The Wichita city eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1872-1883, 1878-02-21
From the Kansas Farmer.
Butter Making.

From the Kansas Farmer.
Butter Making.
a young wife whose lot has been
cast to dwell on Kansas farm, in
quired through the Farmer, last week,
for information which will enable her
to make good butter in winter.
There are several reasons why win
ter butter is rarely SO good as summer
butter. The two principal ones are,
first, the COWS are usually not fresh;
second, the feed is dry; nothing being
equal to the sweet, succulent grasses
of May and June for producing fine,
golden, first-class butter and plenty
of it.
The great difficulty, however, expe-
rieneed in churning in winter over
that in summer or late spring, before
the dry heat of summer has set in, ex
lists in the different temperatures OF
the atmosphere. In May and early
June, when il requires the least labor
to make good butter, the tempera-
tnre of the atmosphere is about seven
ty degrees in the morning, a few
hours after sunrise, which is the best
time TO churn. The milk, at that sea-
son of the year, is generally kept in a
cool, airy room free from offensive
and impure smells, and in conse-
quence is perfectly pure and healthful.
The above simple reasons embrace
the why and wherefore that May and
June butter is superior TO January
butter. II your correspondent "El
len r." viii SET her wits TO work 10
secure the same conditions in winter
which nature, almost unassisted, pro-
vides for her in the spring, she will
compass the whole my stery-which j.
no mystery at all-of making good
butter in the coolest weather in win
ter. Her cows must be fed with rich,
wholesome food, or there will be but
little butter in the milk, and that OF
an inferior quality. Food possessing
a disagreeable smell or taste will i'm
part its bad qualities to the butter.
In milking in winter great care
should be practiced in keeping every
particle of filth of the stable or yard
from getting into the milk. The milk
and cream must be kept out Of the
kitchen and living room, and abso-
lutely clear of all odors from cooking
or smoke. a dry, airy cellar is prob
ably the best place the majority of
farmers have for milk room in win
ter. But if vegetables sire stored in
the same cellar. the place will, in all
probability, be made as near air tight
as possible TO exclude frost, and the
odor which is constantly arising from
vegetables thus stored will be alb
sorbed by the cream, and the butter
be permanently and incurably injured
The cream and milk must be kept
in an absolutely pure-a atmosphere of
as even temperature as possible, until
enough has been gathered for churn-
ing. The temperature should be kept |
above the freezing point or of course
the cream win not rise. Stir your
cream twice or three times day |
Before churning, keep the churn in a |
room where the temperature is not |
lower than seventy degrees, for sew
eral hours, so that the wood may be-
come thoroughly warmed through.
Now remove the crooks or vessels /
containing your cream from the room
where they have been kept into a
warm room, aud set them in tub or
large boiler OF scalding water, and
stir the cream TO cause it 10 warm
evenly untilitis brought to a temper
ture of about sixty degrees. If you
have thermometer you can ascertain
this exactly, but if not you can APP
proximaie it by.feeling with the hand
or tasting the cream; then turn the
cream into the churn. Before this op-
Grafton, however, the churn should be
scalded and rinsed thoroughly, by
pouring pailful of hot water into it,
and giving the dasher few brisk
turns, and after the hot water has
stood few minutes in the churn
with the lid closed. empty and allow
the churn to remain open minute or
two till the temperature of the inside T.
lowers slightly before turning in the
cream. While churning keep the ,
room comfortably warm and avoid ,
cold drafts striking the churn from
opening outside doors, while the ope. !
ration of churning Is going on. Cream
viii chlrn easier if properly soured
before churning, but it is much better
to expepd a little more labor and have
nice, sweet butter, than to run the
risk of standing your cream in warm /,
room where it is exposed to the odors
of the kitchen, which are sure to in
jure the butter more or less. Drain
the buttermilk off and wash the but
ter with moderately cold well or
spring water, pressing it firmly with
the ladle. Do not mix and champ it,
or the grain will be injured. Salt :,
with one ounce of fine Liverpool salt ;.
to the pound Of butter, and let it =
stand for two hours or more in 4
clean place where it will not get too V
hard to work, then work over by
pressing with the ladle till the butter p
milk is all expelled, and form into il
rolls or prints. Never use coarse salt
and always, if possible, the Ashton or
higgins dairy salt.
Ii these directions are followed, in
the young lady will have
sweet, nice butter that her husband
will never tire of praising' T..
BINDER than the blindest bat
hat fiutiered in dark Egypt's deepest
are those who put not their
rust in God or man, but in tricks.
little traps, set By little men, are dali
y knocked TO peices beneath tie
Ierp noses of their sagacious coniri-
~. II =. L..