The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1875-02-11
The Salt for Ruttpr


A select committee of the New York
Butter and Cheese Exchange are engaged
in making series of tests of the effects
of the use of American and English salt
in the manufacture of dairy butter.
These tests will, in all probability, solve
one of the most important questions
ever raised by American dairymen. For
many years past large amounts of money
have been expended, especially in the
New York butter-producing regions, to
obtain the best qualities of English-made
salt, chloride of sodium, under the i'm
preston that American made salt had a
deleterious effect on the flavor of the
butter. In order to solve the problem,
the Western New York Dairymen's As
sociation put up in October last several
tubs of butter, in one-half of which were
used Liverpool salt, and i'll the others
American salt This experiment was n
failure, because the different tubs were
not filled at the same time, nor under
the same circumstances. Therefore the
committee declined to make a decision.
At the annual convention of the Ameri-
can Dairymen's Association, held ut
Utica, January 13, the question was re-
vived.
The Western dairymen again took the
field, and with great care put up the
material for TIE following tests: First,
to ascertain the effect of the "Ashton !"
Liverpool salt, in comparison with the
New York State Onondaiqua salt, n
certain quantity of the best butter was
made, and when the process had reached
the sailing the mass was equally divided,
One ounce of "Ashton" salt to the
pound of butter was properly incorporat-
ed with one portion, which was then
packed, and the same quantity of " On
ondaiqua salt to the pound mixed with
the other portion. The experiment was
continued in the same manner, using
" Higgins Liverpool salt, so that
eighteen packages were made of the
same quality of butter; but comparing
Ashton's and Higgins Liverpool salts
with Onondagua and the limitations of
Ashton's salt. No fear or favor was
shown, for the settlement of this ques-
ton of the influences of salt on butter is
of leading Importance, pecuniarily, to
American dairymen, the American salt
costing fifty per cent. less than Ashton's.
The eighteen packages of butter SO
manufactured were placed under the
care of the salt committee of the Butter
and Cheese Exchange of New York city.
The president of the exchange alone held
the sealed descriptions of each package
and the names of the salt used i'll each,
and the marks and numbers of each tub.
The committee and three experts in the
business, without knowing the contents
of the sealed descriptions, then tested
all but eight of the packages, marking
individually the quality and the supposed
name of the salt used. The other eight
packages, representing second, or
duplicate lot, packed i'll the same manner
as the first, will not be opened until
April. When the committee compared
notes after the examination of the butter,
it was found that all agreed on each
sample in its grade and the supposed
name of the salt used AS many thou
sands of dollars are involved in the solu-
ton of this question, the committee
will not report until after the completion
of the test in April next. Meanwhile,
microscopic and solution tests of the
Ashton, Higgins, Onondagua, and the
imitation salts are making under the
supervision of the same committee.