The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1898-03-19
a BrIttaInr nutter Farm.

| land) or the excellence of foreign Dut-
ter, and of the inferiority of the home
product, that it may perhaps be inter
esting to get an insight into the sur
roundings of one Of our many Compel
itors In the manufacture of this useful
article 1t is true that Brittany by no
means stands first on the roll of for
eign manufacture. So much so, in fact,
that great deal of its butter is sent
to Denmark to be reshipped thence to
England, and so come into the English
market under the prestige which right
iy attaches to the Danish product. This,
however, is by the way. The fact re-
mains that large quantity OF Breton
butter goes direct to England, and is
sold as such on it's own merits. Those
who use 1t are prepared to maintain its
superiority over that made at home.
Let us take glance at the Breton
farmer and his surroundings, and see
II this be so. Take almost any high
road in Brittany-very excellent they
are, too-and you will soon arrive at a
green lane leading out of it. A most
picturesque lane it will be. Possibly it
will lead between high banks, thickly
studded with pollard oaks, beneath
which the swine will be greedily
munching acorns, and an old woman
in white cap and blue dress will
be herding solitary COW, or a flock of
geese, or mixed crew consisting of a
COW, sheep, and couple of geese,
and, as matter of course, she will be
knitting busily. Or it may lead down
an avenue of chestnuts, whose fruit is
common property, and you will see two
or three women, and twice as many
children, stamping the nuts out Of
their prickly covering with their wood
en- sabots. The chestnuts form a val
liable addition to the peasants homely
fare Of bouillon, black bread, and the
inferior potatoes. The best are given
to the pets of the family-the pigs, to-
wit. This plain fare is washed down
with copious draughts of cider, tea and
coffee, being Injuries which smack too
much of extravaganza to the thrift-lov-
ing peasant. It is not too much to say
that saving is the one absorbing pas
sion of the women, and only rivalled
in the men by their love of strong
drink. The lane will debouch into an
ing 1t to be October, be seen shaking
down the fruit from the apple trees,
and the shout which may possibly greet
your arrival will be, not tribute to
you, but in honor of. their having just
finished a tree. On these occasions the \
cider mug goes round, as, indeed, it will
on beginning the next AS there are
many trees on every farm, and farms
on every hand as well, Bacchanalian
festival appears to be in progress, what
with the continual shouting and cheer
ing Zone farm answering another) and
the state of drunkenness which prevails
everywhere.
But let us enter the house itself, and
see the actual surroundings in which
the Brittany butter has its origin. Here
you will find no cool, clearly dairy; on
the contrary, there is mud floor of the
dirtiest description, sometimes with
puddles of water standing on it. You
go into a room, which, from it's table
scattered with unwashed cups and plat
ters, from its array of cupboards (some-
times of priceless oak), from its "close"
beds which line the wall, is evidently
the living and sleeping room of the
family. Here, from an oak chest, you
will see Madame, in the whitest of caps.
in strange contrast to her surroundings,
take several erra-cotta-colored earth
enware bowls full of milk. These she
will skim, and then she will pour the
skim milk into a tub for the pigs. If
you watch closely you will see fair
quantity of black dirt dribble out of the
bowl with the last cupful of milk She
will then churn the cream in a churn
shaped something like a bottle with a
stick in it, which works up and down.
But perhaps the most disgusting feat
ure of the performance is that, instead
of wetting her finger with water when
she is making up the butter, she moist
ems them with her tongue This is an
eradicable item in Breton butter-mak-
ing. People have tried in their own
houses to make their "bonnes" use wa
ter, but unless the mistress actually
stands over her servant the latter will
at once return to the old familiar habit.
The butter, when made, is of good
favor and color, and is palpable enough
to those who are unacQuainted with it's
manufacture. Near Quimperli there is
laiterie, or dairy, where everything is
done on improved modern principles,
and the proprietor asks and actually
obtains three francs a pound for. the
article he produces, This, in a country
where butter fetches from half-a-franc
to one franc at the ordinary farms,
speaks volumes for the estimation in
which common cleanliness is held, and |
how extremely rare it is. The better
class of residents in Brittany will not
drink bought milk on account of the