THE CULTIVATOR. 
valents of hydrogen, and 3 equivalents of oxygen; 
while oleic acid is constituted of 36 equivalents of car¬ 
bon, 33 equivalents of hydrogen, and 3 equivalents 
of oxygen. Now it is known that the latter acid ab¬ 
sorbs oxgen from the air with great avidity, producing 
peculiar compounds, among which, however, margaric 
acid has notyetbeen recognised. Still the abstraction of 
2 equivalents of carbon, in the form of carbonic acid 
would be sufficient for its conversion, and this formation is 
so simple and common an occurrence in the organism of 
animals, that oleic acid may be transformed into marga¬ 
ric acid during the formation of the milk, thus produc¬ 
ing more of the solid fat at one time than at another, and 
causing the variations in the firmness of the butter made 
from it. It is, however, quite gratuitous to suppose, 
with some authors, that this transformation takes place 
during the churning. When oleic acid absorbs oxygen 
from the air, it acquires a very rancid smell, which is 
one of the causes of rancidity in butter. But the main 
cause is the production of butyric, capric, caproic, and 
caprylic acids. These acids are probably not present in 
any quantity, in perfectly fresh butter, but they are 
quickly formed by the cheese left in it operating on the 
sugar of milk. Butyric acid has an odor of human ex¬ 
crements; caproic acid of sweat; capric acid has a rank 
smell, resembling that of a goat, while caprylic acid is 
the only one which is not obnoxious to the senses. These 
acids are volatile and soluble in water, and as rancidity 
of butter depends in a great degree, upon their being 
present in appreciable quantity, a knowledge of this 
fact may be employed in depriving butter of its rancidi¬ 
ty. For this purpose it should be melted in twice its 
weight of boiling water, and well shaken with it. By 
this means, the acids are dissolved, and partly volatilised, 
the rancidity being thus removed. At all times butter 
may be purified by repeated melting with fresh portions 
of water, the pure oil rising to the surface, and leaving 
the impurities in the water. The butter loses.its con¬ 
sistence by this operation, but that may be restored to 
it, at least to a great extent, by pouring it when melted, 
into a large quantity of ice-cold water. As the forma¬ 
tion of the badly smelling volatile acids depends upon 
the presence of caseine, this mode of purification re¬ 
moves the injurious ingredient. At the same time the 
butter becomes less pleasant to the taste, the water hav¬ 
ing taken up the small quantity of foreign substances 
which give to fresh butter its agreeable fragrance and 
taste! These, some chemist? are inclined to believe, 
are the caprine, caproine, and carpryline, but the pro¬ 
perties of the two former bodies do not countenance this 
supposition. Some of the compounds of caprylic acid 
have a fragrant odor like that of the pine apple, but the 
smell of capryline itself is little known. 
It is scarcely necessary to offer any explanations of the 
manner in which salting butter aids in its preservation. 
A saturated solution of salt is found incapable of per¬ 
meating many animal substances—such as cheese, and is 
found to draw water from them, so as to actually dry 
them, although surrounded by a liquid. Organic mat¬ 
ter thus dried cannot pass into putrefaction, and the ea- 
seine in this condition cannot exert those,changes which 
are necessary to the transformation of the other ingre¬ 
dients of the butter. Salted butter should, however, 
be packed tigbly in jars; not only to preserve it from 
the access of oxygen, but to prevent the solution of salt 
gratifying its affinity for moisture, by withdrawing it 
from the air, instead of from the caseine. Fresh butter, 
when laid in a syrup of sugar, keeps even better than 
salted butter. The practical application of all the ex¬ 
planations of the making of butter resolve themselves 
into the advice of keeping an absolute purity in the 
dairy, and the removal of all caseous particles from the 
butter when made. 
Cheese Making. 
We make the following extract from the Report of 
the Committee on Cheese Dairies, at the last exhibition 
of the Herkimer County Ag. Society: 
“ The great desideratum in cheese making is to form 
it as near a solid as possible, and still retain moisture 
enough to produce a buttery texture in the cheese. The 
more compact the cheese is welded together and desti¬ 
tute of holes, or pores within, the less salt is required 
to presen e it from tainting. Salt is used as a controll¬ 
ing agent, to suppress the fermentation and decomposi¬ 
tion, introduced and carried on by the combined action 
of heat and rennet. Hence the necessity of the two 
latter agents being allowed to finish their work and ex¬ 
pel all the fluidical properties of the milk before the 
curd is cooled, or salt added, as either are antagonistical 
to the agents first used, and if added too soon, rennet will 
be held in solution with whey in the curd and will not 
press out, and will cause a rapid fermentation in the 
cheese when exposed to summer heat, unless salt enough 
is added t.o suppress it; the whey will then be held in 
the cheese and will sour and prevent the curd from wield¬ 
ing, and prove to he a bad cheese for any market. 
The committee feel warranted by their own practical 
experience, and their observations in examining Diaries 
this season, in urging upon tbe Dairymen of Herkimer 
Co., a studious observance of the following, as cardinal 
points in successful dairying, viz: Good condition and 
perfect health of cows at all seasons of the year. A 
uniform and plentiful supply of nutricious food for them, 
with perfect quiet; plenty of good water, requiring but 
little exercise to obtain a frequent supply; warm and 
dry stabling in winter, with quiet and careful handling; 
thorough and quiet milking at particular hours by the 
same hand; uniformity of good health in all the herd 
of cows, that the milk of all may he as near as possible 
of a sameness, as the strength of eoherance in all solids 
depends upon strict affinity in their constituency; a uni¬ 
form application of all the agents to the whole mass, in 
heating, cooling, working, salting, &c., making all the 
changes from cold t6 warm and from warm to cold, slow 
and uniform through every part and particle of the 
whole, that the affinity here spoken of may he preserved 
through the whole and to the last, and a more perfect 
solid may be the result of the practice.- No rennets 
should be used except from calves in perfect health, as 
one unhealthy stomach might cause much trouble to the 
cheese maker, and misdirect the search for its origin. 
And last yet not least, after all has been well done, no 
reliance can he placed upon the result of a season's ope¬ 
ration, without curing rooms, so constructed as to adapt 
the temperature to the constitution of the cheese, and 
protect them from the influences of the sudden and ex¬ 
treme changes that our climate is subject to. 
Nature has established the fact, that no county in the 
State has facilities for making better milk than Herki¬ 
mer; but it is to be feared that the old traditionary 
habit (too much adhered to,) of letting cheese cure 
themselves in some place least needed for other pur¬ 
poses, will be the means of her being rivalled in her 
merited reputation for fine cheese.” 
A Word to Men of Wealth — I mean those that 
feel as though they could spare a few dollars for a good 
cause—that is for the advancement of the science of 
Agriculture, or the means of diffusing the knowledge 
already attained among the farming community more 
generally. My plan is, for such men as have a desire for 
the advancement of the science of agriculture, to order 
such works as “ The Cultivator,” or “ The Horti¬ 
culturist,” to he sent to some young men of their ac¬ 
quaintance, who follow farming, or contemplate doing 
so, for a business. Not that I think that the conside¬ 
ration of the cost of such works, prevents them from 
reading them. The reason is, that they are not aware 
of the existence of such works, or the value thereof to 
the agriculturist. Y. S. Buffalo, N. Y. 
A Good Feeder. —Mr. Isaac) Landis, a Lancaster 
(Pa.) farmer, recently sold forty head of fat cattle to 
a Philadelphia butcher, at $115 per head, amounting in 
all to $4,600. - 
[£7“ Catalogues of Short Horn and Devon Cattle, offer¬ 
ed for sale or to let, by L. G. Morris, Esq., of Mount 
Fordham, can he had at this office. 
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