Part 2

"Butter well made is half sold," says an old maxim; but one would naturally suppose that it was "quite sold," to observe the careless manner in which four-fifths of the farmers market their butter. Who has not observed the tactics of the country storekeeper in buying butter? Here comes Mrs. Smith, or Jones, who is known near and far as a good butter maker. See how anxious the merchant is to please her; he knows that her 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 countenance, as he tells her that he's overstocked with butter; that the market is "way down." You will notice that he charges her a "long 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 "low grade dairy" at a price which seldom, if ever, nets him a profit.

One seldom hears of the markets being overstocked 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. People that pack their butter and wait for a rise, are sometimes disappointed, and no butter can be as good four or six months after it is made as when 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.

I 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 at home, and leave no chance for dissatisfaction, or if you cannot possibly sell all you 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 request that he "judge" and report on it, with any suggestions he has to offer. Such a request will be sure to bring you a prompt report 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 may travel from one end of the market to the other and not see a hundred 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 in white ash tubs and bale boxes. Occasionally we see a tin package with wood veneer, but they have never come into general use for the reason that the acid gets under 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 earthenware and tin cannot compete 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 illustration of the nine-pound bale boxes in crate is also given. During 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.

In packing butter in wooden vessels we must guard against "woody 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 taking on a woody flavor, but also prevents soakage 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 artistically. 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 delicate figures moulded or stamped on the block. The blocks for these patent printing machines are sometimes artistically carved, so that the blocks of butter show sheaves of wheat, acorns, etc., and sometimes with the maker's initials or monogram. For home use the old fashioned round mould holding from a quarter of 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.

In 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 throughout, and will therefore not sell for as much as a tub perfectly uniform.

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

Frederic Sumner says "There is no more use in trying to run a dairy without a good tested thermometer than there would be to attempt sailing a vessel without a rudder," and I heartily agree with him. A good thermometer 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 churning 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 dollar a pound butter we find "thumb-rule" will not work. An illustration of a thermometer made expressly for dairy use, is given; they are made of glass and float upright in the milk or cream. The churning and cheese points are marked for the convenience of new beginners; they retail at about fifty cents, and can be purchased from any dealer in dairy goods.

MAXIMS

For A B C 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 ripening 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 products 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 sample of it to some reliable butter buyer and ask him to score it.

The difference between the dairyman who makes $50.00 a year, per cow, and one who makes $30.00, is that the first works intelligently, 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 sold 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.

Labor saving appliances are intended, as the name implies, to save labor, 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 improved 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 increased; 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 healthy condition, 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 principle; 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 GOOD BUTTER.

--BY N. BIGALOW, STOWE, VERMONT.--

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 different kinds of grain together. It must be all sound and good. Make the cows comfortable and contented. Kind treatment is indispensable, 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 basswood, about three-fourths of an inch square 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 must be warmed beforehand. The buttermilk 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 boiling water, sprinkled with salt.

Our milk house 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 the pans, there would be white specks in the butter.

We use butter color when it is necessary 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 quantity 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 described, 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

Willard's Practical Dairy Husbandry 3 00

Willard's Practical Butter Book 1 25

ABC Butter Making, by Burch 30

Harris' Cheese and Butter Maker's Hand Book 1 50

The Jersey, Alderney and Guernsey 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 1 25

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, Ill.

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TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

-Obvious print and punctuation errors fixed.

-Illustrations have been repositioned so as not to split paragraphs.

End of Project Gutenberg's ABC - Butter Making, by Fredrick S. Burch