Milch Cows and Dairy Farming / Comprising the Breeds, Breeding, and Management, in Health and Disease, of Dairy and Other Stock, the Selection of Milch Cows, with a Full Explanation of Guenon's Method; The Culture of Forage Plants, and the Production of Milk, Butter, and Cheese: Embodying the Most Recent Improvements, and Adapted to Farming in the United States and British Provinces. With a Treatise upon the Dairy Husbandry of Holland; To Which Is Added Horsfall's System of Dairy Management

by Charles Louis Flint

The Form of Fresh Butter.

—The form of the butter is made by taking a suitable quantity and pressing it into a mould, and then taking it out by knocking on the mould. Many different forms of butter-moulds are in use in the different sections of Holland, such as are shown in [Figs. 115], [116], and others.

Fig. 115.

Fig. 116.

Fig. 117.

The figures impressed on the butter are given by the mould, where it is deeply engraved; or they are made after the butter is taken out of the mould, and for this purpose a peculiar instrument is used, [Fig. 117], a kind of flat wooden spoon, with a short, convenient handle, and long grooves in the broad, flat surface. Each region has its own peculiar stamp, or special figures, which are given to lump-butter, to which particular attention is paid by the purchaser. The butter-dealer knows exactly that in one section butter is stamped in one way, in another section in some other way; and that the butter of one section, with its peculiar stamp, is worth more than that of another.

The butter-moulds are generally made of linden-wood, but must always be large enough to hold at least a certain prescribed weight of butter; for all lump-butter brought for sale to the weekly market must be of a prescribed weight. This weight is very different, and almost every city has different regulations and market customs; yet, in most places, a pound is the legal weight. Certain market-masters, or inspectors of butter, are appointed, and watch that all the butter has its proper weight. If too light, it is forfeited by the seller, who is also punished for fraud. The butter brought to market is generally covered with very clean white cloths, and several sample lumps are put for inspection in a large butter-bowl, basket, or shallow box.

Many dairymen are accustomed in spring, when the first grass butter is made, to send their regular customers a few little lumps of fresh May or grass butter. These presents generally have a peculiar form, and on the specimens most carefully prepared some animal is moulded, as a sheep lying down, a dog, &c., with a bunch of green grass or buttercups in its mouth. The dairy-woman herself usually presents this butter in a beautiful milk-bowl adorned with grass and flowers, covered with glittering white cloths.