Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1878-07-10
Dalrying FaIlaeles.
TIL. HosKINS, NJ. d.

There have been great advances in
the study OF the scientifcs Of dairying,
during the last ten years. Large credit
is due to number Of enterprising men,
whe have devoted both money and,
time to the investigation Of milk and its
products, and also to improving the
methods of breeding, feeding, and
handling dairy stock. If were dis.
posed to criticlse anything these invss-
tigators have done, it would be the
haste some Of them have shown 10 be-
come instructors before acquiring q
mastery Of their subject. To this we
owe much building with 'untempsred
mortar that has not endured and,
worse than that, the diffusion Of errs-
neous notions among the people, harder
to be overcome than simple, teach
able ignorance.
Anxious to avoid the fault myself,
andyet DESTROYS to point out what am
thoroughly convinced are serious errors,
l shall touch briefly in this article upon
some important practical points which
have been mis-stated and misunder,,
stood, and about which the popular
mind is yet adrlft. l do this with some
reserve, and only after more than fifteen
years Of practical study, joined to
careful closet investigation of both the
chemical and physical sides Of the ques'
ton. The public are often at a loss to
decide, where doctors and professors
disagree; yet believe that shall make
the points l touch upon sufficiently
plain, and shall support my statements
such good res sons, that most intelli-
gent and well-experienced practical
dairymen will agree with my conclu-
s.ons.
AlRIN CREAM.
For seme time it wa. thought land
churns to carry out the principle were
introduced) that the passage Of air into
the cream during the process ofchurning
promoted the separation ofthe butter.
This idea is now exploded, and the
churns are found only in garret,.. l
allude to it merely to show, in the light
ofwhat will be hereafter stated, how
far away from any true conception Of
the facts the minds Of many must have
been when such a theory could have
had currency,
WITCHES IN THE CREAM.
Not unfrequently the correspondence
columns Of agricultural journals con-
tain queries headed, why Don't the
Butter Gomez or something equiva-
lett, in which the writer details the pain.
full efforts Of hours, and even days,
over refractory churnful Of cream
Mestinexperienced persons meet with
this trouble; and not few, also, who
have made a good deal Of butter, and
made it well, when all natural con-
dltions were favorable. The idea ex-
pressed by some that the cream was
'bewitched,' is the last resort. the
world over, for the explanation of IN
comprehended natural phenomena. 1t
is emily in the clear white light efscience
(knOwledge) that the witch becomes
totally invisible. She and the ghost are
always best seen in the dark.
TEMPERATURE IN SETTING.
As lately as seven oTeight years ago
twas the universal teaching that proper
temperature for setting milk was in the
vicinity Of Coz. The bost authorities
agreed that at higher temperature the
milk would become sour before all the
cream would come to the surface, while
at lower temperature 1t would never
rise at all. When the Swedish method
0fsetting in lce-water was first reported
IN America, 1t could hardly obtain serious
notice. so contrary was the received,
notions. Now, it has been abundantly
demonstrated that cream swirns 70 the
surface soonest in milk cooled nearly to
its.polnt Of great density, or about 400.
This is, in itself, a great advance
probably the greatest single step that
has been made in butter-dairying. Yet
1t was not made by Professor, but was
blundered upon in practice.
THE CURRENT" THEORY,
Some minds have great ionduess
for mystifying plain matters. If one
should see a quantity Of apples going
over a waterfall, it would never occur
10 him that when these apples reached
the still water below It would be nsces-
sary to 'create currents" in the pool
before the fruit would float to the sur
face. The fact that apples are lighter
than water would be considered a sufH
Gent reason why they should float upon
it; and as it is rule alike of philoso-
ply and common sense that when We
have a perfectly satisfactory reason for
any occurrence, it is folly TO seek for
any other, we should never think Of q
current" theory. Having ocular
evidence that current submerged the
apples, and that they came to the sur
face where the current abated, we should
be satisfied. Now, the butter globule,
though it is too small to be seen by the
naked eye, is to the milk in which it
swimS what the apples in the case sup
posed were to the water. If we keep
the milk in a state of agitation they do
not rise: if the milk is at rest, and Just
in proportion as that rest Is perfect,
theV swim tn the ton The rooof ra,1;d