8 THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
as is possible, the cream should be placed 
outside the building at night, with wet 
bags or cloth securely tied round the out- 
side and of course churned early in the 
morning. But where the cream has been 
‘properly separated and ripened it will be 
‘found that it can be churned at a little 
higher temperature with no ill effect to 
that which has been improperly ripened. 
It is advisable to strain the cream into 
the churn in order to break any lumps and 
secure an even churning. Great benefit 
in the quantity of butter will be found in 
-churning the cream at a proper temperat- 
ure, especially in the winter months, as 
when churning at a very low temperature 
without heating, a considerable portion of 
the butter is wasted by not being churned, 
-and passing away in the butter milk. 
Dairy thermoters are an essential adjunct 
to the dairy. 
They will save you work and give you 
better and larger results. These ther- 
momters are inexpensive, being only about 
1s. 6d. to 2s. 6. each, but care must be 
taken that correct ones are purchased, as 
being so cheap they are not all quite re- 
liable. It is easy to check them against 
-another one that is more reliable. 
_ Colouring of butter, where it is needed, 
may be resorted to without ill effects, but 
it should only be resorted to where abso- 
lutely necessary, and the market desires a 
butter or a higher colour. Fortunately, 
however, colouring is seldom needed in 
this Colony. When, however, it is neces- 
‘sary only the best should be used, and 
used sparingly. I can recommend Chr. 
Hanson’s Butter Colouring as being very 
good. It should be added to cream after 
it has been thinned down just prior to 
commencing to churn. The colouring 
must be diluted with water to insure its 
perfect mixing with the cream. 
The cream is now ready for putting into 
_ the churn, having been thinned down, and 
temperature made correct. The most 
practical method of heating the cream is 
to place the receptacle holding it into a 
larger one containing warm water of not 
_oyer 90. to 100. Fahr. and keep the cream 
well stirred until the desired temperature 
is arrived at. The Hnd-over-End churns 
are the churns that recommend them- 
selves best for the use of the farmer, 
although I am partial to the Alpha churn 
- from which I have seen excellent work. 
When the end-over-end churn is used it 
-. must not be filled more than two-thirds 
full at the most and the churning should 
be slow at first until all the gas has been 
allowed to escape by the ventilator pro- » 
vided on the lid of the churn. A_ few 
turns of the churn and the ventilator 
should be released and repeated until no 
more gas is formed. The churning may 
now be continued without interruption, 
special care,should be given to these 
ventilators, as if not occasionally taken to- 
pieces and thoroughly cleansed, the cream 
collects inside and in time becomes quite 
green, and is bound to become a detriment 
to the butter. A very large number of 
schurns of this type 1 have seen with the 
ventilators in a very bad state, the owners 
having tried all manner of means to clean 
them but not knowing that they should 
take them to pieces, could not clean them 
properly, The speed of the churn must 
be judged by the amount of cream in it 
And it should be so turned that the 
operator can hear the most work going on 
inside. On no account must the churn 
be driven too quickly or the cream will 
bong at either end of the churn and the 
butter consequently will not come. 
Notice must now be taken of the small 
glass window on the lid of the churn, for 
as soon as the butter commences to come 
it will be seen on the glass in little par- 
ticles. The moment this is noticed the 
churn should be stopped and a little brine 
water added, hich helps very much to 
separate the butter from the buttermilk 
and at the same time will protect the 
butter from being unduly knocked about 
and made soft. Churning must now con- 
tinue slowly until the grains of butter 
have become sufficiently large, say about 
a pin head size. It is not advisable to 
churn larger than this and on no account 
whatever must the butter be churned into 
a lump, as in that state no washing can 
possibly remove the buttermilk, which if 
not thoroughly removed, will deteriorate 
the keeping qualities of the butter. The 
buttermilk is now drawn off, and the 
butter allowed to drain as thoroughly as 
possible, so as to remove ail buttermilk 
which will consequently take less water 
for washing. The washing of butter in 
this stage must be done with care, as al- 
though it is highly necessary to wash it 
the more likelihood there is of the colour? 
and flavour being washed out, so that the 
washing should be carefully carried on. 
Add plenty of water, replace the lid and 
churn slowly a couple of revolutions and 
let off the water at once. Try if possible 
to pat the butter clean with two washings 
of strong brine, but more than three 
should not be used. hat is why I prefer 
to allow the butter to drain well after the 
first milk has been drawn off. The ad- 
vantage of washing the butter in this 
grain form is that every particle of butter 
can be separately washed and with the 
brine water every granule of butter comes 
in contact with the brine which has the 
tendency to harden the butter in summer 
time. in cold weather it is not necessary 
to use brine water, fresh water without 
salt answers the purpose equally well. 
Brine salting, however, does not give the 
butter sufficient flavor of sait for most 
markets and it is therefore necessary 
while working the butter to add a little 
dry sait say from a quarter to half ounce 
of salt to every pound of butter. Care 
‘should be taken to use really good fine 
salt. Dry saltis ulso necessary to im- 
prove the keeping qualities of the butter. 
After having the requisite amount of salt 
it must be evenly sprinkled over the 
butter and the whole well worked, by 
passing the roller backwards and forwards 
over the table. 
. salt in while you work the water out. By 
December 15, 1906 
It must be remembered that butter can — | 
only stand a little working, and in summer 
time this process of working often has the 
tendency to make the butter soft, and if 
this is the case, that the butter, becomes 
soft and the salt not sufficiently worked 
in, it will be found very beneficial to put 
that butter away for a couple of hours, or 
even till next morning, when it will be — 
found that the butter will have resumed 
its own natural consistency and the pro- 
cess of working can be continued. Care 
must always be taken not to overwork the 
butter, as lf it is once well overworked 
and made greasy, the butter will never 
return to its own natural firm and nutty 
consistency although on the other hand 
the salt must be well worked in or the 
moisture will evaporate and leave the salt 
to crystallise which spoils the appearance 
and would also cause “ mottled butter.” 
The butter is now ready for packing for 
market, The following short rough sum- 
mary of notes may be found to contain 
information :— 
1. Milk in as cleanly a manner a 
possible and protect the milk standing i 
the kraal by putting butter cloth over the 
buckets to keep out the dust and dirt, 
2. Attempt should be made to improve 
the system of milking at present in vogue — 
the system of the milkers moistening 
their fingers in the milk is bad, and it 
_must be remembered that the richest milk 
comes last and that of the poorest quality — 
first, therefore the calf with this system in 
vogue is taking all the best which is the 
farmer’s profit and oft-times detrimental 
to the health of the calf. 
3. The use of a “ Thermometer”? in a 
dairy, is essential, the “rule of thumb’ 
working very often plays one false. A 
hanging wall themometer aud a floating 
one for working with will be of tremen- 
dous help all through the year, 
All cows are not profitable from a dairy- 
man’s point of view, therefore it is highly 
desirable that a series of testing and 
ultimate weeding out be instituted, from 
a milk producing point of view. At 
present many cows eat up the profit made 
by others, reducing the profits of the — 
herd. > 
5. In cleaning wooden dairy utensils” 
use nothing but hot water. Soda is often 
used, but it should be discontinued as it 
will cause tne cream to “go to sleep.” in- 
churning. © After washing the wooden 
things don’t stand them in the sun, it will 
crack them. 
6. Gream when ripening cannot be — 
exposed to the fresh air too inuch, nor 
can it be stirred too often. 
7. Loo much attention cannot be given 
to the temperature in dairying. Correct — 
temperature, by use of the thermometer, — 
‘as the controling influence of milk and — 
cream, — ; 
8. Dou’t work the water out of the 
butter on the worker first and then add — 
the salt, add the salt at once, and work the y 
