Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1869-03-31
From tho American Arricuiturlst.I


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Butter Market-GOOd and Bad Butter
From the American Arriculturistl
Butter is a more universal farm produc
than any other that can be named, oxcep
milk and grass and of both these it is Tn,
elimination. Any one going through Tho
country, sitting at the farmers tables, and
eating their butter, finds it, as q rule, excel
lent, well favored, tolcrably well worked
rarely a little too salt, seldom cheesy, and al.
most never in the least rancid, except possibly
in the spring before the cows come in.
Ask the farmers if their wives and daugh.
tcrs make good butter, and they will almost
universally express their candid belief that
their butter is Of extraordinary excellence
not good simply.
What different state of things the market
discloses Here we have the butter of these
same wives and daughters selling at wholesale
for % cents a pound, 30, 40 cents and lit.
tie Of it at 80 cents, and even 60 cents a
pound. Fify-fve cent butter, at the present
state Of the market, is cassod as prime. "
1t is packed in tubs, has good color. good
flavor, is well worked, well packed, and will
keep. Taking this as a standard, land it is
the lowest standard a good dairy woman
should be satisfied with, and not a very accu.
rate standard either, what proportion of all
the butter that comes to the New York mar
ket will reach it2 how much is superior to
it and what will fall below2 We estimate
that 1t will include about the tenth part Of
all that comes from the close Of one butter.
making season to the commencement of
new one aud that not the fitieth part Of what
remains will 90 above it, Butter superior TO
this is the product of very few well-known
diaries, which can almost always be dopen-
dcd upon, and dealers handle II with entire
confidence Butter worth over j5 cents by
the package, has, of course, fine color.
When the trier is thrust into it, drop of
very slightly milky brine flows out around it,
and as it is withdrawn, the air sucks back
with gentle tz-S-p. The trior is slightly
bodewed with brine the butter is waxy, firm.
even IN color and texture throughout and has
that Undesirable fragrance which the dealers
expressively call "rosy' II reminds one of
white clover pastures in june and July, of
every thing that is agreeable about COW
and one thinks Of the tidy dairy women, of
the clean cool stone-hoored spring houses and
dairies, and the odors of purity that peryade
them. There are different grades of excel
lcnce even in this butter and those who can
discriminate have the first chance.
Very few commission merchants, though in
constant practice, can select the very best
tubs from such diaries" and when consign-
ment comes in, which they think is fully up
TO their own highest standard, they send to
one of the few professional butter tasters,
who buy for some of the first hotels and res.
taurants, that he may come, inspect the lot,
and take what he wants. The past season
was peculiarly unfavorable for the pro.
duction OF this kind Of butter, and out
Of large lots Of extra" the faster sometimes
finds only two or three tubs that will suit his
iastidious patrons and for these he PAYS
roundly cents above the market
price.
We might fill the whole paper with desorip- |
tons OF butter worth less than the standard
we have named. 1t is all noticeably lacking
in good qualities, or it exhibits positive bad
ones. Some is beautiful to look upon, waxy
and golden, but has lost the rosy odor of the |
fields, and gained something from the smoke
Of the kitchen, from milk split upon the floor
OF the dairy, from the damp mould of cellar
tlmbers, or from the hog-pens near by--some-
thing, which may simply act as a neutralzer
while no bitterness or positively bad flavor
can be dete, ted Other butter, from the same
causes, rs bitter, or smoky, or simply stale in
flavor, and yet well worked, and appearing
well. Then there is a large class Of butter
which lacks good flavor, and has more or less
Of bad, which is made at the creamaries or
butter factories. These establishments aim
to employ the very best dairy folks, and to
spare no pains in their processes to secure the
best possible result. They fail, as a rule,
from the fact that no means for rapid and
perfect cooling of the milk, as fast as it is
drawn, has as yet been generally introduced.
The warm milk remains an hour or two in
hot weather, shut up in close cans, which is
enough to give it bad foreign odors, which
Will be not only preserved, but concentrated,
in the butter. We commend to those inter
ested in the creamaries the article on milk
coolers in the Agricultural annual for 1869,
adding that the inventor of the one most ap-
proved has produced another one much less
expensive though not so rapid in its opera
ton.
Quite a large class of beow-par butter is
that which is oper1oorked. Butter NAV be as
surely spoiled by overworking as by not work
ing enough. Such butter is often talowy in
cold and greasy in warm weather The trier
goes into the irkin with a dead feeling, and
comes out as it would out of a cheese no
" fz-s-p," as the air sucks in; no dewey brine,
or little; no fragrance of the pastures or
sweet breath Of kline; and yet it is not bad
butter. The color is dull however; il will
grow pale on the outside and this palor will
gradually work in, as soon as warm weather
comes, and probably before, and it will gain
a spermy or tallowy flavor, and begin to in
dictate rancidity. There is much less danger
OF butter being overworked than underworked.
However, without discussing the general sub
Jcct OF butter making, we may not close with
out charging the butter makers among our
readers not to be tempted to work their butter
too warm not to mash and grind with the
lade against the sides Of the bowl, for this !
brushes the globules and makes greasy butter .
not to salt, and work and wash two or three
times over, until the butter is az dry as
bone, and not moisture enough is left to dis
solve the salt. All the water left in the but.
ter should be strong brine If more salt
be added, 1t will not be dissolved if less be
present, 1t shows either too much water, or il
will be obvious to the taste that the butter is
not salt enough. Hence, oyerworkod butter d
Is either not salt enough or the salt makes il
harsh and dry L
short-IIorn Mich Cows. II
Dna of tho ho.t 4 Gil. n n