 
is gathered for churning, which should 
not be more than two or three days. 
The entire lot should be thoroughly 
stirred each time new cream is added. 
Eighteen to 24 hours before churning 
time the cream should be warmed to 
a temperature of 70 to 74 degrees, and 
not allowed to fall below 65 degrees 
until ripe. Sweet cream should not be 
added to that which is to be churned 
for at least six hours before churning, 
as it makes churning more difficult and 
increases the loss of fat in the butter¬ 
milk. Under farm conditions the use 
of a starter is only to be recommended 
where large quantities of the best but¬ 
ter are desired, and where the fcxtr-a 
labor required to prepare them properly 
■ is justified, for a poor starter will 
surely make poor butter. Buttermilk 
or cream from a previous churning may 
# bc used if the butter was of good 
quality and the buttermilk or cream 
does not have to be kept a few days. 
The temperature of the cream when 
put into the churn should be from 56 
to 58 degrees F. This varies somewhat 
with the conditions. The old way of 
guessing at the temperature is not very 
reliable. When ready for the churn 
the cream should have a pleasant acid 
flavor, a smooth, velvety appearance, 
and should be thick enough that it will 
adhere in a thick coating to the paddle 
or spoon. Under farm conditions it 
is hardly advisable to use any of the 
tests for determining the ripeness of 
the cream. The cream should be 
strained before it is churned that no 
foreign matter may be found in the 
butter. When the cream has been ripened 
it should be churned. There are many 
different churns, but usually we find the 
swing churn, dasher churn, and barrel 
churn on the farm. The churn should 
be of such a size that it will not be 
more than one-third full when churn¬ 
ing. In preparing a churn to put cream 
into, the churn should be scalded with 
boiling water. It should next be thor¬ 
oughly chilled with cold water. The 
churn should never be dry when cream 
is added. When scalding a tight barrel 
or box churn it is important to open 
the vent after each revolution to per¬ 
mit escape of the air expanded by the 
heat. 
We find the market requires the but¬ 
ter to be as nearly the June color as 
possible throughout the year. Twelve 
to 15 drops of color for each gallon of 
cream that will churn out 2 1 / 2 pounds of 
in Spring and early Summer. The 
churn should be turned uniformly and 
at about the same speed throughout the 
process. It is also important to do the 
churning in a room with plenty of good, 
fresh air. The churn should be opened 
a few times during the process, which 
should take from about fifteen to forty- 
five minutes. Difficult churning is fre¬ 
quently found on the farm in the Fall 
and Winter. This is generally due to 
the lactation period and food fed. This 
can usually be remedied by ripening the 
cream to a higher degree of acidity, 
and churning the cream at a higher tem¬ 
perature. If cream is thick and at a 
low temperature we sometimes are able 
to get butter by pouring hot water over 
the churn. If all other methods fail, 
take some lukewarm water and add it 
to the cream. 
One of the most important points 
about churning is when to stop. Churn¬ 
ing should be stopped when the granules 
are about the size of corn grains and 
float freely on the buttermilk. Gather¬ 
ing the butter into large lumps should 
be avoided. We often find this to be 
the case on the farm where some 
younger member of the family has to 
turn the churn. The buttermilk should 
be strained through a cheesecloth or 
hair strainer as it runs from the churn. 
It will catch crumbs of butter that 
would otherwise be lost. The chief 
object of washing the butter is to re¬ 
move as much buttermilk as possible. 
Get the temperature of the buttermilk 
and the temperature of the wash water, 
which should be nearly like that of the 
cream when churned. The churn should 
be turned about 20 times with the wash 
water in it. Too much washing may 
lessen the delicate flavor of the butter. 
Wash water should be pure, and great 
care should be taken that it is not 
from an old well or unclean place. 
Then remove the butter from the churn 
while in the granule form and spread on 
a worker and sprinkle the salt over it. 
Work a little to incorporate the salt 
and then allow it to stand for a short 
time until the salt dissolves, after which 
the working can be finished. The work¬ 
ing should be uniform, and should be 
stopped when the butter breaks with 
a slight tendency to string out in short 
pin points. If not worked enough it 
will break off short and crumble; if 
over-worked, which is very often the 
case on the farm, the butter becomes 
greasy. In creameries the amount of 
salt is generally taken to the amount 
of butter fat in the cream. But on the 
farm we ordinarily take one ounce of 
salt to one pound of unworked butter, 
which gives good results. If it is not 
convenient to weigh the butter and salt, 
use a small definite measure of salt for 
each definite amount of cream. With 
hand separator cream this gives good 
results. The best salt made for use 
with butter should be used, and the 
amount of salt used depends largely 
on the consumer and should always be 
uniform. 
One of the greatest difficulties on the 
farm about butter marketing is the fact 
that the butter is put up in unclean and 
untidy packages. The best method is 
to put the butter in the standard pound 
prints which are 2 /> by 2)4 by 4-)4 
inches. Each print should be wrapped 
in first-class parchment paper, and this 
may be placed in mauila cartons. It 
also a good method to have your 
name printed on the carton, and this 
will enable the consumer to use the 
same brand of butter again. 
Center Co., Pa. r. f. hug. 
FARMERS AND SAFE CREDITS. 
True Stories of Money Deals. 
[\Ye intend to print from time to time 
records of actual cases where farmers have 
borrowed money in the ordinary way and 
struggled to pay their loans. Our object 
is to give true stories of such deals, as in 
no other way will it be possible to show 
the need of a fairer system of credits for 
tenants or poor farmers. We want these 
stories as nearly as possible in the language 
of the parties most interested, and we 
want them true.] 
In 1897 I smarted in business as farm¬ 
er and trucker. I attended public sales 
to buy horses and tools, over in another 
county. Terms of sale were 5 per cent, 
off for cash, 12 months credit on note 
with two securities. I bought two 
horses, two-horse wagon, hay, ladders, 
cow and other things, sale bill to 
amount o4 $252. I gave note with njy 
uncle and father for securities. My 
father had, two months before, traded 
his small place of 15 acres, which was 
a garden farm, for 100 acres in same 
county; gave difference of $4,000, for 
which a mortgage was filed on farm. 
The notes came due as follows: $200 
first of September. 1898; $400 first of 
September, 1899, and $600 1900; then 
$600 each succeeding year till mort¬ 
gage was paid. Loan called for 6% 
interest. This arrangement was all 
right if a man can meet payments at 
right time, but miss one note and the 
whole comes due. Father paid $100 
on first note in March of 1898, but 
first of September came with no crop 
ready for market, also no cash on hand, 
and no place to put bonds on, same with 
me, tied up on sale notes for horses 
and tools to work said farm on shares 
for my father. We had good crops, 
and in time could have paid out if given 
time to realize on crops, but first of 
September came with no crops sold and 
only one in barn, 60 tons of Timothy 
hay, with 40 acres of good corn stand¬ 
ing in field and five acres of tobacco also 
out. The man who held mortgage and 
notes, same one father traded with, 
came out to see us, looked all around 
the place, admired the crops; then 
father told him he did not have the 
other $100 due on first note in hand, 
but would have pay first of year. He 
got mad, or pretended to, and said he 
would close the mortgage on first of 
September if not paid. 
1 was farming the place on shares 
for father, and same day was working 
in tobacco patch. This man came out 
to me and asked me if I did not have 
the money. 1 told him I did not, for 
I had nothing as yet off the farm; had 
sold nothing so far, but was gathering 
in the crops and could do nothing else 
at present till safe from frost and 
Winter, but promised to pay the balance 
on that note as soon as possible. He 
studied awhile, came back to me, and 
gave me this proposition: I to give 
him chattel mortgage on my horses, 
wagons, tools and share of crop to se¬ 
cure the one-half of the $200 note that 
was not as yet paid for a year, and he 
would let us stay another year. Then 
I started to think and asked him twice 
over what he wanted. Then 1 told him 
he had enough and good security for 
that note, and if he was going to do the 
trick to my father he would better be 
April 20, 
going, for I would not let him break 
me out of what little, I had to please 
him. He got madder and went down 
town and foreclosed mortgage on father 
fifth of September. We had been on 
farm since first of March same year. 
Father got $50 in money out of the 
break. His 15 acres were valued at that 
time at $10,000, now, 1912, at $20,000. 
It is now in city of Dayton, Ohio, and 
same man owns it, but he traded farm 
a couple of years afterward and did 
same thing with another man, then 
eventually sold it. 
I started out to tell about a sale note. 
This note came due in February, 1899— 
five months after father lost out on 
trading his home for farm. I was 
in better shape then, but had only 
about $100 in ready money, and the crop 
of five acres of tobacco ricked and strip¬ 
ped ready to box in shed where I then 
lived. The man came to see me about 
note. 1 told him I could give him $100 
then, but he would have to wait a lit¬ 
tle longer for other till I sold crop 
of tobacco, but he sat in my room and 
said this: 
“I do not need that money now; I 
can wait another six months or year, 
but notes from maturity draw 8% inter¬ 
est. and you will have to pay that.” He 
would not take the $100 I offered him, 
but said let the whole thing stand so. 
I thanked him for the accommodation 
and he went away, but stopped at neigh¬ 
bor’s on way and got information as 
to father losing farm. Then in about 
eight or 10 days a constable came to 
my place from the other county with 
a warrant for my arrest, claiming I 
got goods on false pretense at sale in 
that county. I was so surprised I did 
not know what to think, but I gathered 
up some bondsmen and went along with 
him, a 15-mile drive on a busy Spring 
day. We had a hearing before a half- 
drunken squire and gave bonds for trial 
on following Monday. Then I took 
a friend along who was wealthy, and 
my brother and hired lawyer for Mon¬ 
day ; told my circumstances on the way 
so he advised me to take case away 
from squire and throw case in criminal 
courts so as to make as much expense 
as possible; he would go on my bonds 
and see me through. I did that and 
went up there with my bondsman for 
security of my appearance before judge. 
Now all the time this was going on the 
owner and holder of note and trouble¬ 
maker did not appear, but when he 
found I had taken it to higher court he 
sued me on note. What do you think 
of that? All this time he did not know 
whether his note was good or not, but 
this time lie sued in my own county 
and came up before squire. I went 
down with my lawyer to see them, but 
they would do nothing; that is, his 
lawyers would not talk to us, told me I 
was booked for penitentiary, so I let 
it come before the squire and explained 
to squire all about the thing from be¬ 
ginning to end. Then squire told holder 
of note he would better compromise 
with me if he could, as I might make 
it hot for him, so they called my lawyer 
and myself in room. This was first 
time I saw holder of note since three 
weeks before lie told me to l«jt note 
stand in my own room at home. The 
holder of note came up to me, took 
hold of my hand and shook hands with 
me and said he was very glad to see 
me, but I saw be was drunk or pretty 
nearly so, and did not say very much. 
I had told my lawyer what to do, so he 
told them I would give them $150 for 
the note now and no more, in as far as 
they had acted to bulldoze me around, 
and if not that he could sue and see 
what the outcome would be, as security 
on note had broken up through no fault 
of mine, and was good when I gave it. 
In taking $150 for his note he would 
have to pay expenses of arrest, squire’s 
cost and throw out of other court and 
settle up there, for I had been to so 
much expense already. I would not 
stand for any more. 
The holder of note and his lawyer 
conferred together, and in about 15 
minutes they said they would take the 
settlement. Then I placed $150 in my 
lawyer’s hand to hold u'l the costs 
were paid and accusations were with¬ 
drawn, then to pay and take up note. 
I then paid squire’s cost at that court, 
$7.50, for he had sued me on note and 
I paid that, for I thought it might be 
right, but afterward I got to thinking 
I had no right even to pay that, but I 
came out ahead anyway. My lawyer 
charged me $25. The other man’s law¬ 
yer took the money from my lawyer’s 
hand, gave note to me, handed his client 
$50, put the rest in his pocket, saying 
retainer fee and told him to pay him¬ 
self out of that $50 for other expenses. 
E. n. B. 
butter will be about right in the Fall 
and Winter, while less should be used 
is 
LEARNING TO BEAR THE YOKE. Fig. 201. 
