New YorK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 219 
10. Can you control effectively the mottling of butter? If 
so, how? 
11. What is your theory in regard to the mottling of butter; 
that is, the causes producing it and the manner in which they pro- 
duce it? 
12. Are butter-makers in your section troubled with mottling, 
so far as your observation goes? 
It is a matter of much interest to consider the replies received 
in answer to these questions. 
1. Does mottling of butter occur at one particular time of year 
more than another? If so, when? Why? 
In most cases it is reported that mottling occurs more fre- 
quently in cold weather, because it is more difficult to distribute 
the salt evenly through the butter, owing to the lower tempera- 
ture of the wash-water and the greater firmness of the butter. 
2. What different kinds of mottling do you recognize? 
There is considerable variation in the replies made to this 
question. Summarizing all the different statements, the ques- 
tion is answered as follows: (1) An uneven distribution of color 
showing in small patches, (2) streaking or wavy mottles, (3) 
white specks, and (4) dapples. In most cases the expression in- 
dicates only one kind of mottling but varying in form and show- 
ing as streaks, waves or cloudiness. 
3. What do you regard as the cause of mottling? 
Every reply indicated the uneven distribution of salt in butter 
as the chief or sole cause of mottling. Additional or contribu- 
tory causes are given as follows: (1) Uneven cream-ripening, 
(2) pasteurizing sour cream, (3) insufficient working, (4) chilled 
granules worked too soon. 
4, Has ripening of cream anything to do with mottling? If 
so, how? 
The general opinion is that cream-ripening has no relation to 
the mottling of butter, except that white specks in butter are 
often caused by over-ripe cream. 
5. Does the tenperature of churning influence mottling? 
The general belief ‘expressed is that churning has little or 
nothing to do with mottling. The following special suggestions 
are made: (1) Some temperature conditions of churning make 
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