Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1877-03-29
FARM AND PRESIDE.
Batter and Butter Making.
BY JOHN T. ELLSWORTH.

BY JOHN T. ELLSWORTH.
It isan acknowledged fact that the
farmers of New England cannot COM
pete with those of the West, in the
raising Of beef, pork or grain; the
cheapness and abundance of land, the
!. wonderful fertility of the soil, the ease
with which it is worked, more than
counterbalancing any advantage which
we might possess from our comparative
nearness to market. Again, distance
from market must restrict many of us
from probably raising vegetables or
small fruits, and from furnishing milk
to city customers. Undoubtedly to
those thus restricted by circumstances,
butter making offers the best induce
ments, provided, in the first place, that
the farm is adapted to grass, and in the
second place, that the business is car
ried on with energy, skill and neatness
in all its branches.
To make an article that will readily
sell for good price, it is important that
good butter COWS be selected, that they
be fed with plenty Of rich milk-produc-
ing food, and have easy access to clean
pure water at all times. The farmer
must aim to keep them always in good
flesh, since poor COWS can never be ex-
pected to give rich milk. Again. to
make butter successfully at all times,
whether in the sultry days of mid-sum-
mer or in the extreme weather of mid
winter, one must have a suitable loca-
ton and all necessary tools and con-
veniences for the work. It is COM
paratively easy matter to raise cream
that will make salable article of butter
in the cool weather of May, June and
September, but to makea first-class
article all through hot weather, to prof.
duce butter that will stand comparative
ly firm under the heat of summer, and
give perfect satisfaction to grocer and
consumer, requires the skill ola MASTER
butter-maker.
DIFFERENT WAYS OF MAKING.
Probably there is nothing produced
upon the farm under so many different
circumstances as butter. Almost every
day some new method of setting milk
or Of handling butter comes before the
dairying public. Some still set their
milk in the old-fashioned SIX quart pans
upon shelves; others retain the pans
yet. but have substituted racks in place
of these shelves under and through
which the air more freely circulates Il
another class place their milk in deepl
pals which are set in cold, running
water while yet others use large shall
low pans, each made large enough to
hold the whole milking of the dairy, and
are SO arranged that water can be made
to flow about the milk.
There are great many different
patent pans now in use, each, of course,
claiming to be the best, but i'll which
there is really but little practical diff
erence. Some believe in deep setting;
others as firmly in shallow setting.
Some churn the whole milk; others get
better returns by churning only the
.. cream. Some believe in heating before
cooling others in cooling Immediately, |
by placing the new milk in ice-cold
refrigerators for twenty-four or forty-l
eight hours. Each claims to make the |
best or the most butter, by his indlvi- |
dual plan, and good butter is most GER
tainly made by each and all of the me-
thods.
SOME CAUSES FOR POOR BUTTER.
But where does all the poor butter
in market come from, when we all !
claim to make only the prime article |
And what are the causes which so affect
the quality? These are questions
which are many times asked. Among
the causes which injure the quality of
butter will name, first, disease in the
cow; fright also has an injurious effect
upon the milk; breathing foul gases or
odors often leaves its faint upon the
milk !; it is also effected by whatever
the cow lives upon. Next, the cream
while exposed to the air in rising is very
susceptible to taints of all kinds, churn- |
ing it at too high or too low a tempera-
tire always INJURIES the product. Butter
can be greatly hurt by over churning.
overworking, or both, and much of the
poor butter in market is spoiled in these
ways. When overworked it appe ars
greasy and sticky, and will keep but a |
e.. very short time. The secret Of this
injury is in the breaking of the grain. |
Perfec. butter, like sugar, appears I'M
der the microscope to be made up of
granales or crystals, and to crush and
destroy these is to destroy the distin- !
gushing feature of perfect butter, and
ruin completely its keeping quality. 1
find in going among dairymen and dairy
women that large proportion of them
do not know how how to make butter
which will keep sweet to get to market.
On seeing package of butter being
putup, asked the good lady whether
she believed her butter would keep per-
feet for long time. She replied that
it always had kept good until her hus-
band carried it to hepvillage every
Tuesday, which was their market day.
This butter was churned, washed, salt
ed, worked and packed in less than
sixty minutes from the time the cream
went into the churn. If it reached the
consumer in few days it was probably
eatable butter, but if, through any delay
or oversight, it was set one side for a
few months it would be poor and per-
haps altogether unfit for eating Or cook