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.—