The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1870-12-01
FARsI AND HOUSEHOLD.

| WINTER.-We e tEd IN the PFdir3e HdfnleT
the following directions for making good
butter in winter, an operation which is
seldom performed in this country.
The month of June, says that journal,
all things considered, is regarded as the
best month in the year for manufactur-
ing butter. This is due to combination
of circumstances. Drought seldom COM
mences that early in the season; ac-
cordingly, Doth feed and water are
abundant. The grasses, which are the
natural food of cattle, are then in
state TO furnish not only the most food,
but that of the best quality for producing
rich milk. The insects which are SO
troublesome later in the season have not
made their appearance in large numbers.
The air is not tainted with bad odors, as
it is later in the season. The tempera-
ture is very favorable to the rising of
cream neither so warm as to cause the
milk to sour quickly, nor so cold as to
prevent the separation of the oil glob-
ules.
Another season very favorable to the
production of good butter is the early
fall. At this season we ordinarily have
rains that bring up the grasses to some
us in the spring. Many Of the insects
so plenty in midsummer have disap-
peared, and the temperature throughout
the day is more uniform. When winter
arrives, however, the quantity OF the
butter is greatly lessened, and in quality
much inferior. In truth the chemical
composition of the butter is considerably
changed. The ingredients are different,
not in kind, but in quantity. Olein,
which is the softer fat in butter, is much
more plentiful in summer butter than in
that made in winter. The color of
winter butter is also different from that
made in summer. The former is almost
white, while the latter is golden.
The unfavorable condition and ap-
pearance of winter butter are partly
owing to causes that we cannot control
and partly 70 causes that we can, in
measure, obviate. Dry food will pro-
duce less olein than fresh green food.
We, however, can prevent q very great
diminution of this fat, by cutting our
grasses earlier and curing them so that
they will retain all their natural juices
and their aromatic qualities. We can
prevent the lessening of the quantity Of
milk to the extent that usually happens
by keeping our COWS as well supplied
with food and drink as they are in sum-
mer when they can feed at will, and can
procure water whenever they wish.
Giving COWS food and drink only after
long intervals of fasting have most
injurious effect on the secretion of milk.
The cause OF butter being light col
ored in winter is, doubtless, due to two
causes. The olein is of darker color
than the other ingredients of the butter,
and the more scanty it is, the paler will
be the color. The chief cause, however,
of winter butter being so light colored
is due to the cream becoming bleached
before the butter is churned. Cream
has its richest color when it first rises to
the surface, and if it is churned in that
condition the butter will be yellow. If
it remains, however, exposed to the
light, particularly if the temperature
changes, the rich yellow color disappears,
until it will be found to be impossible
to produce golden butter from white
cream. Let any one try the experiment
of taking some yellow cream with lit
tie milk below, and let this remain for
two days more i'll a glass vessel, and
mark the changes that take place in the
color. At first the line between the
cream and milk is very distinctly
marked but after little the cream has
become bleached to such an extent that
it cannot be distinguished from the
milk in color. Winter butter is white,
then, because the cream is ordinarily
kept too long before it is churned. 1t is
very hard to obviate this difficulty in
small daries, particularly when the cows
are so poorly provided for that their
milk becomes very scanty. 1t is, doubt
less, better even if the supply of cream
be small, to churn as often as we do in
summer, using churn proportionately
smaller.
Winter butter has poorer flavor than
grass butter from a variety of causes.
The food the COWS eat is devoid of the
agreeable taste common to the grasses
while growing or in blossom. Besides
this, the milk is too often kept in a
room the atmosphere OF which is foul
from the odors arising from cooking.
The milk, at such times. acts the part
of disinfectant, and carries the stencil
of the kitchen into the cream pot, and
from thence to the butter jar.
Good butter can be, and often is, made
in winter; but it is only done by having
all the circumstances surrounding the
cows-the milk-room and churning-as
nearly as possible like those in summer.
The cows must be fed on food rich in
sugar, and never be stinted in amount.
The milk must be set in a room, the air
of which is pure, and the temperature
of which does not greatly vary. And
lastly, the cream should be churned
when it is not above twenty-four hours
old.
TREATMENT OF COLTs.-Colts should
be allowed to run with the dam until
they are about six months old, at which
time, as general rule, we should recon-
mend that they be weaned. OF course
it is better not to work the dam at all
while the colt draws milk from her. By
working the mare, many colts are seri-
ously injured by drawing heated milk,
and never recover. The utmost care and
attention should be bestowed upon colts
during the winter season. They should
be watered and fed at regular hours,
They need variety of food, and the
very best of whatever is fed them. Car
rots are excellent food for them. Two
or three quarts of oats per day may be
given them. Good hay or cut feed
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