PRACTICAL PA-PERS—MARKETING BUTTER. 
221 
Just before the butter gathers loe throw into the churn a hucket 
of ice-cold water. This hardens the hutter in small particles and 
makes a firm grain. In the hot months this practice is unva¬ 
rying.” 
III. The Handling. —-“In working we get out all the butter¬ 
milk, but do not apply the hand. A better way is to absorb 
the drops with a linen cloth wrung from cold water. The first 
working takes out all the milk, at the second we handle deli¬ 
cately with fingers as cool as may be. The salt is less than an 
ounce to the pound, but generally not much less. The balls 
all weigh one pound and receive a uniform stamp. On pack¬ 
ing for market each ball is wrapped in a linen cloth with the 
name and stall of the marketman written upon it. Our tubs 
are made of cedar plank one and one-half or two inches thick 
and lined with tin. On the inner face are little projections on 
which the shelves rest. The balls are not bruised or pressed 
at all and pass into the hands of the consumer as firm, as per¬ 
fect in outline and as spotless as when they left the spring- 
house. We find uniformity to be a prime virtue in the butter 
maker. We produce the same article, whether the cows stand 
knee deep in clover blooms, or sun themselves on the lea of 
the barn in February. There is a small ice chamber at the 
ends of the oblong tub which we use in summer, so that in 
dog days the heat within the tub does not get higher than 
60 ^. I need not add that we observe a scrupulous, a reli¬ 
gious neatness in every act and in every utensil of the dairy. 
Milk which upon leaving the udder, flies through an atmos¬ 
phere loaded with stable fumes, will never make butter for 
which we can get a dollar. No milk sours upon the floor of 
the milk room, none is permitted to decompose in the crevices 
of the milk-pan. The churn is scoured and scalded till no 
smell can be detected but the smell of white cedar. Our cus¬ 
tomers take the napkins with the pound prints, wash and iron 
them and return m hen they come to the stands on butter days ; 
these are generally Wednes<iays and Saturdays. With these 
prices we have no difficulty in making a cow pay for herself 
