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108 
American Agriculturist, August 16, 1924 
Making Good Butter Is a Fine Art 
Why Ce rtain Ways of Churning Give Certain 
Results—Many Uses for Your Old Newspapers 
DERHAPS some personal experiences in 
* home buttermaking will help other 
housewives who want to improve the 
quality of their output. 
Commencing at the first operation, the 
milking should be practiced regularly, and 
only absolutely clean vessels used, for un¬ 
clean utensils are almost sure to give an 
undesirable flavor. 
As soon as the milking is completed the 
best and by far the most feasible method 
of securing the desired cream is by the 
use of a good, reliable separator. Adjust¬ 
ing the machine to run out about a 
twenty-five to thirty test cream is what 
I prefer for churning. If cream is run too 
thin, too much undesirable milk and bulk 
are obtained. Screwing in the cream screw 
to obtain real thick cream is unprofitable, 
as too much butter fat is allowed to re¬ 
main in the skim milk. 
As soon as separated, I set our cream 
in the cellar. It should be in as cool a 
place as possible to allow it to retain its 
sweet flavor. 
Under rural home conditions it is im¬ 
possible to keep cream very long without 
souring, or in cases even moulding. To 
obtain fresh, sweet, appetizing butter the 
cream should be churned quite often, so 
now for the best and most suitable 
method for separating the butter from 
the cream. 
Why We Churn to Get Butter 
Butter is the fat or oil contained in 
cream. Cream is merely butter fat in 
combination with curd from which the 
oil must be separated in order to secure 
the butter. Butter fat is contained in 
the cream as infinitesimally small, micro¬ 
scopic globules. To secure in the form of 
butter we must separate and collect these 
tiny globules into mass and remove from 
the resulting buttermilk. This we ac¬ 
complish by chinning. 
As with all work, there is a right as 
well as a wrong way to do it. When 
moving on to our farm from the city a 
number of years ago, I followed the butter¬ 
making practice of my neighbors, pur¬ 
chasing and using one of the too-common 
stone dasher churns. This separated the 
butter for me, though too many times the 
resulting butter was undesirably oily since 
in churning many of the globules had been 
broken. At times the churning process 
took an hour or so of tedious work before 
the separation took place. 
Aside from this when too many of the 
butter globules were broken it meant 
a loss of butter yield. It was impossible 
to skim out a portion of the oil, which was 
finely mixed with buttermilk and so was 
lost. 
Glass Churn with Rotary Dasher Best 
Not being satisfied with my results 
I procured a barrel churn which gave me 
somewhat better service. The barrel 
being made of wood, I found it hard to 
keep entirely clean and free from odor. 
It was some time later at one of our farm 
woman’s club meetings that I was told 
about a still better churn, a square glass 
one with a rotary dasher. I purchased 
one, and have been well pleased with it 
ever since. I now use my glass churn, 
which holds around a gallon, altogether 
for small churnings, although when I 
have several gallons of cream, I use a 
three-gallon metal churn built quite 
identical to the small glass one. 
I have learned that to secure the best 
and most delicious butter the cream 
should be vigorously agitated, not 
pounded. Pounding breaks the globules, 
forming a greasy, oil butter. The agita¬ 
tion separates the globules of oil in an 
unbroken state and rolls them together 
into firm grains, at the same time forcing 
the churned cream to the top. This se¬ 
cures the butter in fifteen or twenty min¬ 
utes, and often less time. 
When through churning I strain out 
the buttermilk through a little strainer 
built in the top of my churn, when the 
firm, grained butter is left in the churn. 
The butter is virtually washed while 
churning, but to cleanse and free it com¬ 
pletely of all buttermilk and curd, I fill my 
churn almost full of cold water and by 
turning the handle a few times the churn 
washes the butter for me. Then when 
straining off the wash water the butter is 
held back and all I have to do is to open 
the churn and pour out the butter for 
salting. 
Waste in Too Much Washing 
Butter that is made by pounding the 
cream requires considerable washing to 
free it from the buttermilk, and some of 
the oil and smaller particles of butter are 
lost in the washing process, meaning 
more waste, while the finest flavor too is 
lost. 
I have been using my new churns a 
couple of years and have learned that 
by churning at a temperature of around 
sixty, which is about the temperature of 
our well water to which I cool my cream 
during the hot days, I get the very nicest 
and most tasty butter, which I am proud 
to be able to set upon the table—and 
my family bears me out in my belief 
that good butter is a real delicacy.— 
Mrs. Rich Lucas. 
Have You the Newspaper Habit? 
I DO not mean the habit of sitting down 
and reading the paper from page one 
clear through as soon as the postman 
comes, regardless of whether the dinner 
burns or the baby swallows all the loose 
buttons he can find. 
What I mean by the newspaper habit 
is the very helpful, economical and sani¬ 
tary habit of putting all the newspapers to 
practical use. Those who have formed 
the habit could hardly keep house with¬ 
when brushing crumbs from the table. 
They may also be used on the trays to 
protect the surface when carrying fruits 
or jellies. They should always be used 
under the incubator trays on the floor of 
the incubator as the machine can hardly 
be thorouglily cleaned after a hatching 
unless this precaution is taken. 
Dampened newspapers, torn into bits 
and sprinkled over the floor on sweeping 
days catch the dust and brighten the 
colors in the rug. 
To make sleeve protectors for the 
Sunday dress, take one sheet of news¬ 
paper, fold across, then lengthwise just 
as the papers come from the newsstand. 
Roll tightly around the arm and pin at 
the lower edge with a small safety-pin. 
Moths Don’t Like Newspaper 
Several layers of papers spread 
smoothly under the rugs will save much 
wear on the rugs, keep out cold in the 
winter time and help keep moths away, as 
printers’ ink is said to be a moth preven¬ 
tive. 
Try standing on folded papers instead 
of the bare floor when ironing. The feet 
will keep much warmer and will not feel 
so tired. The papers act as a cushion. A 
handful of coarse salt placed on a folded 
paper also makes a splendid iron polisher. 
When baking cakes, puddings or bread 
a folded paper slipped between the top 
of the oven and the food that is baking 
will often prevent the top from burning 
until that in the bottom of the pan has a 
chance to cook. 
Use old papers for cleaning the kitchen 
range, for scraping grease from dishes or 
the black from the bottom of pans and 
kettles. 
A double thickness of papers placed 
near the door in muddy weather makes a 
good place for setting the dripping 
FOR THE COMING SCHOOL DAYS AND HOME DUTIES 
No. 2141, which conies in large sizes, 
is becoming to the slim figure, too. It is 
suitable for heavy cotton. or a fall cloth 
fabric. The pattern cuts in sizes 16 years, 
36, 38, 40, 4%, 44< and b6 inches bust 
measure. Size 36 takes bid yards with 2 7 /i 
yards contrasting. Price, 12c. 
No. 2121 is the “ Jiffy Dress — so- 
called because it is so easily made (see 
diagram). It is cut in sizes 16 years, 
36, 38, 1/0, and 42 bust measure'... Size 
36 takes S yards of 36-inch material with 
Price, 12c. 
Getting ready for school means washable, serviceable 
suits and dresses. No. 2188, a suit for small chaps, 
has short or long sleeves and cuts in sizes 2, b- 6. and 
9 years. Size b takes % yard for the trousers and 1 
yard for the blouse. Price, 12c. 
No. 2175, an excellent girls’ school dress, is one ' 
piece with kimona sleeves. It comes, in sizes 4, 6, 8< 
10, 12, and 14 years, the medium size requiring 1% 
yards of 32-inch material. Price, 12c. Hot iron trans¬ 
fer 706 (blue or yellow) costs 15c extra. 
TO ORDER: Write name, address, pattern numbers and sizes clearly, enclose 
12c for each dress pattern and ,15c for each embroidery pattern desired, and send to 
Pattern Department, American Agriculturist, 461 Fourth Avenue, New York City. 
And—don’t forget to add 10c! For that will bring you a copy of our splendid big 
Fall and Winter Catalogue, filled with smart new designs, plenty of our famous one- 
hour diagram dresses, children’s things, transfer embroidery patterns and Christmas 
gifts to make. Only 10c: It is worth many times that. So order it at once. 
out them. The following uses for clean, 
old papers I have found very helpful: 
Spread a double thickness of paper on 
the table before cleaning chickens, fish 
or wild game. 
Empty the carpet sweeper and waste- 
paper basket onto one, roll neatly and 
tie with a string. The dirt can not 
scatter and can be easily slipped into the 
stove with the next piece of wood or coal. 
A folded paper may be used as a tray 
rubbers and umbrellas. Papers spread 
over the freshly scrubbed floor in front of 
the stove and kitchen table will also save 
much time and extra labor. 
A paper placed under a child’s plate will 
keep the tablecloth neat and clean and 
can be quickly removed when the meal is 
finished. 
Papers used m many of the ways sug¬ 
gested may also be twisted tightly and 
used as torches for starting fires after they 
have served their other purposes. “Bri¬ 
quets” of rolled, dampened newspapers, 
rolled into the shape of small logs and 
dried, burn an amazingly long time and 
are popular as kindling where fuel is 
scarce.— Mrs. L. E. B. 
* * * 
To make cut glass sparkle, wash in 
lukewarm water to which has been 
added a little bluing. Instead of a 
cloth use soft tissue paper, and when 
the piece has been carefully dried with 
another piece of soft crumpled tissue 
paper, you will be greeted with a bril¬ 
liant polish. 
* * * 
If you are troubled with a door hinge 
squeaking, take a soft lead pencil ant 
rub over the squeaking place. It wi 
stop at once. 
The Cave Men 
{Continued from, 'page 107 ) 
quist, you understand, and a good one, 
that being how he got the name of “Bare- 
lip,” being able to throw his voice withou 
moving a muscle of his face, thus doing 
away with his moustache. And a goot 
one, too. I mean Bill and not his 
moustache. 
“Sam,” he said to me, “the public is 
dead tired of the old stunt. It is sick o 
the ventriloquist sitting with Little Jumbo 
on one knee and Little Sambo on the 
other knee. My idea-” 
His idea w as to have a dummy dairymaic 
and dummy cows and chickens and ducks 
scattered round the stage, and he woulc 
come on with a hoe and whiskers and the 
cows would moo and the dairymaid talk 
and the chickens cackle. Then, maybe, 
he would slap the cow on the side and she 
would talk back to him, and the chickens 
and pigs and ducks and dairy-maid would 
all join in—regular ventriloquist back- 
talk stuff—and the act end with the 
wooden pig singing a song or something. 
“It will be a riot, Sam,” Bill said, but 
no matter about that. Here was his 
chance to get down on a real farm and 
study the voice of the pig and the cow at 
first hand, and catch the manner of the 
real rustic, and be paid for it! He came 
back with me on the first tram. 
“But, mind you, Bill,” I warned him, 
“nobody is to know you are a ventrilo¬ 
quist—not Abundant or anybody. You're 
plain farm-hand.” 
When we reached the farm we found 
that Abundant had picked up her 
chaperone. She was a Mrs. Droby from 
the village, and a pleasant old lady 
enough. We all got introduced to each 
other and then I took Bill out to show 
him the farm and the cave. He loved it. 
He was good, too. Once through the 
cave was enough to teach him every 
feature of interest—You now see on your 
left, ladies and gentlemen, the Giant’s 
Jewel Box. Observe the rubies and dia¬ 
monds, all true crystals, formed by Nature 
just where they lay. To your right——’’ 
and so on. Then we tried out the seven 
echoes. “Hello!” I shouted, and Bill 
echoed it back to me seven times, just as 
good and a little better than the original 
echoes had ever echoed it. As an echoer 
Bill was a wonder and no mistake. 
“Fine!” I said, “you’ll do.” 
“You bet I’ll do!” he said. “I’ve got 
to do. And, oh! ain’t she the loveliest 
thing man ever saw?” 
“Who?” I asked. 
“That Miss Abundant,” he said, and I 
told him there would be none of that. 
“You’re a farm-hand and lecturer on 
the wonders of the cave,” I said, ''and 
you’ve got to know your place and keep 
it.” 
“Oh, sure!” he said. “I know that 
Sam. I was just gassing. Don’t get sore 
at a joke.” 
“I don’t stand any jokes about Abun¬ 
dant,” I said, and we let it go at that, 
{Concluded next week) 
