The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1876-02-08
agricultural department.
CONDUCTED BY ALBERT CHAPMAN.
Experiments in Setting Milk.


ties In setting milk under different
conditions, that to our mind, throw
more light upon this matter of deep and
shallow setting, than any we have seen
The parties that made these expert
ments, had no theories to sustain, and
made their trials for their own infor.
nation only. We first give the record
Of series of experiments by Mrs. +,
b. Douglas of Shoreham.
Diversity of opinion in regard to the
best method of setting milk for max.
ing butter, has led us to try the follow
ing experiments
Jan. 18th, churned the cream from
700 pounds of milk which was weighed,
mixed and divided equally, one-half OF
which was put in tin pals thirteen
inches deep, set in watts containing wa
ter. The other half was set In small
pans In the same room, heated by q
coal stove to temperature of about 65
degrees; the water being kept at the
same temperature as nearly as possible.
The milk stood about forty-eight
hours the cream of each was churned
at q temperature of 90 degrees. The
weight of the butter was about nine
teen pounds in each setting. The quail
ity of the deep setting was pronounced
the better by competent judges. II
took about twenty-one pounds of milk
to make one pound of butter.
We have also been experimenting on
Hardin's improved method of making
butter. He claims as points of excel
lence, that it makes more butter, bet
ter butter, and longer keeping butter
without any skill and with perfect uni
formity-with very much less labor
and with less than half the cost of the
old fashioned way. 1t is done by low
ering the temperature. He thinks 40
degrees gives the best results. His
method is to put the milk into covered
cans, 10 and 20 inches deep, placed in
an ice-closet This milk may be
SKINNED at any convenient time after
it has stood forty-eignt hours till 1T is
seventy-twO hours ola.
In one trial we took pa pounds of
milk, weighed and thoroughly mixed
1t, equally divided 1t, and set one-half
In a cold room at a temperature of
about sc degrees, gave it no care except
to keep it above freezing point. After
standing forty-eight hours the cream
was dipped of, there being about four
inches in depth. The cream appears
as sweet as when first set. After warm
ing the cream to 60 degrees it was
churned, making seven pounds and
four ounces of butter. This made one
pound of butter from eighteen and one
half pounds Of milk. requiring one and
three -fourths pounds less of milk to
make pound of butter than that
which set in water, The other half Of
the milk was treated in the same way,
except the temperature. This butter
weighed six pounds and thirteen ounc-
es. The difference was seven ounces
in favor of low temperature. 1t took
twenty and one-fourth pounds of milk
to make one pound of butter These
tests were made merely for our own
benefit, without any design of giving
them to the public.
MRS. f. B. DOUGLAS,
Shoreham, VT.
We must express our satisfaction that
this first experiment of the Swiss plan,
as explained at the Dairymen's Assoc-
alton recently, at Rutland by Mr.. l..
s. Hardin of Kentucky, --or at least the
first one that has been reported In Yer
mont should have resulted so favora
bly, for that system. Samples of the
butter made at each of the last two tri-
ais were presented by Mrs. Douglas
To our taste that made by Mr.. Hard
in's method has decidedly the best fla
vor. 1t did not taste az much like win
ter butter.
The other report of experiments was
made by Mr.. Edgar Sanford of West
Cornwall, of trials of setting milk after
cooling, and at the same time setting
part of the milk at equal depth with.
out cooling, or in the animal heat.
These experiments. as will be seen,
were ma lie at different times in the
year, but it will be seen with uniform
results, in rapidly raising all the cream,
in a very short time after it was cooled,
and with precisely the opposite result
when the milk was set without expel-
ling tho animal heat, though If the
milk was kept sweet long enough,
about the same amount was realized by
the latter process.
The first three experiments were
made in June. In the first the milk
was divided and set six inches deep
and one half was cooled to so degrees.
In two hours the cream had risen to
one and five sixteenths inches, in
twelve hours it was the same and in
twsnty-four hours it had condensed one
sixteenth of an inch. That set without
cooling in two hours had three and one
sixteenth inches cream. In this exper-
iment the atmosphere in which the
milk set. was from forty-eight to fifty
four degrees.
The second expert ent was trial of
milk cooled to flftytwo degrees only
set in higher temperature, or from
30 to 20 degrees. Set 81 inches deep in
So minutes there had risen thirteen
sixteenths inches cream, AT II hours
twelve sixteenths inches and the same
at "a hours. In this instance 1t will be
observed all the cream rose in SO min
utes.
The third experiment was with milk
cooled to AZ degrees. and that set In the
animal heat both inches deep, in one
hour the former had fourteen six