Year: 1879

AGRICULTURAL AND HOUSEHOLD.


BUTTER MAK1Na.-Mr. A. w. Cheever


gives the following description of the


methods of managing his dairy: "My


dairy at present consists of fifteen cows


in milk, seven of which are two and


three-year old heifers. Eleven of the fif-


teen are homeless, being chiefly descend


ants from the English Suffolks crossed


with the Jerseys. Two of the others are


of the same blood, but taking strongly


from the Jerseys have small horns. The


feed is from good English hay, as good as


know how to produce, cut early and


we'll cured. 1t is given in two meals only,


one in the morning from SIX to eight, and


the other between four and six o'clock in


the evening. Grain is fed after the hay


in the morning at the rate of four quarts


of wheat bran, one quart cornmeal and


one pint cotton-seed meal each to the


heifers and an additional quart of corn


meal to the older cows, all made into a


stiff dough with spring water. The ami


mails are bedded on clean sand which is


laid up under cover in summer in large


quantities. This is thrown under them


twice day in liberal quantities, and the


raised platforms upon which they stand


are Kept as clean as practicable. The


cutters back of the cows are made quite


open that the liquids may pass through


Immediately. This with the free use of


sand aids much in reducing the amount


of labor required in keeping the


bodies of the animals clean. Tin


milking pals only are used, and the


milk is strained through both wire


gauze and fine cloth. After straining,


the milk is set in an average tempera-


ture of about sixty degrees in old fash


ioned, shallow tin pans, holding some five


or six quarts each. The pans are pressed
and seamless and much more easily


cleaned than those made from pieces
soldered together. Skimming is done
every morning, one-half the milk being
twenty-four and the other thirty-six


hours old. It is skinned in the morning
because the cream is then cool and firmer
than at night and comes off more per-
fectly and with less waste. The cream is
kept in large tin vessels, plenty of fine
salt being thrown into each pail when
commencing to gather the cream, and a
glass paddle is kept constantly in each
vessel with which to stir thoroughly
when new cream is added. churn twice
week and have the cream slightly sour
when it enters the churn. If fsweet cream
is added at the time, little delay is made
before pushing the churning, that the
sweet and sour portions may become
thoroughly mixed. Unless the tempera-
ture is known to be just right, the cream
is either cooled in well water or warmed
in kettle of warm water, the thermome-
ter being kept in the cream, which is
stirred constantly until the desired de-
gree is reached, which is never over
sixty-three degrees in winter nor below
sixty degrees in summer. The churning
is done in the Bullard oscillating churn,
and occupies from forty-five to sixty
minutes, and often more, including the
getting ready and finishing up. The
churning is stopped as soon as the
butter is in fine particles, like turnip or
wheat seed, the buttermilk being then
drawn off and pail of cold water thrown
in to rinse the milk from the surface of
the little crumbs. It is then taken out
upon an inclined board, and after being
pressed together pretty compactly, which
operation forces out nearly all the butter
milk, the color and salt are added and
worked evenly through the mass while it
is yet pliable. The color is applied in
fine white sugar, which is worked in very
slightly before applying the salt. Apply
ing the color in this way, | always know
when the salt is sufficiently worked in,
and can know just when to stop-a very
important kind of knowledge to have
when working butter. Depending upon
the color for a guide prevents the liability
freedom from stripes and streaks caused
by uneven sailing. The proportion of salt
is two-ffths of an ounce to pound of
butter, measured by the eye, which in my
case is very accurate after SO long prac
tice. My worker takes from twelve to fif
teen pounds at once, and when have
two or more parcels one is piled upon
another and then cut down through and
reworked, thus insuring
perfect uniformity in sailing and coloring
each churning. The butter is then ready
for putting in one-fourth pound cups by
hand labor. It is then folded in new
bleached cotton wrappers and packed for
market, three layers deep, with cloth be-
tween, in round wooden boxes, holding
fourteen pounds each. These boxes are
then enclosed in strong shipping cases,
and in summer broken ice is used be-
tween the smaller boxes while in transit.
Twelve to sixteen pounds of ice, costing
from three to four cents, is all | have
found it necessary to use for each trip, the
taking it ten miles by stage
and twenty-five by rail between the hours
of eight and ten o'clock in the forenoon,
then carrying it over the pavements across
the city to Quincy Market during the next
hour No ice is used in the dairy for any
other purpose than shipping the butter
over the road in hot weather. All the
work of tempering the cream, churning,
working and putting up the butter is done
on the same day and as rapidly as possi
BILE. On no account would ever rework
or handle butter after it once becomes
cold and stiff. Working but
ter the day following churning / consider
a bad practice. Good, sound, well made
butter requires very little ice for hand
ling or marketing, while that which is
poorly made, either in the churning or
the working, will seldom harden well even
on ice. In presenting this statement, |
have endeavored to give all the principal
important points in my somewhat old
fashioned method of butter making, but
if have overlooked any matter of inter-
est will reply to any questions which
such oversight may suggest.


A young gentleman from ST. Louis was
walking along the shore at Lake Michi-
gan with Chicago girl. when he saw on