VOL. XXXII. te,j"
■r-™'—L—-!—
INDIANAPOLIS. IND.. FEB. 20, 1897.
NO. 8
EXPERIENCE D__7_-Xfc__n_fl
BUTTER  MAKING.
Saving   Cream,   Ripening,   Churning,
Salting, etc.
Ist Premium.—Saving cream, ripening,
churning, setting. Gilt edge butter requires that Ave cardinal points be observed:
First, perfect cleanliness. Second,
cream almost sweet and evenly ripened.
Third, proper temperature in churning.
Fourth, proper amount of good salt. Fifth,
preserve tho grain.
That every article used for milk and
butter making should be kept scrupulously olean is well recognized. Milk vessels should be thoroughly washed before being scalded. Skim the milk at
from 12 to 24 hours according to the sea-
: son, keeping cream in a stone jar. Stir
well each time fref h cream is added, keep
cool as possible in summer, and warm in
K. Inter.  It is  better to  sour it at once,
eeptng _our  as more is  added, than to
eep cold too long, until it acquires a biter  taste.   Let cream  stand  for  a few
ours after the last skimming is added
knd stirred in, to ripen up evenly before
Churning.
\ We prefer the triangular or  revolving
Churn, as being easiest, bringing the butter in 10 to 20 minutes.   Having scalded
end cooled the churn and ladle use  ther-
rnometor to_ee-hatcream-isa.-ea-degrees
n winter and 68° to 60° in summer.   It is
lulckly warmed by putting in tin bucket
ind  standing   in  hot   water,   keeping
stirred until of the right temperature. In
rummer  very  cold water or ice  can be
' ised.    When  the  butter breaks add a
, :*uart or eo of salted ice water and churn
, until the  grain is large and  firm, then
iraw off the  buttermilk and wash the
Jratter by running cold water through it
amtll it  runs off clear.   It is less trouble,
»nd will preserve the grain to weigh and
-alt In the churn. For eaoh pound of but-
jter use one ounce of Ashton salt.    Sprin-
le this in evenly as possible by turning
he butter about with the ladle. Let stand
f**"ntil the salt is dissolved, then rock the
hum, turning and working the butter
nd dressing off the brine'until the salt is
^thoroughly incorporated and the butter
lis In a solid roll. Lift out into the bowl,
jwhich has been scalded and filled with
cold water, make into rolls, mold, or
pack in stone jar.
If butter is to be worked in the bowl,
^sprinkle salt evenly through it when
{taking it from the churn, press  together
ijand let stand until the salt dissolves, then
:|press, turn and work brine out thoroughly in a way to break the grain as little as
possible. Mold, wrap in butter parchment and stand away to harden before
marketing. Fabmer's Wife.
2d   Premium.—The   most    expressive
statement I ever heard about setting the
milk was this: "the cream must be scared
jout of the milk."   If you will just think
y>f yourself being very warm, and some
/>ne suddenly and unsuspectingly plunges
pou Into cold water, you can understand
|the kind of shock that must be given to
jthe milk to get the cream out of it.   In
jail my experience in butter making this
a the key note to success.   If you plunge
jthe very warm milk into the very cold
water, the cream on the morning's milk
|is ready ti skim in the evening, and that
>n the evening's milk is ready to skim
Jthe next morning, and the little scum of
cream that rises after that will not perceptibly  Improve  the  butter, either in
Jiuantity or quality.   Our butter that we
juade at the milk box at the spring, at the
*ootof the hill, was superior to that we
jmade at the house with the creamery, because while the water at the house Is
ery cool water, that at the foot of the
illl was yery cold water, and the butter
as more firm.    Keep the cream well
tlrred night and morning until you have
gathered a churning. As the temperature in our creamery was usually about
50° to 54°, I set the cream outside the
creamery to ripen, in tha summer in the
open air, and in the winter on the tank.
The baby never allowed me to churn
before sunrise, "like mother used to," but
by 7 or 8 o'clock the churn is set to spinning and soon the butter is here. I forget
the name of my churn, but a man who
was selling another patent called'It a
"pickle keg ". But I do know that the
butter comes in from 10 to 20 minutes. I
like it because It has no dasher and is
easy to clean. It holds 10 gallons, but
only churns 6 gallons of cream. As soon
as the butter comes I draw off the buttermilk and pour in cold water and churn
again, and keep drawing off the water
and adding fresh water and churning, until the water does not look at all milky.
Then I know that the milk is washed out
of my butter, and the cold water helped
to gather the butter. Then I take my
butter paddle and smack the butter into
a large cake, thick as a beef steak Then
I sprinkle the salt on and work again into a roll. I repeat this several times, except the salting, and I have a roll ot gilt
edge butter. I do not know the propor
tion of salt I use, but a little practice fixes
this all right. Don't forget to smack
your butter. Don't mash it or you will
mash out all the grain and consequently
all the life. Mrs. William.
Richmond.     	
3d Premium.—As this is a farmer's pa
per we will give a farmer's view of the
subject. One of the essential things in but
ter making is butter oows. These may
ba found in almost all breeds, but those
breeds that have been bred for milk and
butter for generations are best. If the
cows are fed poor feed, kept in filthy
stables, and the milking done by a careless, dirty person,,the farmer'- wife cannot make first class butter. If you have
a sufficient number of cows to justify the
expense a separator is the thing to have.
Where one cannot own a separator, a
first class creamery is a labor and cream
saving devise. Do not get less than a
four can creamery, arranged so that no
part of cans is below ths water. Tin
cans are best. Do not separate or strain
until all the "animal heat" is out of the
milk. In winter this is best accomplished
by dipping, or pouring from one vessel to
another. In this way we get rid of the
"animal odor" also, which ls very important. In summer where one has not ice|
set in vessel of cold water, dipping until
cool. The milk should then be strained
through not less than two strainer?, the
last one being a cloth as heavy as the
milk will pass through. D_ not let milk
or cream freeze but keep cool and sweet
if weather will permit until a churning
ls obtained. It should be ripened in cold
weather in about 38 hours' time by being
set in some warm place.
During the ripening process, both summer and winter, cream should be frequently stirred. As you cannot correctly
guess the temperature of the cream, a
dairy thermometer is essential. About 62
degrees is best.
Use a churn with little or no Inside
gearing,as the action of the air leaves the
butter in granalar forms instead of compacting it as with the dash or paddle
churn. When the granules of butter are
are about the size of small grains of
wheat, draw off the but.ermllk, and put
in as mnch water, a few degrees colder.
Churn a little, anddrawoft, repeating until the water is clear. Work until dry.
This cannot be done so well with a wooden
bowl and round backed paddle, as with a
large board and rolling pin. A smoothly
dressed poplar board 25 x 28 inches with
two strips 1x2 inches to keep board from
warping, and one strip near edge 2x3
inches to give slope, all put on with wood
ecrews makes aboard suitable for eight
pounds or leas' A rolling pin three Inches
in diameter, 15 inchos^long  with four
inch handles ls a convenient size, but a
larger diameter is better than a smaller
one. With this cheap butter worker, the
butter can be rolled very thin and dry.
After a thorough working, weigh, and
add fine salt, one ounce to every pound of
butter. Let stand until salt is dissolved,
then rework and put in shape to suit customers. In marketing butter, waxed butter paper Is very convenient, and does
away with clothes The size that is best
suited for most purposes Is 9 x 12,inches.
Randolph Co. X.
The topic seems to suggest that the
milk has just been drawn and taken to
the dairy. This having been done the
first prime requisite toward producing
gilt-edged butter is cleanliness, which is
sometimes placed* next to go.liness.
Strain through a doubled linen cloth
For convenience, I have a light board
about eight inches equare, with a hole in
the center large enough to admit the
bottom rim of the strainer easily. Across
the under side of this board are two battens or cleats near enough together to
rest on the crock, and keep the strainer
out of the milk. Spread the cloth over
the hole, set in the strainer, and have
both hands to-manipulate the bucket
With cans of small diameter less time
will be required to cool the milk Eiiice
the cold water, into which it should be
set, comes nearer to eveiy particle of the
milk, and, if it cools quickly it remains
.*Y_at longer and,.—.are cream, of a better
quality rises than when it cools slowly
and sours sooner. Slim cans also enjoy
the advantage of absorbing less odors.
Our milk trough is made of galvanized
iron, with a box made of lumber fitted
just outside the iron to stiffen it, but it it
had iron strips to strengthen it and the
wooden box was two inches away from
the iron all around, having the interstice
filled with charcoal, it would be better
yet. It should have a close-fitting lid
made on the same plan, with a few small
air holes in it. All the water for the
horses and cow?, in warm weather must
first pas3 through the milk trough. It
milk is kept in the cellar or cave in winter, care should be taken to have the
onion basket, the potato bin and cabbage
pile as far as possible from the milk. We
would like to keep the milk jnst above
freezing point till a churning is gathered. Then it is placed where the temperature is considerably higher and stirred
occasionally, so that the same conditions
may obtain through the entire mass, till
it sours and thickens. Just as soon as It
reaches this stage, it is ready to churn
We use a barrel churn which revolves
end over end, withont any works inside.
The milk simply falls from one end to
the other till the butter is knocked out.
As soon as this is done, while the butter
is still in very small pellets or granules,
the buttermilk is drawn off from below;
plenty of cold water is put into the churn;
it is closed and slowly churned till the
buttermilk is all washed out. This
water is drawn c ff and the butter is
taken out, pressed out evenly over the
butter bowl and salted with about an
ounce of salt to a pound of butter. The
salt is slightly worked through the mass
and then left stand to dissolve, after
which it is worked just enough to get the
water out. Excessive working spoils the
grain and appearance of the butter, making it look greasy and pasty.
J. W. English.
Wabash Co.
REVIEW.
Mr. Lafu.e sajf: "Of course everybody
makes good butter " Our grocerymen
say lt is impossible to hold trade and
grade butter. If you want to make a
woman j list awfully, awfully mad cut the
price of her butter a cent or tw o. I would
not mention tbis matter if it were not
that so many women really think they
make good butter, when it is a sort of
white grease devoid of butter, flavor or
grain or color. I say they honestly think
they make good butter, and if this page
could show them their error, we could
reach them. We are not talking to
trained creamery men we are talking to
farmers' wives. The second thought I
wish to impress is the truthful statement
made in the excellent copy sent by T. M.
S. and wife, of-Lapel, "That gilt-edged
butter making ls not very difficult." It
costs as much to handle milk and cream
wrong as right.
I am surprised that X don't strain or
separate till tbe animal heat is out of the
milk. I am not a datrymai-,but have observed that they strain through an aerator immediately. In large dairies lt is
upually strained warm into cans on carts
kept right behind the cows. Jlr. J. J. Billingsley sa) s milk in the cow's udder does
not havej-'animal odor." That it ls dust
of cuticle odor, bedding, etc, that gets in
ths milk and that to let it remain in
warm milk will only allow it to dissolve
and do its worst He strains into an
aerator which cools it and strains again,
altogether four times and once through
four-ply of cloth.
Mrs. Williams scares the cream out
some people beat it out. When I read
Mrs. Williams' I thought I could nearly
hear her hollow "shew," and see the butter leave the cream in little granules instead of in one pasty, greasy mass.
My wife liked X's board and rolling
pin. But we didn't fancy his pouring
mii__ from one can or bucket to another
to cool and air it. Are we wrong when
we side with J. W. English, T. M. S , W.
H. Lafuse and others, in sousing the deep
cans or pans of newly strained milk Into
the trough through which water passes
enroute to the barn.
Yes, "every body makes gocd butter"
and you better not say otherwise. I
would hardly have dared to judge this
week's copy if I hadn't been going to
leave the'State for a while. A friend will
write me when safe to return.
We are sorry to be compelled to suppress some good copy again this week.
We thank cur friends for each and every
letter we get.
In writing on the hog topics please notice Mr. Hart's articles and suggest other
gocd methods along that line.
The future topics will read as follows:
No.  51,   Feb.  27.    Our   schools;   their
shortcomings.   Suggestions for improve
ment.
No. 52, March 6 Hog raising No. 1.
Yards, buildings, beds. (Careful now and
only give plans, not bills.
No. 53, March 13 Hog raising No. 2.
Choice of stock, not choice of breeds, but
appearanoe of Individual parents. Treatment of both before mating, and of sow
during pregnancy and farrowing.
No, 54, March 20. Hog raising No. 3.
Care and feed of sow and pigs after farrowing. Also exercise. What should
pigs weigh at 60 days; at 270 days?
No. 55, March 27. Hog cholera and
other fatal diseases. The sanitation of
hog raising.
No. 56, April 6. Fertilizers. Wherecan
commercial fertilizers be economically
used and how?
No. 57, April 10. The best fence post and
how to preserve it.
No. 58, April 17. Best material for roofing. Experience in painting roofs. Material.
No. 59, April 24. Renovating an old orchard.
No. 60, May 1. Mistakes and failures of
reoent years.
In writing don't fail to note new points
not generally known; also other points
of real experience. Address all copy 10
days before publication.
Let onr subscribers write their experience. The purpose of the department ls
not exaustive articles but brief, pithy,
practical experiences. A sort of heart to
heart talk, suoh as you enjoy with a
neighbor.