The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1910-11-30
HOW TO MAKE GOOD BUTTER.
Prof. II. r.. Van Norman, Pennsylva-
mia State College, Tells How "a
Get Best Product From Cows.


four earnest, intelligent women,
mostly the wives, mothers, daugh-
ters and sisters of farmers, and de-
voted to the improvement of the con-
ditions of farm life, social and ma
| terial, and especially the products
of the dairy and the kitchen, held
an all-day meeting several days ago.
The special feature of the day was
a demonstration in butter making by
Professor II. Il. Van Norman, Profess
sor of Dairy Husbandry at Pennsyl-
vania State College.
For the purposes of the demon
stration two modern swinging churns
and one barrel churn were placed in
a row in the middle of the room
where all could see them. Under
the direction of Professor Van Nor
man these were first rinsed out with
hot water. Then after they had suf-
ficiently cooled, three lots of cream
! furnished by Mrs. Charles Billet, of
Rose Garden farm. Mrs. Elmer e.
Lower, of Sporting Green farm, and
! Mrs. John l.. Bashore, of North
Side farm, were poured in and the
churning began, the crank of the
| barrel churn being turned by a man
and the swinging churns being oper-
ated by women.
Address on Butter Making.
While the churning was going on,
| Professor Van Norman, who has just
! returned from the West where he
| had charge of an important branch
of the National Dairy Show, made an
address upon milk, cream and but
ter making, which was listened to
! with intense interest by all those
present
Milk, he said, speaking generally,
is composed of about eighty-seven
! parts of water, five parts of sugar,
! four parts of caseine and four parts
| of fat. All the changes that take
| place in milk after it is drawn from
the COW are caused by bacteria
Some of these bacteria are good and
some of them are bad. The good
bacteria cause the milk to turn sour
developing Tactic acid. If these bac-
terra develop fast enough to choke
out the bad, the best butter will be
made, other things being equal.
One first essential to good butter
making is clean milk. The milk will
not be clean if the cows flanks are
crusted with manure when the milk
ing is done. Particles of filth are
bound then to fall into the pail No
housewife, the Professor said, would
think of making pie crust under a
cow where the dirt from the stable
could fall on it, but the top of a
milk pail offers an equal or greater
surface to catch the droppings from
a dirty COW while her udder is agi-
tated during milking.
He spoke at length on the various
essentials pnnH bnttar in
cream properly ripened, that is,
soured; the temperature at which
cream should be kept and churned; !;
how and at what stage to remove
the buttermilk from the butter; salt
ing and working the butter and vari-
Gus other details.
No IrOn-Clad Rule.
He said that no fixed rule could
be formulated, much depending on
the intelligence and experience of
the individual. Professor Van Nor
man personally prefers the barrel
churn as quicker, but he said equal
ly good results might be obtained
with swinging churn. He would
put comparatively little cream in the
churn at one time, because with a
small quantity in the churn, there
would be much greater agitation of
the cream and butter made by agita-
tion is not so greasy as that made
by friction.
The proper temperature for churn-
ing is about siXty-two degrees. The
churning should stop when granula-
tion has taken place. If the cream
is too cold when churned much of
the fat will be lost in the butter
milk. If it is too warm the butter
will be too soft. The water used in
washing the butter should be about
the same temperature as the butter
The hands should never touch the
butter when it is being worked, be-
cause butter melts at the tempera-
ture of the body, and handling melts
it and makes it greasy. He recon-
mends a lever wooden butter work.
er.
To make acceptable market but.
ter the cream should not be allowed
to get too sour-just a nice, clean
pleasant smelling clabber is proper
now, for butter of milder flavor than
formerly demanded commands the
best prices.
One ounce of salt to one pound OF
butter is considered the proper
amount.
Before Professor Van Norman had
finished his address the churning was
done. Then under his supervision
the buttermilk was drawn off, the
butter washed and salted and work
ed while the big audience looked on
A patent wooden butten worker was
used and in no long time three splen
did mounds of rich yellow butter
were ready to be shaped into pounC
moulds, stamped and sent to the
table or to market.
COw-Testing Association.
While the ladies were still gather
ed around the three hills of COLDER
butter, about twenty of the meI
present drew off into an alcove at the
north end of the chapel, to discuss
the adyisability of forming a COW
testing association, to have theil
cows scientifically inspected, and the
cost of their keep carefully ascertain
ed, to see whether the farmer is get
ting a profit from each of the cow
he keeps.
Vance C. Mccormick, saying tha
10 haliavad cnnoa farpnaro xuara mana