Oxford Democrat., 1913-08-26
Butter as Some People Make It.

Butter as Some People Make Il.
We pride ourselves, here in New Eng
land, on the quality of butter which ou
farmers wives turn out, but cccasionall
one meets up" with some butter whic
suggests very strongly that there /!
something wrong somewhere with th'
care of the cows or the milk or tn
cream or the butter after it is made.
We are gradually becoming convinced
that too much care cannot be exercised
in the production of butter in orde
that it shall be the kind of butter o
which we can be proud. In the Nat
ional Stockmsn and Farmer I read re
Gently a story about conditions and
practices in good many farmhouses II
butter making aud the handling of uteu
sils which If written about New England
we would inst lantly conclude were gross.
ly exaggerated. Perhaps there are some
such places in our own part OF the
country. At any rate the story is sug
gestive of bad practices which perhaps
too many of US lean toward. Hulda
Richmond, the writer says:
In looking over some farm papers, a
young lady from the city observed to
her hostess that they seemed to be full
of minute directions for buttermsking.
~ supposed that all farmers wives
knew how to make BUTTER" she said,
but from these careful directions and
cautions it would seem not. One OF
these days l want to follow the direct
ions and see what sort of butter l can
turn out" The mistress of the farm
house laughed, and said she supposed
all people did know how TO make butter
of some sort, but that from her obserya-
tion the farm papers did not call atten-
ton to butter making one whit too Of
ten. When the young lady made her
butter, ,snxiously following the directions
as laid down by the farm paper, she
turned out a sweet, golden mass OF
which she was justly proud and she be-
came more than ever convinced that
much valuable space is wasted by the
agricultural journals on how to make
butter.
But in the course of her stay in the
country she saw the inside workings OF
many houses, and she was unspeakably
shocked TO see how some butter Is made.
She saw little boys and hired men and
the farmers themselves
milking with dirty hands, and doing
things that made her feel that she would
never eat butter again unless she knew
how il was made.
She saw one unwilling lad called from
a tussle with his pet dog, sent to the
barn to milk the COW, aud be first pro-
ceeded to wet bis fingers thoroughly
with a little milk drawn from the udder.
AS he MIXED little specks Of manure and
and hay fell from the COW into the pail
and be took pleasure in shooting at
these specks 10 send them TO the bottom
of the pail. As his fingers dried he
dipped them into the foam Of the pail to
moisten them.
Then she saw the pals and utensils
and how they were kept in some kitch'
ems and she was still more amazed. One
good woman made practice of washing
the dairy things after everything else
had gone through the dishwster, and
then the articles were rinsed with a
little cold water and turned upside down
in the house to dry. Another wiped the
things after their dishwater bath with a
towel that had not been boiled since the
day il was made. This housekeeper re-
marked that it was a filthy habit to wash
the dishcloths and towels with the ordi-
nary washing, so she dsbbled them out
day after day. She boasted that she had
used but two dish towels for three
months, washing them out after each
meal and drying them over the kitchen
stove, and though her guests were too
polite to mention it those cloths certain
ly looked as if they had seen hard ser.
vice.
When the buttermilk was emptied
from the churn the luke warm dishwater
was thrown into il, after everything was
washed, and without scalding that churn
was set aside for the next time. At an
other home the churn was washed 10 the
dishwster and set out in the yard to
sun. The baby had the cover for his
plaything, the dogs and cats wiped
about it in their play, and often it was
upset and the little chickens made ex'
cursions into it by way of exploration.
But the worst of 1t all is that these
careless butter makers demand and gel
the very same prices paid to the careful,
clean, conscientious ladies who make
superior quality Of butter for market
The grocers do not dare make a dis
tinction for fear of losing trade, so the
delicious country butter made by clean
hands in clean utensils from start to
finish must be kept down on the level oi
the inferior article, unless grocers lose
cash outright. 1t is truly said that there
is too much difference between the price
of creamery butter and the country srti
Gle, but the grocer who pays twenty
cents per pound for butter he mnst sell
at ten surely is not to blame for this
state of affair. Dirty butter spoils
quickly, while clean butter keeps swee,
and good even in warm weather. Until
country ladies heed the directions for
making good butter printed and re-
printed in farm papers the consumers
will have hard time getting the pure
article, and the factories that "renovate'
butter will continue to receive large
consignments Of country butter" FOL
their trade.