Johnstown weekly Democrat. (Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.) 1889-1916, 1890-02-07
A TALK ABOUT BUTTER.
A MlLkMAlD TELLS OF THE PRO-
CESSeS OF ITS MAKING.

Queen Bess." and Other Old Favorites.
"Why don't you buy creamery butter?
always do, think it is better; why, it
is made of cream, you know" said a
young woman who has been recently
married and who superintends the keep
ing of the dearest house in the world.
| was rather amused at the remark and
at the tone of advice. To me it seemed
inexpressibly funny, as l thought knew
better than she did, having seen those
mysterious processes called butter max
ing. Wondering if there were others
who knew no more about that rather
necessary article, resolved that would
enlighten the public, and beginning with
cow-a red COW, think, called Cherry
I would tell the whole story of how
butter is made, and perhaps prove that
other butter is made of cream, too
Cherry stands up to her knees in red
clover and, rapidly but not greedily,
bites off the glowing heads. Nobody
knows how many "four leaf clovers" she
has swallowed; perhaps, that is what
makes all her milk turn to golden butter.
She puts in white and gold daisy and
eats sweet flag and anise, so that at night
when she is driven home to the barnyard
her breath is as fragrant as new mown
hay.
am sorry that the pretty milkmaid,
whom Barney bothers, is almost extinct;
but if it is not her, as it sometimes still
is, it is somebody else with clean fingers
who does the milking and, as he whistles,
thinks of her.
So you thought dairy butter was not
made of cream. Let us follow the milk
man, while Cherry lies down and in
meditation, fancy free" chews her con-
templative cud. When you have seen
the milk carried to little stone milk
house, built on a hillside, where the wa
ter from a spring trickles in and around
the pans, and smelled the cool, sweet
cleanness of the place, you will be ready
to confess that dairy butter may be good.
Then when you have seen woman i'll
white cap and apron, with strong, grace
full arms, lift the dasher up and down in
an earthen churn, and seen her with
ladle in her hand working the butter into
a yellow roll, / am sure you will be glad
to taste it, This is surely the poetry of
butter making, and l thought there could
be no other, until realized that perfec
ton of mechanical detail and fitness for
uses did make poetry also.
l visited a large dairy farm and was
taken through a great cool cellar, where
the milk of forty deer-like Jerseys was
cooling 1t was in large watts with run
ming water all around it. Then the
churning was done by a water motor,
and the butter worked in a large bowl,
and after this I saw it pressed into half
pound packages just right for the table.
Each package had a sheaf Of wheat
printed on it, was wrapped in a sheet of
parafine paper, and laid by itself in an
ice-lineG compartment. | thought the
people of Pf aGeiPhia, where this was
to be shipped, were v,ry fortunate.
have not described all the processes
very minutely, as l wanted to tell about
the making Of creamery butter and the
principla ia the same in all butter max
ing.
To go back u little, they carry the pals
of foaming nilk-and this is no poets
figure-to the great tin cans that stand
in the corner Of the grassy yard and
strain it into them. The cans are wheeled
out to the roadside and set on a rude
platform there, and when the man who
drives the milk wagon come along he sets
them lightly in, along with many others.
| have found it in my heart to envy this
man. He sees the world in all the fresh
ness of morning, when everything is
waking up and is fresh and bright after
its rest: again when the sun sets and the
glow still fingers, the big man drives his
sturdy team slowly up the hills and at a
round pace down the slopes, and carries
his load to the creamery. 1t is long
building. little at one side Of the town,
and looks like soldiers barracks. Here
the milk of CHERRY, "Queen Dess' and
''Polyanthus' is emptied together into
great vats and inextricably mixed. In
quiet it stands, and chemically, and,
therefore, imperceptibly, the yellow
cream particles are separated and rise to
the surface. In the morning there is a
thick mass of cream to be skinned of
and churned The cream of the previous
milking is put with it, asthey churn only
once a day.
All this cream is turned into a great
square churn, hung cornerwise, the belt
which attaches it to the engine is slipped
ON and it is turned over and over great
many times. until the experienced eaI
knows the right moment has come. Then
it is stopped and the buttermlk is drawn
off. They have a special bright tin cuE
which they reserve for visitors; this they
will ill and give TO any one who stand!
by. It is sweet and COOL and n most de-
licious Graught
After this a great many pailfuls OI
water are poured in and the churn is SET
slowly going again, then they draw of
the water and take the butter out int
wooden bowls. From here it is carried
and emptiej ou q circular table salt i,
spruk.ad en- and the machine set going
Iti5deftIY uaHlpa'atadauda an arm come
down and Nu.es lAe surface all over
Then il + hsaaeI up again; thjs Dis re
peatel until Tia sa.t thoroughly wGrAal
through l IS then put back iR ,h'
wooden bowls fa wait until the ueE
morning. WueUit worked little more
and pressed iat1 an sizes and shapes 0
wooden boxes. laaeuei up and puG iu
rafriaeraiar car where 10 reaches lh,
consumer Do au incredibly short time
H o T.