Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1883-02-09

Among the numerous papers read at the
meeting of the United States Agricultural So
ciety, at Washington, the following essay by
T. D. Curtis of New York, was considered by
many the abest offered, according to the re-
port of f. Benjamin in the New England
Farmer. 1t will be seen that Mr.. Curtis is
not convert to the modern practice of set
ting milk in cold water:
Mr.. Curtis said that he based his remarks
on three propositions, to wit l. That much
is known to the scientists, that is not yet
known to the dairymen, save perhaps to a
few of the most advanced. .. That much
is unknown to the scientists who are yet to
explore and make discoveries in unexplored
fields. 3. That there is need of inteTpre-
ters between the scientists and those who do
the practical part Of the worlds work As
regards any definite standard of determining
the quality of butter, we are at sea. Varia-
tions are caused by breed, feed, care and con-
diton of cows, and number of other things
so we have manifold kinds of butter, about
80 per cent of which is poor.
In old times they set milk in shallow pans
in a room on the north side of the house, the
shade being the only means of cooling the
temperature. They made very good butter
in those days notwithstanding the inconven-
fences. With the introduction of associated
dairying came the method of deep setting
milk for cream, generally in pals Is to 20
inches deep and about s inches in diameter
set in pals of water Then began, too, the
practice of taking portion of the cream of
and using the Impoverished milk for making
cheese. Sweet cream butter was heard of for
the first time and became fashionable. 1t
was soon found that butter made from sweet
cream would not keep Experiments were
made and it was found that oxydization was
necessary to give milk or cream butter flavor,
and therefore the old fashioned method ex-
posing q great amount of milk surface to the
air, thus producing oxydization, has the ad-
vantage. Experiments also showed that tho
cream rises best when the temperature is fall.
ing, because the water and casein in the milk
cool more rapidly than tue cream thus chang
ing the relative gravity. Milk cooling by
water was Objectionable because the milk be-
becomes cooler than the surrounding atmos
phere, vapors are condensed, and falling like
dew on the surface, the cream consumes their
odors. With air kept cooler than the milk
there is a constant exhalation from the milk
which is absorbed by the air about it, ard
thus publication of the milk is always go
ing on, while the water cooling process has
the effect of purifying the atmosphere at the
expense of the flavor of the cream Mr.
Curtis summarized the positions taken by ad
vocates of canning cream as follows:
l. Skim as soon as the milk begins to
change and shows a little loppering on the
bottom of the pan, aud churn as soon as the
cream is slightly sour.
3 Skim after the milk loppers and churn
at once.
3. Skim sweet and let the cream stand uu
til 1t begins to Topper.
4. Skim sweet and churn the cream VIII en-
it turns positively sour.
8. Skim sweet and churn Just - hour
after loppering.
until the whey begins to separate, then draw
off the whey and churn.
There was one falacy he thought shout
be dspelled. That is the idea that the quail
ity of dairy goods depends on the brand o.
salt used. Good butter makers will max
good butter, no matter what brand of refined
dairy salt is used and vice versa Chloride
of sodium is the same all the world over, and
If injurious impurities are eliminated nc
harm can come from its proper use. Butter
makers should beware of artificial coloring
which was generally made of carrots cut witt
oil, and in many cases causes fermentation
In the Northwest efforts have been made tC
establish butter standard based on a certain
number of points as perfection. Hiram
Smith of Wisconsin gives one standard a
flavor 20, quality or grain -, color 6, sailing
6. style of package 6. Total so. No one
rule could be established for all butter as t.
the temperature to which the cream SHOULD
be subjected. Churning has been done a
from 52' to $50 and the maximum amount o.
butter obtained.