is observed will, in the long run, stand much higher in the market than those that neglect it.

5. The temperature of the milk at the time of churning is of great importance. Good buttermakers usually have their milk when churning at a temperature ranging from 54 to 64 degrees Fah. It is impossible to make butter below 40 degrees. If it exceeds 70 degrees, it is so oily as to become disgusting. Pure butter contains 68 per cent. of a solid fat known as margarine, and 30 per cent. of a fluid fat of oil called olein. At 60 deg Fah. the margarine of milk undergoes very little change; but at 70 deg. it absorbs oxygen from the atmosphere and is converted into olein, which gives the butter an oily consistency and a rank flavor. When the sugar of milk absorbs oxygen in the churning process and forms lactic acid, the transformation is always attended with an elevation of temperature-the thermometer always stands five or six degrees higher at the close of the churning than it did at the beginning. Since, therefore, butter is much better when the temperature at the close of churning is 60 degrees Fah., than it is at any other, it follows that the temperature at the beginning of the process should be as near 54 or 55 degrees as possible.

6. The milk of different cows varies very much in the time required for creaming. The milk of some cows will cream in twelve hours, while others require thirty-six hours; the milk of all the cows should therefore be mingled together before it is poured into the pans, in order to secure uniformity in this respect. When cream from a previous skimming is poured into a vessel containing a previous one, the two skimmings should be well stirred together.

7. Churning. In order to comprehend the true theory of churning, we must distinctly understand that cream consists of globules of butter surrounded by their skins or membranes of cheesy matter and sugar of milk. The object of churning is therefore to break these bladdery membranes so that they may be allowed to cohere in one mass.

A combination of chemical and mechanical means is required to effect this object. The chemical means consist in bringing the air continuously into contact with the sugar of milk, which is thus converted into lactic acid; this acid acts on the cheesy membranes and softens them, so that the mechanical agitation of the plunger will break them, and the particles of the butter are thus enabled to unite and form a solid coherent mass. It follows from this that the globules will not be broken until lactic acid is formed, and a large amount of air is required to effect this formation; hence, the indications of a successful churning are: 1st, a temperature of 60 degrees Fah; 2d, a continuous supply of air to every portion of the milk; and 3d, a steady mechanical agitation to rupture the globules. With the ordinary dash churn, good butter is ordinarily made in not less than thirty minutes; but I have seen butter made in the winter in two and a half minutes with as fine a grain as ever I saw, by a churn known as the "Telegraph churn." It did its work perfectly, with much less labor than any other that I have ever seen, and was very easy to keep clean and sweet. It has never come into general use, and possibly there may be some latent disadvantages in it that escaped my observation and which counterbalance the great merits it unquestionably possessed, but I still

am inclined to the opinion that its general introduction would be a great relief to our overtaxed dairy women.

8. Washing. The butter thus obtained is not pure and would soon acquire a very disagreeable taste if it were not soon purified. On being taken from the churn it contains a very considerable amount of casein, which being a nitrogenized compound, is very liable to putrefaction, besides being itself injurious to the flavor of the butter in its recent state. When casein is present in butter to any considerable extent, it soon begins to act on the sugar of milk in the presence of the air, giving rise to the formation of butyric, capric, caproic, and caprylic acids. The first of these has the odor of human excrement, the second of suet, the third has a rank smell resembling that of a goat, and the last has no apparent odor though it has a disagreeable taste. The rancid taste of butter is due to the presence of one or more of these acids; it is therefore of the last importance to the butter maker to free it from the casein which gives origin to them. Careful washing will effect this so that not more than one per cent of it will remain. I am aware that there has been much controversy respecting the utility of washing, some butter makers being very strongly opposed to it, while others are warmly in its favor, the latter forming the great majority of the best makers. The opponents of the practice are generally those who use soft water, which undoubtedly dissolves many of those matters upon which the rich flavor of the butter depends; but this is not the case with hard water, which removes the casein without dissolving the delicate flavoring matters. At all events, unwashed butter will contain six per cent of casein, while well washed butter contains only one per cent. I think there cannot be a doubt that when butter is well washed in clear hard water, that is entirely clear of organic matter, until it runs off clear, it is sweeter at first and is far less liable to spoil by keeping than unwashed butter.

9. Salting. After all that can be done, from one to two per cent of casein remains in the butter, which, like the fly in the ointment of the apothecary, will soon fill the mass with an evil savor if suitable means are not resorted to in order to arrest the action. Several saline substances possess this power, but chloride of sodium or common salt seems on the whole best adapted for the purpose. From one-sixteenth to one-twenty-fourth of the weight of the butter, or from three-quarters of an ounce to an ounce of salt to a pound of butter, is about the best proportion; a greater quantity than this gives a taste which masks the delicacy of the flavor; less will not completely neutralize the casein, and there will be a development of the objectionable capric and caproic acids.

of

The most important point in salting butter is to bring every particle of the casein into contact with a particle of salt. Many tons of butter are spoiled every year for want of care on the part dairy women to secure this equable diffusion of the salt through the mass. It is in vain that nine hundred and ninety-nine parts out of a thousand are well salted,—if the thousandth part is neglected it will become a center of corruption, the capric acid will form and the sweetness of the butter will be destroyed. The best way to secure an equable diffusion of the salt, is to spread the butter out into a thin sheet and spread one half of the weighed quantity

of salt evenly over the surface, then double the sheet over with the salted sides together, and sprinkle the remainder of the salt over the back side; if the whole is then well worked together, the salt will be uniformly dif fused, and if the butter is well secluded from the air it will retain its sweetness for a great length of time. Much of the goodness of butter depends upon the quality of the salt. If the salts of lime or magnesia are present in any considerable quantities the salt is not fitted for dairy purposes. If the dairyman is compelled to use salt containing these articles, they may be removed by pouring about two quarts of boiling water upon fourteen or fifteen pounds of the salt and stirring frequently for a couple of hours; it is then to be thrown upon a clean muslin filter; the impurities pass off with the water into solution, while the salt left upon the filter will be nearly free from objectionable matter.

Until within a few years the Onondaga salt has contained a considerable quantity of the chlorides of calcium and magnesium, which are exceedingly objectionable in the dairy, but recent improvements in the manufacture have completely removed these matters, and it is now quite as pure and quite as well adapted to dairy purposes as the best Ashton or any other foreign salt.

10. Working.-One of the causes of bad butter is the habit which some dairywomen indulge in of leaving their butter unworked for a considerable. time after churning. Every hour that the buttermilk remains in contact with the butter, after churning, is an injury; it cannot be freed from it too

soon.

The grain of butter is often spoiled by too much working; on the other hand, if it is not worked enough it will be spoiled, the process, therefore, requires much attention.

It is hard to define with accuracy what we mean by the grain of butter, but every one knows whether butter looks or feels greasy and waxy. When it has the appearance of wax, we say the grain is good, and the more it resembles wax in its consistency, the better is the grain. The more greasy it is in appearance, the more we say the grain has been injured. In order to free butter from the milk with the least injury to the grain, it should be gathered into an egg-shaped form with a wooden butter ladle, without touching it with the naked hand; it should then be gashed longitudinally around the whole circumference, making the channels lowest at either end of the transverse axis, so that the milk can run readily away. Pressing the mass together so that the particles are compelled to slide over each other laterally, as when putty is worked and mortar is tempered, must be carefully avoided, under penalty of spoiling the grain.

Butter machine workers have failed of success, chiefly because of the pressure which causes a rubbing motion of the particles upon each other; they mash the butter without properly working it. I have no doubt, however, that the mechanical ingenuity of our country will yet supply a form of this much needed instrument, which will relieve dairy women of the heavy labor of working it by hand, without injuring the grain.

It is not easy to work out all the buttermilk at once; it is, therefore, bet ter to set it aside after the first working in a cool place for twelve hours, during which the action of the salt will liberate more of the buttermilk;

the first process should then be repeated, with the same precautions against injury to the grain; it is then ready for packing. I need not tell the dairymen of this county that no packages save oaken tubs are fit for butter, nor that the wood from which they are made should be thoroughly seasoned. They should be prepared by pouring boiling water into them, in which they should soak for twenty-four hours; they are then to be filled with strong brine for two or three days, after which they should be well rubbed with fine salt, when they are ready to receive the butter.

I had intended, when I begun the address, to speak at some length of other compounds of milk, especially of cheese, but the topics already treated of have occupied so much more of your time than I expected, that it would be an intolerable trespass upon your patience if I were to finish what I first designed. I therefore close my remarks at this point.

LEWIS.

The interest in the county fair was not what it should have been. One prominent reason was the scarcity of help during the season: Haying and harvesting was not finished until very late in the season. The State Fair at Utica was also near at hand, and the people who could not attend both gave the preference to State Fair. The receipts at the annual fair and awards were forwarded to the Comptroller's Office. The amount about the same as last year. F. B. MORSE, Secretary.

MONROE.

WHEAT CULTURE IN WESTERN NEW YORK.

An Address Delivered at the Fair of the Monroe Agricultural Society, and the International Wheat Show at Rochester, N. Y., September 10, 1863, by Joseph Harris, President of the Society.

It is with great diffidence that I appear before you to-day. According to the Constitution of the Monroe County Agricultural Society, it is "the duty of the President to deliver an address upon the subject of agriculture at the annual exhibition, or procure an address to be delivered." I was as anxious to procure a "substitute" as any drafted man in the county; but our worthy treasurer and other members of the board of managers thought that, as it would cost considerable to procure some distinguished orator from abroad, and as I, poor fellow, could not charge anything, it would be much better for the president to deliver the address himself. If my address does not please you, I beg that you will recollect that it costs nothing; if not interesting it will be cheap, and if not instructive, I am determined it shall at least have one merit, it shall be short.

I shall say nothing about the state of the country, nothing about abolitionists or copperheads, nothing about conservatives or radicals. For half an hour or so we may with safety lay aside these agitating questions, and confine our thoughts to agriculture. Our brave brothers have buckled on the sword and gone forth to battle. They will do their duty, let us do ours. We are spending a million dollars a day, and every acre of land in the country is mortgaged to pay the debt. But this is not the first time our lands have been mortgaged. It is not many years since there were mort

gages on half the farms in the county. Now the majority of farmers are entirely out of debt, The money has been raised out of the soil. Surely, men who have accomplished so much will not shrink from the task which now lies before them. But it behooves all to be industrious, skillful, intelligent and economical. Farmers are the mainstay of the nation. Our wealth comes out of the soil. According to the last census we have in the United States 163,261,389 acres of land under cultivation. Now if we could increase the productions of our farms only one dollar per acre, this alone would very soon pay off our national debt. There is a demand for all the grain we can raise. England is becoming more dependent every year on America for breadstuffs; and fortunate was it for her as for us, that our harvests for the past three years were so abundant.

Genesee wheat and Genesee flour are celebrated throughout the world. There was a time when Genesee flour was made from Genesee wheat; but on asking our Rochester millers to subscribe a little towards defraying the expenses of our wheat show, some of them said they did not care whether the wheat of this section was good, bad or indifferent. The great propor tion of the so-called Genesee flour is no longer made from Genesee wheat. Since the disastrous wet harvest of 1855, when one-half of the wheat sprouted in the field, the Genesee country has lost its prestige as a wheat-growing section. The midge had made its appearance a year or two previous, but had done comparatively little damage. In 1856 its ravages were so extensive, that in February, 1857, two meetings of the Monroe County Farmers' Club were held at the court house in this city for the purpose of determining "what substitute for the wheat crop can be adopted with most profit in this county?"

That our wheat crop was becoming or had become quite precarious was universally felt. It was a dark period in the agricultural history of Western New York. Some of our most prominent farmers, and the editors of at least one agricultural paper, advocated the abandonment of wheat culture. Some recommended barley as a substitute, others beans, while our enterprising nursery friends thought we could not do better than raise apples and pears, or at least plant out the trees. Others, myself among the number, thought that there was no necessity to give up wheat. Our climate had not changed; our soil was not exhausted, and the idea that a little insect, which was not, as most people thought, a new enemy, should force as to give up our most profitable crop on the best lands in the State, was not to be entertained. Bear with me a moment while I read an extract from an article I wrote on this subject in 1857:

"Is it true that wheat culture must be abandoned in Western New York? We think not. We are well aware that the midge has done serious damage to the wheat crop in this vicinity for the past few years; still, we believe the extent of the injury has been over-estimated. In 1855 we should have had a full average crop of excellent wheat had it not been for the rainy weather which set in just as the crop was ready to cut, and which continued for nearly a fortnight, causing the grain to sprout to an extent never before known in this country. This grown wheat was used for seed to a great extent in the fall of 1855, and the crop of 1856 suffered materially in consequence. The failure of the wheat crop in 1855-6, therefore, cannot be