From 12 to 20 hours in summer, and about twice as long in winter, should he permitted to elapse before the milk is skimmed, after it has been put into the milk-pans. If, on applying the tip of the finger to the surface, no thing adheres to it, the cream may be properly taken off; and during the hot summer months, this should al ways be done in the morning, before the dairy becomes warm. The cream should then be deposited in a deep pan, placed in the coolest part of the dairy ; or in a cool cellar, where free air is admitted. In hoi weather, churn ing should be performed, if possible, every other day; but if this is not convenient, the cream should be daily shifted into a clean pan; and the cluirning should never be less frequent than twice a-week) This work should be performed in the coolest time ()Abe clay, and in the coolest part of the house, where thee. is a free draught of air. Cold water should be applic to the churn, first by filling it with this, sonic time b Ore the cream is poured in, and then by immersing it i water to the depth of a foot or so, during the operatio provided we use the pump-churn; or by applying we cloths to it, if we use a barrel-churn. Such means at generally neces sary to prevent the too rapid acidiliction of the cream, and formation of the butter.
The winter season and cold weathertof course, require an opposite practice; but we can hard• be too cautious in the application of heat ; for the comon practices of wrapping the churn in a warm cloth plunging it into hot water, adding warm milk to the .cam, or placing the churn near the fire, all tend to 'tire the butter. The best way perhaps is to heat the c urn, by filling it with boiling water before the cream put in, and to place it in the warmest part of the hour • but not close by a fire.
The operation of churning ought to be oderate, equa ble, and uninterrupted; for if we stop r relax in our exertions, the butter will go bark, as is called ; and if the motion be too quick and violent, e butter will imbibe a very disagreeable flavour. Th, in sonic dis tricts of Scotland, is known by the phra bursting the churn.
Machinery, as before observed, of an genious and convenient construction, is in some district low employ ed, and found to have the advantage, not ly of abridg ing labour, but of securing a more rep]• and uniform motion.
When the operation is properly conduct , the butter, after some time, suddenly forms, and is t c carefully l7__ 11 rs collected and separated from ti.e buttermilk. Ilut doing this, it is not sufficient merely to pour off this milk, or withdraw the baiter from it ; because a «Tulin portion of the easeons and serous parts of the milk still remain in the interstices of the butter, and must be detached from it by washing,, if we would obtain it pure. In washing
butter, sonic think it sufficicnt to press the mass gently betwixt the hands ; others press it strongly znul frequent ly, repeating the washings till the water conic off quite clear. The first method is preferable, when the butter is made daily for immediate use, from new milk or cream ; because the portions of such adhering to it, or mixed w ith it, contribute to produce the sweet agreeable flavour which distinguishes new cream. But when our object is to prepare butter fur keeping, we cannot repeat the washings too often, since the presence of a small quantity of milk in it, will, in less than 12 hours after churning, cause it sensibly to lose its good qualities.
The process of washing butter is usually nothing more than throwing it into an earthen vessel of clear cool wa ter, working it to and fro with the hands, and changing the water till it conic off clear. A much preferable method, however, and that which we believe is now always practised by those who best understand the busi ness, is, to use two broad pieces of wood instead of the hands. This is to be preferred, not only on account of its apparently greater cleanliness, but also because it is of decided advantage to the quality of the butter. To this the warmth of the hand gives always more or less of a greasy appearance ; and butter washed by means of the woodenfiatners, as they are called, will always fetch at market a higher price than if the hand had been em ployed. The influence of the heat of the hand is greater than might at first have been suspected. It has always been remarked, that a person who has naturally a warm hand, never makes good butter.
After washing, the butter should he cut and sliced in every possible direction, with a serrated or rough-edged knife, in order to bring out from it the smallest hair, bit of rag, strainer, or any thing that may have chanced to fall into it. It is then to be spread in a bowl, and suell'a quantity of salt added as may be judged proper. If the butter is to be used immediately, or kept only for a short time, a small proportion will be sufficient ; and in this state it is usually denominated fresh butter. But if it be intended to be long kept, or transported to a distance, an ounce or two of salt will be required to the pound of butter. The salt used in curing butter should be of the purest kind, well dried, and broken down, but not com pletely pulverized ; and it must be so thoroughly work ed in, as to be equally incorporated with the mass.