Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1874-02-20
ARE THEY oPPosITEs ?

We have no doubt Jersey cows make but
ter that is usually higher colored than that
made from common COWS, but we do not be-
heve that Il excels in both color and solidity.
Not but that Jersey butter can be made In
summer, under favorable conditions, hard
enough to handle and TO sell, but only this,
mat he hco qualities Of color and solid'ty IN
JUtter are opposttes.
We cut the foregoing from the conclusion
Of an editorial in late issue Of the Ne'o
England Farmer. The article, which is of
some length, is evidently in reply to articles
in the VERMONT FARMER, although it vague
ly says exchanges
We leave the particular question of Jer-
sey butter in the hands Of our Jersey friends,
but upon the scientific points in connection
with this question Of color, we have few
words to say.
The article above quoted labors to show
that the hard fat and the oil of which butter
is composed vary in proportion at different
seasons and under different feeds; which is to
some extent true. 1t then draws the infer
ence that, because the hard fat Of butter is
white, therefore the harder butter is the
whittier 1t is; or conversely, the whittier it is
the harder il must be. This would seem very
conclusive If we are to concede, what the
writer Of the article evidently believes, that
the soft fat, or oil, of butter (olein) is yell
low, and that to it alone the golden hue of
fine Jersey and other butter is due. But, as
matter Of fact oleln, in its pure state, is
as colorless as the hard fat Of the butter
tpalmitin) which our cOnfrere calls, after
some obsolete authority, margarine" Both
of these fatty substances, oleiu aud palmi-
tin, which unite to form butter, are white.
The coloring matter of butter is not fat,
but is entirely distinct from either Of these
fatty ingredients. We may have butter
almost as white as talow, and one as yellow
as gold, each containing exactly the same
proportion Of oleiu and palmitin, but the
latter possessing an abundance of cOloriug
matter Of which the former is destitute.
The presence or absence OF this yellow col
oring matter is but slightly influenced by
food Many farmer has tried and failed,
to 60 color his butter through the cows
mouth process very gliOly recommended
by agricultural writers of the Horace Gree
ley type. Its production is greatly an indi-
vidual popularity, which may, by careful
breeding and selection as in the Jerseys, be
made a race popularity. 1t is connected
with certain physical characteristics we'll
known to observing dairymen, by which cows
likely to give yellow butter can be picked
out from herd. 1t is usually strongest just
after calving, and weakest just before drying
off. And, finally, ii has no relation ,ehat-
ecer to the softneSs or hardness Of The but
ter, since daily observation in the dairy
proves that butter may be very yellow and
very hard, yellow and soft, white and soft
(often rery soft), or white and hard
AS white butter is also, as rule,
winter butter and as in winter all
butter is hard, the idea, among persons mex
perienced in the practical manufacture,
probably prevails to some extent that there
is a natural connection between hardness ana
lack of color. Our Boston contemporary
has taken up this notion, and says it is con-
frmed in it by sundry dealers in that city
We can only reply that We are sustained in
our view by every dairyman Of large e1-
perience land they are hunlreds) with whom
we have conversed upon the subject.