The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1879-04-24
Making Butter.

LIE season Is now approaching
which is always the trying one to the
great majority of butter makers, cs-
pecially on the farm, and, while some
of the difficulties which will arise in
many cases will be almost impossible
TO overcome, for the reason that due
preparation, such as gathering and
storing sufficient quantity of ice, for
instance, has not been made, it is well
to take q clear view of the matter as it
now stands, and to get ready to do the
best that can be done under the circum-
stances. Ice can be gathered in its
season so cheaply, and kept SO easily,
that nc dairyman or farmer should be
without it, and it is hoped that at this
time next year every reader of this
paper Will see that he has supply.
Surprising, however, that the reader
has not made this very desirable pro-
vision, he can still make good butter by
the exercise of care. We can lay down
no new rules for the making of butter,
nor would it be desirable to do so, if we
could, until we could secure strict OBJ
servance of those already we'll known.
In the first place, attention needs to be
given to the COW. She should be kind
ly treated, furnished with good pasture
and good water, never allowed to be
worried by dogs or by men, and never
hurried to or from the pasture. 1--WE
knew all that before" we hear the
reader say. Very well, we are glad of
it. If everyone who knows it will then
/" act as well as he Knows" it will be to
his advantage. He will have started
right to make good butter.
In the next place absolute cleanli-
ness must be observed-an old rule, it
is true, but one that is worthy of being
printed in golden letters and hung up
in every dairy and milk-house. We do
not refer here to absolute filth, for it is
to be presumed that everyone appre-
ciates the necessity of milking in tidy
manner, and keeping from the milk
particles of dirt; but we refer more
particularly to escaping gases from va
rious sources. In all conventions of pro-
fessional dairymen and dealers in dairy
products, they make out to denounce
the effects of "boiled cabbage on
butter and milk about every ten min
utes. No doubt those people have
"boiled cabbage" on the brain to some
extent, but still it suggests the kind of
sources which do contaminate a great
deal of butter. Butter is so susceptible
that it is affected by almost every thing
that is tainted in the least, and it is
impossible to have good butter, if the
milk or the butter is kept where the in
fluences of the kitchen can reach it.
Sometimes the maker of butter which
has been produced constantly under
such influences does not realize that
his butter is off in the least. He or she
thinks the butter is excellent, but the
dealer or consumer knows its true
character. The reason of this is that
the constant use of it accustoms the
taste to its peculiar flavor. The taste
can become accustomed to almost any,
thing. No doubt the reader has tasted
water which was so bad that he could
not possibly drink it, but which those
accustomed to drinking it pronounced
excellent water. 1t is so with butter.
Some think that this principle is the
only one that covers the taste of tur-
nips in milk and butter, when they
have been fed, and it is no doubt true
where they have been fed improperly.
We do not think, however, that tur-
nips, properly grown and properly
fed, will impart a turnip taste to milk
and butter.
The milk room, therefore, should be
isolated from the kitchen, decaying
vegetables, and everything of that
character. 1t should be kept clean and
we'll ventilated, and so constructed that
its temperature can be regulated, for
the highest success in butter making
cannot be expected if the thermometer
is allowed to jump up and down at the
caprice of the weather. The pans
should be kept scrupulously clean, for
if the old milk is permitted to adhere
to them, the germs of decay are thus
fostered, and the result will be an in
jury to the milk and cream. Having
progressed thus far, tidy churning and
working, and the making of the butter
into tasty packages will do the rest.
If there is a single reader of the West
ern Rural who has never observed
these old rules, he or she cannot begin
to observe them younger, and If they
are observed this coming season, the
results will be so favorable that they
will insure their observance in the fra-
ture. Western Ru7al~