ABC butter making; a hand-book for the beginner

UMASS/AMHERST

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LIBRARY

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AGRICULTURAL

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DATE DUE 1

ABC

BUTTER MAKING

Hand-Book for the Beginner.

BY

F. S. BUI^CH,

Editok of The Dairy World.

CHICAGO :
C. S. BuRCH Publishing Company.

1888.

6S9

Entered according- lo Act of Congress, in the year 1888, by

F. S. BURCH,

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at ^Vashington, D. C.

CONTENTS.

Page
MlIiKING 17

Washing the Udder— The Slow Milker —
The Jerky Milker— Best Time to Milk-
Kicking Cows — Feeding during the Milking
— Loud Talking — Milking Tubes — The
Stool— The Pail.

Cake of Milk 23

Animal Heat — Milk as an Absorbant —
Stable Odors — Cooling — Keeping in Pantry
or Cellar — Deep Setting — Temperature of
the Water — To Raise Cream Quickly — When
to Skim.

The Milk Room 27

To have well Ventilated — Controlling the
Temperature — Pure Air — Management of
Cream — Stirring the Cream — Proper Tem-
perature at which to keep Cream — Ripen-
ing Cream — Straining Cream — Cream in
Winter.

Butter Color • • • 30

Rich Orange Color — White butter —The

X CONTENTS.

Page
Juice of Carrots — The Use of Annato — Com-
mercial Colors — Beginners generally use too
much.

Churning 32

The Patent Lightning Churn — Churning
too Quickly — The amount of time to prop-
erly do the Work— Churning Cream at 60
degrees— Winter Churning — Starting the
Churn at a Slow Movement — The Churn
with a Dasher — Stopping at the proper time
— Granular Butter — Draining off the Butter-
milk— Washing in the Churn — To have the
. Churn sufficiently Large — Churning whole
Milk— The Best Churn for the Dairy.

WOEKING THE BuTTEE 38

The Right Temperature — To get the Butter-
milk all out— Half Worked Butter— Over-
working— Use of the Lever — Working in
the Salt — Rule for Salting — Butter Salting
Scales.

Maeketing Buttee 43

The way Four-fifths of the Farmers do it —
The Right Way and the Wrong Way — Wait-
ing for Better Prices-City Customers —
Have a Commission man Judge your Butter

Packing and Shipping , 46

The Size and Style of Package— Roll But-

CONTENTS. XI

Page
ter — Packing in Earthen Jars — Tin Pack-
ages— The Relative Cost of Wooden Pack-
ages— Nine-pound Bale Boxes — To avoid
"Woody Taste" — Parchment Paper — Ex-
cluding the Air— Print Butter— Uniformity
of Color — Top of Packages — Keeping
Packed Butter Cold.

Thekmometeks in the Daiby 52

Price of a Good Tested Article — The kind
our Grandmothers' used — Floating Ther-
mometers— Importance of their use.

Maxims eob ABC Buttee-Makebs 54

How TO Make Good Butteb. A chapter by Mr. ,
N. Bigalow 57

INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS,

Page

Frontispiece. Jersey Cow Matilda 4th.

Milking Tube, - - - 19

Milk Stool, ... 20

Milk Pail, . - - •• 21

Haney Deep Setting Can, - 23
Jersey Milk Can, - - -24:

Shot Gun Deep Setting Can, - 25

Cooley Can, . - - 25

Conical Skimmer, - - 28

Branch of Annato Tree, - - 30

Kectangular Churn, - - 32

Pendulum Churn, - . 33

Bowl of Granular Butter, - 34

Barrel Churn, ... 36

Danish Butter Worker, - - . 38

Eureka Butter Worker, - ' - 39

Favorite Butter Worker, - - 41

Butter Salting Scale, - - . 41

White Ash Butter Tub, - - 46

Nine-pound Bale Boxes in Crate, - 47

I X L Butter Printer, - - 49

One-pound Butter Mould, - - 50

Glass Dairy Thermometer, - 52

PREFACE.

T DO not claim anything new or startling for
■■• this little work, nor do I claim to be what
is usually termed ''an authority" on the subject
treated. ABO Butter Making is the
result of my own experience in the dairy,
together with an extended and careful obser-
vation of the experiences and practices of
some of the most successful butter-makers in
the country, and is an answer, in a complete
form, to the numberless questions asked me
(as Editor of the Dairy World), by begin-
ners in the dairy.

The Author.

MILKING.

BEFORE we can make butter we must have
milk, and a few suggestions on this im-
portant question will not be out of place
here. In order that no dirt or hairs may
find their way into the milk-pail, a careful
dairyman will always brush off the teats and
udder of his cow before he begins to milk,
yet, I am sorry to say, thousands of men who
profess to be careful dairymen do not know
this, and are sometimes guilty of that most
uncleanly habit of softening up the teats by
squeezing out a little milk on their hands. A
large number of cows are utterly ruined every
year by improper milking ; irregular milking
spoils a large number; noisy, loud talking
and rough milkers help to spoil a good many
more. The very slow milker, as well as the
quick, jerky milker, who never strips the
cow thoroughly, are helping to make a large
number of our cows unprofitable. Six o'clock
in the morning and six o'clock in the evening
are by far the best hours to do the milking.

18 A B C BUTTER-MAKING.

Some of our deep milkers should be milked
three times a day for a week or more after
calving. I might wrii"e a chapter on kicking
cows, but after a wide and exceedingly costly
ex^^erience in this line will simply say I do
not believe in them, and would not accept the
best one I ever saw as a gift. I am satisfied
that it is not a good plan to feed or " slop" a
cow during the milking, as a hungry animal
will be too deeply absorbed in eating to " give
down" all the milk. Better feed just before
or immediately after milking. Keep strangers
away from the stable during the milking
hour ; never carry on a conversation in a loud
voice with some person in another part of the
stable while milking; in short, do nothing
that will be likely to draw the attention, of
your cow, or she will in a greater or less
degree *Miold up" a part of the milk. When
possible a cow should always be milked by
the same person, as the milker soon learns
any little peculiarity of the animal, and knows
exactly how 'to handle her, as well as readily
detecting any unusual occurrence, such as
shortage of milk, sore or caked teats, etc.
Milk as rapidly as possible, without jerking,
and avoid hurting the teats with sharp and
long finger nails by keeping them well pared.
Never attempt to draw the milk from a very

MILKING. 19

sore or inflamed teat with your liaiids; it
only causes the animal great pain, and in nine
cases out of ten you will fail to secure all of
the milk. Milking tubes, made of silver, are
not only great conveniences, but now that
they can be bought so cheaply, are an absolute
necessity, and all farmers should keep a few
on hand for use in case of an emergency. The
silver tubes are the best, and can be purchased
for half a dollar each of almost any dealer in

#■

dairy goods. I have mailed thousands of
them during the past few years to dairymen
in all parts of the country, and have received
hundreds of letters stating that valuable
cows have been saved that would otherwise
have been ruined for milking, but for the
use of these tubes. It might be well to say
right here that in no case would I recommend
the use of tubes for regular milking, as their
constant use would soon distend the orifice of
the teat, so that it would leak. Grease or wet
the tubes before inserting, and be careful to
push in slowly. If the teat is very sore the
tubes may be allowed to remain in the teat

20

,4 B C BUTTER-MAKING.

for a day or two, but I would advise that they
be removed after each milkiug wlien possible,
and always wiped perfectly dry.

A good milking stool not only adds com-
fort to tlie milker, but helps to facilitate the
work to a greater degree than one would
naturally suppose. I give an illustration of
a handy stool, and as a novice can easily

make one, I will simply say, make the leg ac-
cording to the length of ^our own. Before
closing this chapter on milking I want to say
a word about the pail. Never use a wooden
pail or vessel to milk in. The best pail I
ever used was a parent device called the
" Michigan Milk Bucket," and were it not for
the expense (I believe the price is two dollars),
they would soon come into general use. The

MILKING,

21

illustration shows exactly what they are — a
combined pail, strainer and stool ; and as the

strainer prevents any dirt or hairs from get-
ting into the pail, and the close-fitting cover
precludes any possibility of the milk absorb-
ing stable odors, I cannot say too much in
their praise. When these pails were first
placed on the market the strainer was at the
bottom of the receiving cup, and all the dirt
was wasiied into the pail, but the manufac-
turers altered them by placing the strainer an
inch above the bottom of the receiver, and I
believe that they are now as near perfect a
milk-pail as one could ask for.

THE CARE OF MILK,

I SHALL not attempt to enter into the
chemistry of the milk. It would be out of
place in this ABC treatise. One peculiar
thing I wish to draw your attention to is the
" animal heat." When the milk first comes
from the cow you cannot help noticing that
it has a sort of feverish smell, which soon
passes off after exposure to the air. This
" cowey " smell should, of course, be allowed
to pass off, but not in the stable, where the
milk would be likely to take on a worse and
more lasting odor.

Milk is a great absorbent, and quickly takes
on any and all odors which it comes in con-
tact with, and when once taken on, they can
never be got rid of. Therefore, the moment
we are through milking a cow, we should
either take the milk out of the stable and into
another room, or pour it at once into a can
or some vessel with a tight-fitting cover, that
it may not absorb stable odors before we are
through with the milking of all the cows. I

THE CARE OF MILK.

23

think the hest plan is to strain the milk at
once into an ordinary deep setting can and

HANEY CAN, BACK
VIEW .

HANEY CAN.

put the cover on tight. Remove the can, as
soon as it is filled, to the milk-room.

Now comes the cooling of the milk. To
make good butter we must cool our milk
rapidly. The sooner we cool it down to 47
deofrees after it leaves the cow the better the
butter will be. The old-fashioned way of
setting the milk in shallow pans or crocks in
the milk cupboard, Avhicli in summer was
placed in the cellar and in the pantry in winter,
is still kept up by a good many farmers, and
this no doubt accounts for the steady pro-

24

ABC BUTTER-MAKING.

diiction of ten-cent store butter with which
our markets are always overstocked. If you
expect to make good butter neyer set the
milk in the pantry or cellar, as the odors
which it will absorb there are just as numer-
ous, if not quite so bad, as those in the cow
stable. There is but one way, and dairymen
are pretty generally agreed upon it, and that
is to set the milk in
deep cans in cold
water, and the colder
the water the quicker
the separation of the
cream from the milk.
If you cannot aSord
to buy the patent
deep setting cans
like the Cooley, the
Haney, the Jersey,
or the Wilhelm, by
all means get the
common deep set-
ting " shot - gun "
can, with or without
JERSEY CAN. thc glass gaugcs in

the sides. The purpose of all these cans is to
cool the milk rapidly, and though the manu-
facturers of this or that can may claim that
their can does the work more quickly than

THE CARE OF MILK,

25

the others, I am of opinion that they are all
good, and one as good as the rest. If you
have a spring, and can set the cans in the
ground, where the water can flow all around
and over the cans, you will be fortunate in-
deed. If you have no spring, and cannot
afford a creamer, make a tank a little deeper

SHOT-GUN " CAN.

COOLEY CAN.

than the cans, and keep the water flowing
around the cans. The colder the water the
better. If the water from your well is not
colder than 47 degrees you should \ise ice.

26

ABC BUTTER-MAKING.

By using ice or yery cold spring or well water
yon get all, or nearly all, the cream to rise in
from twelve to twenty hours, and as I said
before, and I want to firmly impress it upon
your minds, the quicker you get the cream to
rise the better butter you can make. Never
allow the milk to set more than thirty hours,
as it becomes acid or too thick, and loses
much in flavor. I would much prefer to skim
sooner, if I lost some of the cream by so
doing, as I would more than make up what
I lost in quantity by the improved quality.

THE MILK-ROOM

IT would be well to say a word about the
milk-room before passing on to the manage-
ment of cream. Jt is absolutely necessary
that we have a good milk-room in which to
not only set the milk, but to ripen the cream,
do the churning, and work the butter.

Have the milk-room well ventilated, and
build it so that you can control the tempera-
ture at the proper point all the year 'round.
A good airy plac^e, with plenty of elbow-room
is essential. I see too many small, '' stuffy "
crowded rooms, where there is scarcely a
place for half the utensils. Now, see that
the air in your room is always pure, and do
not pollute it by going directly into it from
the cow stable, with all the odors clinging to.
your clothes and manure on your boots. Also
have the room situated as far from the barn-
yard and hog-pen as possible.

MANAGEMENT OF CREAM.
Skim the milk before the cream becomes
too thick and tough on top. I never allow

28 ABC BUTTER^MAKING.

the cream to remain on the milk a moment
after I think it is all up or separated from
the milk. If you use the deep setting cans
you will find the little conical skimmer, with
ten or twelve inch handle, the easiest to skim
with.

If you put the cream in a can, or other ves-
sel containing cream that was skimmed some
hours previous, be sure to stir it all well
together, so that it may be of the same con-
sistency. Keep the cream at a temperature
of 62 to 68 degrees until it becomes slightly
sour, when it is ready for churning. I have
churned very sweet cream and very sour
cream, but have never been able to get butter
of good flavor from anything but slightly
soured cream. I am also of the opinion that
butter made from cream only slightly sour
will keep much longer than when made from
a very sweet or sour cream. I am often asked
if I think that straining the cream is an ad-
vantage, and I will answer by saying that I
do think it aids somewhat in helping the

THE MILK-ROOM.

29

butter to come more evenly. In the winter
it may be found necessary to place the cream
near the stove, where it can be gradually
warmed up to 68 or even 70 degrees, in order
to have it sufficiently sour.

BUTTER COLOR.

WE all prefer to have our butter of a rich
orange color. White butter looks too
much like lard. Then, too, batter of a pale
Avhite hue never sells for as much in the mar-
ket as the rich colored article. Years ago
people colored butter with the juice of carrots ;
later on the seeds of the Annato plant were

BRANCH OF ANNATO TREE, SHOWING BLOSSOMS
AND SEED PODS.

BUTTER COLOR,

31

crushed and the juice mixed with potash and
water. We now have many specially pre-
pared compounds in the market, put up in
hquid form and ready for immediate use.
Almost all of these commercial colors are
good, but should be used sparingly. Nearly
all the beginners use too much the first time.
There is no general rule to follow hi using
color, and you will only be able to tell how
much to use by practice, as the butter of some
cows is naturally of a richer color than others ;
this is especially true of the Jersey cows, the
butter from which needs but little artificial
coloring. Always put the coloring into the
cream before beginning to churn.

CHURNING

PE W persons know how to churn properly.
No matter how rich or nice the cream, if
the churning is not done at a proper tempera-
ture and in a proper manner you cannot
make good butter. Avoid the " lightning "
patent churn, which the agent will claim to

RECTANGULAR CHURN.

bring butter in five minutes. Cream that
is churned too quickly always makes butter
of a cheesey flavor, and quick to get rancid.

CHURNING.

33

Churning should never be done in less than
twenty minutes, and, if possible, not longer
than forty minutes. Generally the proper
temperature at which to have the cream be-
fore beginning to churn is .60 degrees, but
sometimes this must be varied a few degrees,
according to circumstances. In winter we find
65 or 68 degrees will be necessary in order to
have the butter come within forty minutes.
When cows are fresh the butter comes much
more quickly than it will after they have been
fresh for a long period. Always start tlie

PENDULUM CHURN.

churn with a slow movement, gradually in-
creasing until you have reached the proper
speed, which is 40 to 50 strokes per minute.

34 ABC BUTTER-MAKING.

I do not believe in the churn with a dash in-
side, nor do I believe in keeping the churn in
motion a moment after the cream breaks.
All sensible dairymen are trying to keep pace
with the times, and have adopted the granular

BOWL OF GRANULAR. BUTTER.

plan. This idea of scooping out great lumps
of butter from a churn, and trying to squeeze
and rub out the buttermilk with its caseous
and albuminous matters is a thing of the
past. Squeeze and press and knead all you
please, and nothing but the water of the but-
termilk will come out ; the very impurities
which you desire to get out of the butter will
be all the more firmly incorporated in it. Not
one butter-maker in ten (no, nor fifty ) knows
enough to stop the churn at the proper time.

CHURNING. 35

when the butter has formed into little pellets
the size of a wheat kernel. When those little
pellets have formed, pull out the plug or stop-
per in the bottom of your churn ; if you have
not got such a thing as a hole in your churn,
don't waste a moment until you have bored
one there, at least an inch in diameter, and
place a small piece of very fine wire sieve on
the inside of the churn over the hole, and
thereafter be careful not to have your plug
so long that it will punch the sieve oif every
time you put it in. Let the buttermilk
drain off through this hole, after first pouring
in a little cold water and cooling the contents
of churn down to a point where the globules
or kernels of butter will stick together when
you agitate tlie churn. Now let the churn
stand and rest a few minutes, then pour iii
more cold water, and let it drain off through
the hole again, and if the water comes out as
clear as it went in, stop pouring, shake the
churn a little, then make a good strong brine
of well powdered salt that has been first sif led
thoroughly, cork up the hole and pour in
your brine, and let it stand on the butter for
fifteen or twenty minutes, after which draw
off as you did the water. You now have your
butter in the best possible condition for work-
ing. When you purchase your churn be sure

36

A B G BUTTER-MAKING.

and get one large enough ; ifc is much better
to have ifc too large than not large enough.
If you think you have not sufficient cream

BARREL CHURN.

for a churning and the cream is ripe, do not
wait for another skimming, but add sufficient
milk to have the churn filled to about one-
fourth its capacity. Do not use milk that is
very sour, as it is likely to contain so much
casein that your butter will not be of good
flavor. Many dairymen churn all the milk
with the cream, but as it only adds more
work to the churning, I do not recommend

CHURNING.

37

it except in cases where there is not cream
enough to properly fill the churn. Illustra-
tions are given of the best churns for the
dairy, viz., the Barrel Churn, the Rectangular
Churn, and the Pendulum Churn.

rS^Bj^HM

WORKING THE BUTTER,

NEVER work the butter when it is too
warm. I find that 5G degrees is about
right. The main point in working butter is
to get the buttermilk all out, and also to get
it in good solid compact form. More depends
upon proper working than one would natur-
ally suppose. You often see butter with great

HOME-MADE DANISH BUTTER WORKER.

drops of buttermilk standing all over it ; such
butter was only half worked, and will gener-
ally contain thirty to forty per cent, of water.

WORKING THE BUTTER.

3d

and will keep sweet but a very short timei
The other extreme is overworking, and
this produces a dry crumbly mass, with
no flavor. If the churning is done as de-
scribed in the foregoing chapter very little

working is necessary, as the buttermilk is
very nearly all out of the butter before it
leaves the churn. Take the butter out of the
churn with your butter spade, and heap it up

40 ABC BUTTER-MAKING,

ou the worker. If too warm for working at
once, throw a cloth wet in cold water over it,
and leave to drain and cool for thirty minutes.
Before using the lever of your worker always
dip it in cold water. Now take the lever and
gently press the butter out over the full sur-
face of the worker^ and sj)rinkle on some salt ;
begin at the sides, and roll the butter back

waters' patent butter worker.
into the centre, being careful not to do any
rubbing or you will have greasy butter. Now
l^ress out the whole mass again, and give it
another salting, and repeat the working two
or three times until you have incorporated
the salt throughout the whole mass evenly.
The general rule for salting is to use one
ounce of salt to a pound of butter, but as
some ])Gople like "salty" butter and some
"fresh" batter, you must salt according to
the wants of your patrons. I always use a
fine sieve, and sift the salt over the butter on

WORKING : ^^ BUTTER 41

the worker, just as the baker sifts his flour
over the dough when making it. Much de-
pends upon the quahty of the salt used in
butter-making, and if you desire to make good

CURTIS FAVORITE BUTTtR WORKER, FOR ONE OR
TWO COWS.

butcer use only good salt, which is put up in
sacks, and branded '^ Dairy Salt," by nearly
all the large salt makers in the country. If

BUTTER-SALTING SCALE.

you have a large dairy do not trust to guess-
work, but buy a scale and use it. An illus-
tration of a scale which is made especially for
salting butter is given above. These scales

42

ABC BUTTER-MAKING.

weigh from one-half ounce up to 250 pounds,
and as they can be used for ordinary weigh-
ing without regard to the butter-salting at-
tachment, every dairyman should have one.
They cost about six dollars.

An illustration of a home-made butter
worker, ^hichis used largely by the Danes, is
herewith given. Any man that is handy
with tools, can make one. Cuts of three
other good workers are shown ; they are well
made, and cost but a small amount.

MARKETING BUTTER.

''butter well made is half sold," says an
O old maxim ; but one would naturally sup-
pose that it was " quite sold," to observe the
careless manner in which four-fifths of the
farmers market their butter. AVho has not
observed the tactics of the country store-
keeper in buying butter? Here comes Mrs.
Smith, or Jones, who is known near and
far as a good butter maker. See how anx-
ious the merchant is to please her ; he knows
that 1 er butter is in great demand and will
be sold at a good price before night. He
pays her the highest market price, and
while weighing the neat prints of golden
butter, carefully wrapped in spotless cloth or
snow-white parchment paper, tells her that
he wishes she could have brought in more.
It's a pleasure to have the trade of such a
woman. But now comes Mrs. Easy. Observe
the cloudy expression on the merchant's coun-
tenance, as he tells her that he's overstocked
with butter ; that the market is ^%ay down."
You will notice that he charges her a " long

44 ABC BUTTER-MAKING.

price" for whatever he sells her, and dumps
her butter, which is generally in mussy rolls,
into the nearest shoe box. And who can
blame him, knowing that he cannot sell Mrs.
Easy's butter at home, but must ship it to the
nearest market and sell it for '^Ioat grade
dairy" at a price which seldom, if ever, nets
him a profit.

One seldom hears of the markets being
over-stocked with ^'gilt edge" butter ; on the
other hand, the market is nearly always loaded
down with " low grades" and grease.

The best plan for marketing butter is to
endeavor to find customers at home, and sell
as soon as possible. Peoi3le that pack their
butter and wait f r a rise, are sometimes dis-
appointed, and no butter can be as good four
or six months after it is made as Avhen fresh.
It is far better, as a rule, to sell as soon as
possible, at the best price you can get, than to
wait for a rise that sometimes fails to come.

1 receive many letters during the year from
people asking me to find them city customers.
Such customers, as a rule, are very exacting;
they expect much, and paying a high price,
have a perfect right to do so. These private
customers (unless acquainted with the butter
maker) seldom prove agreeable people to deal
with. It is better to sell for a few cents less

MARKETING BUTTER. 45

at home, and leave no chance for dissatisfac-
tion, or if you cannot possibly sell all yon
make at home, better ship it to some reliable
commission merchant, and leave him to fight
out the battle with the customers. A good
plan is to make up a sample pail or tub, and
ship to the commission merchant with a re-
quest that he ^^judgc" and report on it, with
any suggestions he has to offer. Such a re-
quest will be sure to bring you a prompt re-
port from any good dealer.

PACKING AND SHIPPING,

THE size, shape and style of package for
butter makers to use, must depend largely
upon the demands of the market to which the
butter is shipped. A few years ago large
quantities of roll butter were marketed in
Chicago during the colder months ; now you

m a y travel from
one end of the mar-
ket to the other
and not see a hun-
dred rolls. It is
but a short time
ago that earthen
crocks and jars
were extensively
used; now you
scarcely ever see
them. The cause for this is, that earthen
vessels, of any kind, are not only liable to
break, but are also more difficult to handle
in large quantities, and weigh "much more
than wooden packages. The great bulk of
butter that comes to Chicago now, is packed

WHITE ASH BUTTER TUB

PACKING AND SHIPPING.

47

in white ash tubs and bale boxes. Occasion-
ally we see a tin package with wood veneer,
but they have never come into general use for
the reason that the acid gets nnder the tin
and causes rust. Wooden packages are just
now most popular, and
as the manufacturers
have reduced the cost of
manufacturing them to
a point where earthen-
ware and tin cannot com-
pete in price, we may
look to see them in use
for years to come. The
ordinary white ash tubs
can be had of every dairy
supply dealer and nearly
all of the general stores ;
they may be had in 20
lb., 25 lb., 30 lb,, 40 lb.
and 60 lb. sizes. An il-
lustration of the nine-
pound bale boxes in
crate is also given. Dur-
ing the last two years
these bale boxes have become very popular.
They can be shipped in crates of six and are
convenient to handle ; they can be had for
about twelve cents apiece.

NINE POUND BALE
BOXES.

48 ABC BUTTER-MAKING.

In packing butter in wooden vessels we
must guard against '^voody taste/' and there
is but one way to do this, that is, to soak the
packages from 24 to 48 hours in strong brine
and then thoroughly scald them out. Even
this method sometimes fails to accomplish the
work. A capital way to prevent woody taste,
is to line the package with parchment paper,
which not only prevents the butter from tak-
ing on a woody flavor, but also prevents soak-
age and excludes the air. This parchment
paper may now be had of all dairy implement
dealers, in sheets and circles of any size. It
costs about thirty cents a pound, and a pound
is sufficient to pack several hundred pounds
of butter.

There is still quite a trade in print butter,
and when nicely packed in one or two-pound
prints and of good quality it sells quickly, on
account of its convenient shape for family
use. For print butter there has been invented
a machine which stamps out one-half and one-
pound blocks very quickly and quite artisti-
cally. When butter is shipped in this form
it should be first carefully wrapped in cloth
or parchment paper and packed in boxes in
crates. Each box should contain but one
block of butter, as piling one block upon
another would be likely to press out the deli-

PACKING AND SHIPPING 49

cate figures moulded or stamped on the block.
The blocks for these patent printing machines
are sometimes artistically carved, so that the
blocks of butter shov\r sheaves of wheat, acorns,
etc., and sometimes with the maker's initi.;ls
or monogram. For home use the old fash-
ioned round mould holding from a quarter of

I X L BUTTER PRINTER.

a pound to two pounds is still extensively
used, and when properly soaked in cold water
before moulding, makes a very nice print of
butter. These patent printers and moulds
save much time and are a great convenience
over the old way of forming the butter into
rolls.

50

ABC BUTTER-MAKING.

Ill packing it is always better to pack each
churning in a separate tub or box, as the tub
that contains different churnings will not be
of uniform solidity or color iihroughout, and

ONE POUND BUTTER MOULD.

will therefore not sell for as much as a tub
perfectly uniform.

Remember to soak the covers of the pack-
ages, and before fastening them on sprinkle
salt to a depth of a quarter of an inch over

PACKING AND SHIPPING. 51

the top of the butter cloth or paper. Never
leave the cover off the packages for any
length of time, for the reason that it will not
only cause the top of the butter to become
discolored, but it will also admit the air and
spoil the top of the butter for several inches.
The moment you have packed your butter
get it into a cool place — the cooler the better
— and thereafter keep it as cool as possible,
until you have disposed of it.

THERMOMETERS IN THE
DAIRY.

pKEDERIO SUMNER says "There is no
I ^ more use in trying to run a dairy with-
out a good tested thermometer than there
would be to attempt sailing a vessel
without a rudder/' and I heartily
agree with him. A good thermome-
ter can be purchased for from fifty
cents to a dollar, and at these prices
is certainly within the reach of
every dairyman. Too much depends
upon the temperature of the water
in which we cool our milk, the room
we ripen our cream in, do our churn-
ing in, and the temperature of the
milk, cream, and the butter itself,
to attempt any guess work. Our
grandmothers used thumb and finger
to ascertain the temperature of milk
and cream, but in these days of fifty
cents, seventy-five cents, and a dol-
lar a pound butter we find " thumb-
rule" will not work. An illustration

THERMOMETERS IN THE DAIRY.

53

of a thermometer made expressly for dairy
use, is given ; tliey are made of glass and float
upright in the milk or cream. The churning
and cheese points are marked for the conyen-
ience of new beginners ; they retail at about
fifty cents, and can be purchased from any
dealer in dairy goods.

MAXIMS

For ABC Butter Makers.

TEST your cows.
Never fill the churn over half full.

Never touch the butter with your hands.

Cream rises best in a falling temperature.

Never churn fresh unripened cream with
ripened cream.

After cream becomes sour, the more ripen-
ing the more it depreciates.

The best time for churning is just before
the acidity becomes apparent.

Never let your butter get warm ; when once
warmed through it will lose its flavor.

Excessive working makes crumbly butter,
spoils the grain and injures the flavor.

Never mix night's with morning's milk, as
the warmth of the new and the coldness of
the old, hastens change and decomposition.

All kinds of disagreeable odors are easily
absorbed by salt. Keep it, therefore, in a
clean, dry place, in linen sacks, if it is to be
used for butter making.

The best butter has the least competition
to contend against, while the worst dairy pro-

MAXIMS. 55

ducts have the most. The better anything
is, the more rare is it and the greater its
value.

A butter maker that uses his fingers instead
of a thermometer, to find out the temperature
of milk or cream will never make a success.

Cleanliness should be the Alpha and Omega
of butter making. Absolute cleanliness as
regards person, stable, utensils and package.

Faults — The quickest way to find out the
faulty points in your butter, is to send a sam-
ple of it to some reliable butter buyer aud ask
him to score it.

The difference between the dairyman who
makes 150.00 a year, per cow, and one who
makes $30.00, is that the first works intelli-
gently, the second mechanically.

Details — The price of success in butter
making, as in all other classes of business, is
strict attention to the little details; it's the
sum of all these little things that determines
whether your butter is to be scld for ten cents
a pound or as a high priced luxury.

The disadvantages of the system of setting
milk in shallow pans or crocks, for raising
cream, are that a long period elapses before
the skimming is completed, too much space
is required, and in Summer the milk becomes
sour before the whole of the cream is raised.

56 ABC BUTTER-MAKING,

Labor saving appliances are intended, as
the name implies, to save lalior, but they do
not render care, thought and diligence the
less necessary. To understand the principles
that underlie the business of butter making,
is as imperative as to use the most imjoroved
utensils.

By keeping a strict account only, can you
find out the extent of your success or failure.
If the balance is on the right side, you will
know whether and how much it can be in-
creased ; if it is on the wrong side, you will
be more strongly convinced of the necessity
for improvement.

If you keep your cows in a healtliy condi-
tion, milk regularly; set the milk in air tight
cans with good cold water (either ice or
spring) ; skim every twenty-four hours ; ripen
the cream properly ; churn in a barrel churn
or some other good churn on the same prin-
ciple ; wash the butter well while still in the
churn in granular state ; you will never be
troubled with white specks in your butter.

HOW TO MAKE GOO
BUTTER.

— BY N. BIG A LOW, STOWE, VERMOKT. —

IT is necessary to have good cows to start
with, and if good butter is the object sought
I prefer good Jerseys. The next thing is good
feed. Grass that is fresh and tender is best
of all. This does not last very long up here
in Vermont. My cows have a feed of green
corn fodder, at night, and a small feed of
grain, in the morning. I prefer to mix dif-
ferent kinds of grain together. It must be
all sound and good. Make the cows comfort-
able and contented. Kind treatment is in-
dispensable, and the more regularity in caring
for them the better.

We try to keep the milk entirely clean. If
it is necessary we wash the cows' bags, before
milking. The milk is strained into large,
open pans, and as soon as the animal heat is
out of it, the pans are covered over with thin
cotton cloth. The covers are made by sewing
the edges of the cloth to some strips of bass-
wood, about three-fourths of an inch square

58 ABC BUTTER-MAKING.

and a little longer than the pans. They cost
but a trifle, and after using them ten years
we would hardly make butter without them.
The butter is not quite so yellow, at first, for
raising the cream under the covers, but will
be after it has stood a few hours. ' ,

When we first tried our large pans, we used
to run water around them, but the coolers
have got to leaking, and we do not think it
would pay to get new ones.

Our rule is to skim the milk soon after
it sours, as the cream will come off easily.
We keep the cream in a cellar, when it is
necessary, but prefer to keep it in the milk
room, when it is not too warm. Our dairy is
small, and we have churned only twice a
week, this year. We use the Stoddard churn,
and would not use a float churn. I have
never seen the acme churn yet, and hardly
think it has been made. 58 degrees is the
right temperature at which to churn the
cream, in warm weather : 62 in cold, and 60
in spring and fall. We put in from three to
six quarts of water to thin the cream, and if
the cream is too warm we use cold water (we
have a cold spring), and in extreme warm
weather use a little ice. If the cream is too
cold we warm the water sometimes up to 120
degrees. If that will not answer, the cream

HOW TO MAKE GOOD BUTTER. 59

must be warmed beforeliand. The butter-
milk is drawn off as soon as it can be done,
and leave most of the butter in the churn.
Any butter that runs out is put back with a
skimmer. We use cold water enough to keep
the butter in the grain, and wash it until the
water runs clear. I suppose brine would be
better, but have not used it much. After the
butter has drained, the salt is strained in with
a paddle ; and then it is taken out with the
paddle and pressed into the butter bowl. We
use about an ounce of salt to a pound, but
some of it works out. After it has stood a
few hours, it is worked with a lever in an old
fashioned butter worker, just enough to get
the salt in evenly, and then it is ready to
print. We always try to injure the grain as
little as possible.

Our printer holds four pounds, and makes
eight half pound prints. The prints are put
up in four pound boxes, and cut apart with
wooden blades. The boxes are made here in
Stowe, and are washed and scalded with boil-
ing water, sprinkled with salt.

Our milk liouse is shaded on the eastern
side by a willow tree, and on the southern by
another building, and we can cool it to some
extent with currents of air. But if we should
admit currents of air, without the covers over

60 ABC BUTTER-MAKING.

the pans, there would be white specks in the
butter.

We use butter color when it is iiecessry to
color the butter, but think it better to color
it too little than too much.

I am in the habit of mixing a small quan-
tity of cotton seed meal with the grain for
the cows, and think I get a little more milk
from that than anything else. Linseed meal
is very high here, and I have never used it.

Last, but not least, the cows must have
pure air to breathe, and the milk, cream and
butter must be kept in a good atmosphere.

I am fully convinced that any farmer that
makes a prime article of butter, of uniform
quality, has an excellent opportunity to use
common sense and sound judgment.

Consumers of such butter, as I have des-
cribed, need not have any fear that they are
eating anything that is, or ever was, filthy or
unwholesome.

THE DAIRYMAN'S
LIBRARY.

Creaming Milk by Centrifugal Force . . $ 50

Hazard's Butter and Butter Making. . . 25

Curtis' Hints on Dairying 50

AYillard's Practical Dairy Husbandry. . 3 00

Willard's Practical Butter Book 125

ABC Butter Making, by Burch 30

Harris' Cheese and Butter Maker's

Hand Book 1 50

The Jersey, Alderney aud Ouernsey

Cow 1 75

Feeding Animals. Stewart 2 00

Dadd's American Cattle Doctor 1 75

Guenon's Treatise on Milch Cows 1 25

Quincy on Soiling of Cattle 1 50

Keeping One Cow 125

Jennings' Cattle and their Diseases ... 2 00

Barn Plans and Out Buildings 1 75

Any one of the above books will be sent
post-paid on receipt of price.

The Dairy World, Chicago, HI.

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