The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1886-12-03

and from which oxygen had been wholly
excluded, had the peculiar flavor of new
milk, making il evident that the milk
fats had suffered no change in flavor
during the rising of the cream and its
atively insipid and greasy in appearance
and in feeling. The butter from the
milk covered with pure oxygen had the
| full and delicious taste of gilt-edge butter.
Both buffers were sailed alike, and in
exactly the same condition were set
side by side for three months, in a cool
room, to observe their keeping. The
butter from milk under carbon began 10
show age first. 1t began very soon, and
the difference grew wider and wider to
the end, when one was entirely spoiled
and the other in fair condition.
This experiment in setting was re-
peated under exactly the same condi-
tons as before, except that the milk
was from other COWS and was put into
bottles sooner after milking and was per-
mitted to stand at the same temperature,
Al instead of 48 hours, that the churn-
ing might be done at an earlier stage of
acidity than before The milk was Just
turned when one-half of it was drawn
off and churned as before, and with ax-
actly corresponding results. except that
the churning required less time, requir-
| ing in case of oxidized cream 16 minutes,
in the other, %.
These experiments, in all the substan-
tial features, were several times repeated,
always with like results. While these
were being made, milk from the same
samples as that set in bottles was set in
open air at the same temperature, the
butter from which was in every case
higher favored than that from milk
from which oxygen had been excluded,
but not as high as that from milk cover
ed with pure oxygen, and in time of
churning and in keeping it was also be-
tween the corresponding samples set in
bottles.
Another interesting fact noticed in
connection with these experiments was,
that heightened flavor in the cream
from milk covered with oxygen gas APP
peared in advance of the Development
of acidity, while no change appeared in
that under carbon gas at any time. This
fact points to the conclusion that acidity
contributes nothing to the flavor of but
ter. Whether souring facilitates churn-
ing, the experiments were not conducted
in a way to show, as no comparison was
made between churning sweet and sour
cream, but the fact that the longest time
required for churning any sample, all of
them being sour, was but 80 minutes,
favors the inference that souring aids
the churning, as sweet cream is not apt
to churn in so short time.
Let no reader, from not knowing any
thing about chemistry, suppose that the
carbon gas which covered the milk and
cream in one bottle, was the cause ofthe
inferior butter in that bottle every time,
for it could not possibly affect it in the
least. AS every chemist knows that gas
is entirely inert, and this case only served
to fill up space and shut the free oxygen
of the air away from the milk and cream.
Since in every instance when milk was
set in contact with oxygen the flavor Of
the resulting butter was higher, the keep
ing better and the churning easier, than
when the milk was covered with carbon
ic acid gas and oxygen shut entirely
away from it, with ali other conditions
the same, how could I, or how could
you, gentle reader, avoid the conclusion
that oxygen "did it?'
And since in every instance in which
oxygen was excluded from milk and
cream before churning the flavor of the
resulting butter was lower, the keeping
poorer, and the churning more difficult
than when oxygen was present, the de-
gree of acidity and all other conditions
being precisely the same, how could any
fair-minded man avoid the conclusion
that acidity alone is not sufficient to
produce best results in the several parti-
culars named? From the interesting
facts developed in the foregoing expert
ments, several other conclusions of a
theoretical and practical nature are
plainly deducible, which it would pro-
long this communication too much to
point out here, which will, perhaps, sug-
gest themselves to the thoughtful reader,
and which would modify some of the
practices and philosophy of the rising
dairymen, if intelligently carried out.
AS the question with the reader will
be as to the validity of the different posi-
tons taken by Mr.. Boyd and myself, /
will close with little corroborative evil
dence. While [ was conducting the ex-
periments as described, DR.. S. NJ. Bah
cock, now chemist to the New York Ag-
ricultural Experiment Station, and recog-
nized as one Of the best chemists and
Investigators, was cognizant of every
step in my work and recognized its &C
curacy and also the modifying influence
upon the flavor of butter brought out by
oxygen. DR.. B. was himself, at the same
time and at the same table, conducting
experiments to determine what part, if
any, free oxygen played in the changes
in cheese while curing. His work when
completed showed that free oxygen
played the same part in the develope-
ment of cheese flavor that my work
showed it to develop in butter-that when
oxygen was excluded from cheese curd
no flavor at all was developed for so long
period as three months, but developed
quickly and freely when oxygen was in
contact with curd of the same make,
and other things the same.
When completed, my work and con-
OlltO1OIlO WCIC WIlCCCl OIlU oOll1CNI1GIU III
detail, and presented to DR.. 6. G. Cald-
well, professor Of agricultural chemistry
at Cornell, and were approved and pub
lished by him in the first annual report
of the Cornell University Experiment
Station, and through that means came
to the attention of scientists In Europe
as we'll as in America, and so far as
can learn, have, without exception, been
accepted as sound and in accordance
with the well known affinity between
free oxygen and hydro carbons.
While abroad last summer had the
satisfaction of being assured that my ex-
periments and conclusions had been
read and accepted by prominent scien-
lists in England, France and Germany,
and places were named in southeastern
Europe where the theory developed was
in practical use in model dairy establish
ments. While authorities at home and
abroad, and, according to Mr. B., "the
lesser satellites of the dairy world" have