The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1873-04-08

LUIS Is Tue question which our butter
makers ought to investigate, and to which
| ask your careful attention. Is it not
rather nu Anticipated barbarism with no.
thing to commend it but its antiquity :?
We should not continue our present mode
merely because it has been long practic-
ed. We should not accept in trust from
our fathers even, that which we ought to
know ourselves; neither should we &C.
cept Of new theories or modes Of practice
with regard to our own business, without
thorough personal investigation.
The object sought in butter.makipg is
a perfect separation Of the particles of
butter from the cascinc and other ingre.
dents composing the milk, aud its pre-
servation in its most perfect state for ia.
BILE and culinary use. hold that the
common practice violates nearly every
known condition Of success in the attain
ment Of this object. | am aware that
these are radical views, but | believe
that a radical change in this practice
must be introduced before any tolerable
degree of perfection or uniformity can
be realized in our product.
What are some of the known condi.
tons Of success in butter-making TO
what extent are they complied with in
common practice ? Let us consider these
questions, for in their correct solution
will be found the confirmation or refuta-
ton of the position which have taken.
UNIFORM TEMPERATURE ESSENTIAL.
One well known condition of success
is the maintenance of a right and uni
form temperature through the entire pro-
cess of collecting and churning the cream.
This is not now accomplished, nor is it
attainable by the present process of shall.
low setting. Shall VIC leave this matter
50 indispensable to success, with an i'm
providence characteristic of barbarous
age, to the ever changing temperature of
the weather to regulate? But perhaps
it will be argued that this should be &C.
complished by properly tempering the
air In the room. l hold this to be i'm
possible by any practicable means. And
if possible is it not more rational way
to temper the milk by the use of water
rather than to attempt to temper the con.
stantly changing air, and endeavor to
reach the milk through that medium ?
The use of water is not practicable 10
connection with shallow setting in com.
mon pans. The outfit is costly, and the
results are necessarily imperfect, while it
requires needless amount Of ice or wa
ter, and imparts an unfavorable degree
Of moisture to the air in the room. These
reasons, together with the greatly in.
creased and unnecessary amount Of labor
required, if there we're no other, pra ,ti.
cally prohibit the use of this mode of
reaching the required object.
OTHER OBJECTIONS TO THE COMMON PROCESS.
Another condition Of success is, that
the milk and cream shall not DC unneces.
sarily exposed to the COMMUNICATING in.
fluence Of the air In common practice
it is spread out much like the spiders
web, especially in hot weather, and ex.
posed not only to more rapid chemical
changes, but to all the flies, other insects
and dust which may chance to gain &C.
cess to the room, and to the absorption of
all the noxious gases and elements of de.
composition which may chance 10 be
floating about. The Importance Of this
exposure, though recognized in nearly all
other mltters, is overlooked in this. The
careful housewife excludes the air from
everything else which she wishes to pre-.
serve in its perfect state, and why should
she unnecessarily expose her cream, the
most delicate and susceptible to taints
and decomposition Of all the substances
in her possession? The microscope re.
veals the fact that every cubic foot of air
in even the best ventilated and cleanliest
milk rooms, contains, especially in hot
weather, innumerable microscopic spores
of mould, &C., ready to fasten upon those
substances in which chemical change has
commenced, and hasten their decomposi.
ton "a fruitful source of putrefaction
which cannot safely be ignored
Another condition is, that the cream
shall not be dried and hardened so as to
prevent the uniform and complete separ.
alton Of the butter from the buttermilk.
1t is exposed by the common practice to
an injurious evaporation from an indefi-
nitely extended surface, its edges thinned
throughout the endless line of contact
with the sides Of the pans, (by their rap
i'd increase in diameter towards the ton,
as if to ensure the hardening process, and
the consequent presence OF white parti.
Giles OF unchurned cream in The butter.
If that was the object sought, this would
be an ingenious confrivance for the pur-
pose, worthy Of patent. The shallow
mass shrinks, leaving the cream on the
wedge'shaped edges adhering to the side
OF the pans in an admirable manner to
accomplish this purpose bu. as the op.
posite condition is required, we should
adopt an opposite practice.
THE OLD WAY NOT LABoR.sAvING.
Another very important objection to
the common practice is, that while at
tended with many evils, it has not the re-
deeming quality of being labor saving.
On the contrary it is attended with a
great amount of unnecessary and un.
pleasant labor. The large number of pans
which it requires must be filled with milk,
lifted with much care or stopping upon
the shelves, (these often high up in the
milk.room,) lifted and returned again to
the shelf where filled, skinned again
lifted and emptied, washed, scaded, dri-
ed and returned to the dairy room. In
this process the milk is handled unneces-
sarily three times. six times the necessa.
ry amount of surface must be gone over
in the process of skimming much need.
less vexation, scattering and filth results,
causing a greatly increased amount of
work to be required in the care of the
room. And too often for want of such
care, causing that sour, musty smell in
the air of some milk rooms which / have