ments I have tried, I am satisfied that it makes little difference what is the size or shape of the vessels used containing the milk, so long as the principles governing the system are followed, which is mainly to enclose or closely cover warm milk in a tin vessel of a capacity or shape that will admit of cooling to 62 degrees within six hours. If the vessel containing the milk is of a diameter exceeding that which I have stated, and the cooling process not brought to bear soon enough, or of a sufficient degree, decay or rotting will commence in the center of the milk. The patents that are about to be brought out and offered to the public are numerous, and some of them of considerable merit; but a little study and experiment with common quart glass fruit cans, will enable you to form an opinion of your own as to their merit, and as to the correctness of what I have told you. Fill four cans with warm milk from the cow; put the covers tightly on two of them; submerge one completely in iced water; put the other in the water as deep as the milk; put the cover on the third can, and stand the same in a pail of well water which should be 49 or 50 deg.; put the fourth can in a temperature of air at 62 deg., with cover off; three hours or sooner will satisfy you of the relative advantages of what I call the shutting-off process, or what is termed by others, the deep setting in water. I have occupied more time upon this point than I designed, but the subject is new to many, and the result so at variance with preconceived ideas and startling in their results, that I hope the time has been well expended. I claim for this system, much less labor and a uniform product of first quality of butter, provided the rules given are followed as to raising the cream, and that my plan of making the cream into butter, or some better one, is carried out. The next point is churning. There are more patents on churns and errors in churning than probably any other subject. I shall not attempt to point them out, only allude to some of the most prominent errors. The old dasher churn makes good butter, but it is hard work to operate it, and it does not churn quite all the The hard and lengthy labor of this kind of churn has turned the inventive genius to a quicker method of churning, cream. and to some extent they have succeeded, but in many instances to the expense of the quality of the butter. A fast grinding action to the churn should be avoided, for it will most certainly injure the grain of the butter. There is a class of churns now made that revolve, and have no paddles or inside machinery, depending upon the gravity of the cream for the necessary agitation. These churns churn all the cream, usually within half an hour, which is quick enough to make a first quality of butter. I have used the rectangular churn seven years, and find that it is easily operated, easily cleaned, and when other things are equal, the product is of the best quality. Cream should be churned in its first or sugar acid at a temperature of 60 degrees in the warm season and 62 degrees in the colder periods of the year. When the particles of butter form about the size of corn or wheat kernels, a peculiar swashing sound is heard; the churning should then be stopped, the buttermilk drawn off into a clean vessel, so that if any of the small particles of butter escape they can be skimmed off and returned to the churn. The churning should not be carried too far, that is, it should not be carried so as to mass the butter. If stopped at the right point, the buttermilk will nearly all drain out, and if water is to be added to rinse out the remaining portion of buttermilk, it percolates the whole mass and completes the removal of the caseine more perfectly than could have been done had the churning been continued too long. I said if water was to be added I had thought this question had been decided, but at the late dairymen's association meeting at Elkhorn, one or two gentlemen advocated the nonwashing theory, and stated that the butter taking the first premium at the late New York Dairy Fair, for Wisconsin dairy butter, was made by that method. I concede the possibility of making first class butter by this method, but I do not concede that it is any better than when made by the washing method, provided the water used is pure. Professor Arnold says upon this subject: "Butter gathered in the churn always contains more or less buttermilk, which would soon spoil the butter if not removed. There are two ways of removing it. One is by kneading it in water or brine, * * * and the other by kneading it without water. One is called washing, the other working. The former removes it much more rapidly than the latter. The flavor of butter which has been washed is different from that which has not been washed. The difference between washed and unwashed butter is analogous to the difference between clarified and unclarified sugar. The former consists of pure saccharine matter, the latter of sugar and some albuminous and flavoring matters which were contained in the juice of the cane, mingled with it, which give a flavor in addition to that of sugar. Brown sugar, though less sweet, has more flavor than clarified sugar. When unwashed, there is always a little buttermilk and sugar adhering to the butter, that gives it a peculiar flavor in addition to that of pure butter, which many people like when it is new. Washing removes all this foreign matter and leaves only the taste of the butter pure and simple. The assertion is often made, and many people believe, that water washes out the flavor of the butter, but it only cleanses the butter of the buttermilk sugar and milk acid which may adhere to it, just as clarifying sugar removes from it the foreign matters which modify its true flavor. The flavor of butter consists of fatty matters which do not combine with water at all, and cannot, therefore, be washed away by it. The effect of washing upon the keeping quality of butter depends upon the purity of the water with which the washing is done. If the water contains no foreign matter that will affect the butter, it will keep better for washing the buttermilk out than by working it out. Professor Arnold is the best of authority on all dairy matters, and it does seem to me that his evidence in favor of washing butter is conclusive in favor of the use of water to remove the buttermilk. I have used it freely, but have always been careful to have the water pure. One of the great errors in farm dairying is the destruction of the grain of the butter, making it an unsightly mass of grease. To attempt to remedy this evil by teaching to work out the buttermilk instead of washing it out would be a much more difficult task to accomplish; not only that, but I am quite positive that washed butter will keep better and sell better when placed upon. the market. One of the gentlemen who advocated the nonwashing practice at the Elkhorn convention had butter in competition with mine. I point you to the result. I will now return to completing the manufacture of the butter. I add water freely, give the churn a few rocking motions and draw off, adding one or two more waters or until the butter is freed from buttermilk. I then add one ounce of Ashton salt, which has been sifted, to the pound; give the churn a few revolutions, which incorporates the salt evenly through the whole body of the butter. One of the great errors of butter-making is the use of common barrel salt, and too much of it. I verily believe I have seen butter for sale that had three ounces of this cheap fertilizer to each pound. The butter now can be removed from the churn, or remain therein until it is desired for working and packing. I have tried various practices of working the butter, leaving it from six to twenty-four hours, but have finally come to the conclusion that it is best to work and pack it at once. If the form I have described has been followed, very little working will be found necessary. The washing has removed the buttermilk, and the churn has incorporated the salt, provided the butter was in small particles when the salt was added. The butter bowl commonly used in farm dairies is made of porous wood that absorbs impurities, and is most likely to contain the germ of decay; not only that, but it is very inconvenient in form, requiring considerable strength to hold it while manipulating the butter. When the dairy is small, and a butter worker unnecessary, a tray made of ash, oak, or almost any hard lumber, with three sides, or rather two sides and one end, say fifteen inches wide and two feet long, will be found just the thing. I use a tray of this character, placing in it a few pounds of butter from the churn; flatten it, roll it up and flatten again with the common ladle, and pack it solidly in ash firkins. In all the handling of the milk, cream or butter, I keep it from the air as much as possible. Butter made as I have described, sells readily in Chicago at thirty cents per pound. If the same butter was made into rolls in the neatest manner, nicely covered with butter cloth, it would bring about eighteen cents per pound. I have occupied more time in this paper than I designed, and in conclusion would say, let us strive to retain the honors our enterprising dairymen have won at the late International Dairy Fair. Eternal vigilance will be found as necessary to retain these honors as it is to retain that of liberty. A voice How much will the can hold? About nineteen quarts. That is the best size. What is the object of warming it? You will find by rises much better Mr. Curtis That is hard to explain. I think I told you in the paper that the warmth of the milk coming in contact with the cold water produced currents in the milk. experiment, if you will try it, that the cream with the tight cover on. I think the reason must be because it retains the heat. I think blood heat is just the degree of heat that we want in the milk to bring about this improved action in raising the cream. Hence if there be either milk or water added, I think it should be of that temperature. A voice Is it important that the milk be cooled rapidly? Mr. Curtis I think that is what brings about the result. I think the cooling cools the watery portion, and that the cream retains the heat longer. The richer the cream the more bulky it is in proportion to its heft. I think it retains heat longer than the watery portions, and hence it retains its buoyancy. Corsequently the quick cooling is undoubtedly desirable. A voice What would be the effect of cold water put in instead of warm? Mr. C. It would cool your milk when it ought to be warm. A voice - Do you submerge these cans in water? Mr. C. I would not submerge them, because that is patented. You can set it in. If you take two one quart fruit cans filled with milk, submerge one and put the other into the water as high as your milk, and heed the result, I think you will find little difference in the raising of the cream. We want this covered up |