In the larger dairies the utensils in common use are small wooden pails, Fig. 85, painted in variegated colors, with bright brazen or iron hoops, and neatly washed; a strainer, Fig. 86, made of horse-hair; a large wooden tunnel, Fig. 87, for pouring the milk into the cans and casks; one or more buckets, Fig. 88, usually of brass, lined with tin, large enough to hold the milk of several cows together, or from twelve to eighteen quarts. In many dairies they have wooden buckets, Fig. 85, painted green or blue outside, with black stripes, and with iron or brass handles, kept very bright. Here the buckets are coated over inside with white oil-colors. These are borne by the yoke (Fig. 84), or in some of the ways indicated above.

In many places, instead of buckets for keeping the milk together, they use copper or brass cans lined inside with tin, and in the form of antique vases or large beer-jugs, Figs. 90 and 91, which are constantly kept brightly polished. In other places, they use for holding the milk smaller or larger barrels, Fig. 92, with broad hoops also kept constantly polished.

Instead of the yoke a soft cushion is also used, which the dairymaids strap over their backs, so that they hang down and rest over the hips and thighs. On this cushion the cans are laid, and fastened with broad hempen straps, that they may not press too heavily upon the body. This band is called the milk-strap. Where the milk is carried home on a hand-cart, neatly-woven baskets are fastened upon little wagons in which the cans are placed. If it is to be carried in casks, the same arrangement is fixed upon a hand-cart. Two wooden floats are laid upon the milk in the buckets, in order to protect it from slopping over. One or more large milk-casks or tubs, in which it may cool off properly, are also used. The size of these tubs is different, as well as the materials of which they are made. Where the cooling is not left to the air alone, but is sought to be effected by hanging the milk-tub into cold water, the vessels are made of metal. The large vase-like jars are also used for this purpose. These hold about thirty cans, or twenty-six quarts. Wooden bowls are used, of different sizes and forms, and earthen pans, rather deeper than broad, Figs. 93 and 94, in which the milk as it cools is set for the cream to rise. A large pot for collecting the cream until there is enough to churn, and wooden skimmers for taking off the cream, are also used. The milker sits upon a common four-legged, and sometimes one-legged milking-stool, and milks either the teats on one side, or one hind and one front teat, the pail being held between the knees. The cows are milked regularly at four or five o’clock in the morning, and at five or six in the afternoon.

In West Friesland, North and South Holland, Utrecht, and other places, it is customary to tie the tail to the leg of the cow, that she may not annoy the milker. Most cows do not resist this, being accustomed to it from the beginning. They also pass a cord around the horns and tie her to a post stuck in the ground during the milking, as in Fig. 95. In many provinces only the unruly cows are tied in this way.

The milking takes place on the right side of the cow, so that the milker sits on this side. In West Friesland and North Holland there is an exception to this rule. The cows are tied in pairs in the stalls, and one is milked on one side and the other on the other, the milker sitting with his back to the board partition, to avoid annoyance from either animal.

When the milking is ended the milk is poured through the hair strainer into the bucket, or through a strainer or tunnel in the cans or casks, whichever are used. The milk is taken to the dairy-house, without delay, in some of the ways already mentioned. When the yoke is used, one bucket is hung on the right side and another on the left, each with a float on the top of the milk to keep it from slopping over. The large metallic milk-cans, with wooden stoppers, are borne home on the cushions already described as being held by shoulder-knots strapped round the waist. The mode of transportation depends much on the distance from the dairy-house and the quantity to be carried.

In winter, when the cows are in the barn, they are likewise milked twice a day, and the milk is at once strained through the hair strainer into casks made for the purpose. These implements differ according to the object pursued in the dairy; yet pans and pots are mostly used for raising the cream to be made into butter, since but few dairymen make cheese in winter.

All utensils necessary for milking, the preservation of milk, and the making of butter and cheese, are kept with the utmost neatness. Where a stream of running water flows through the yard, the implements are generally washed in that, and flowing water is preferred for the purpose. But where the farm or dairy-house stands at a distance from a stream, a shallow fountain, or basin, is dug out in the earth, walled up, and so arranged that the water can be taken from it and fresh water substituted when it gets impure. In such a basin, or in flowing water, all new wooden dairy utensils are soaked for a long time before being used; but those in daily use are washed, rinsed, and scoured out with ashes, with the greatest care. None but cold, clear, fresh fountain or flowing water is taken for cleansing dairy implements. It is to be observed that, in large dairies, the use of water which is covered with newly-fallen honey-dew, for washing the dairy utensils, is carefully avoided. When the milk-vessels have been perfectly rinsed out in fresh water, they are, in many dairies, put into a large kettle of water over the fire, and properly scalded; after which they are again cleanly washed with cold water, so that not the least particle of milk or impurity is to be seen, nor the least smell of it to be observed. The metallic milk-vessels and the metal parts of the wooden ones are cleansed with equal care and exactness, and kept polished. Dairymaids feel a pride in always having the brightest, most polished, and cleanest utensils, and each strives earnestly to excel the others in this respect.

When the milk-vessels are scoured, scalded, and rinsed perfectly clean, they are hung on a stand of laths and poles, made for the purpose, to be properly dried. The round wooden milk-bowls, being made of one piece, are very easily broken or split, and must be handled with very great care in cleaning. To avoid breaking, a peculiar table is used for scouring them.

The Dutch dairyman knows perfectly well that his dairy can secure him the highest profit only when the utmost cleanliness is the basis and groundwork of his whole business; and so he keeps, with the most extraordinary carefulness, and even with anxiety, the greatest possible neatness in all parts of the dairy establishment.

Determination of the Milking Qualities of the Cows.

—The Dutch cattle are, in general, renowned for their dairy qualities; but especially so are the cows of North Holland, which not only give a large quantity, but also a very good quality, so that a yield of sixteen to twenty-five cans[2] at every milking is not rare. Next to these come the West Friesland and South Dutch cows, from which from twenty to twenty-four cans of milk may be calculated on. Though one could not take a certain number and calculate surely what the yield of each cow would be, yet he could come very near the truth if he reckoned that a cow, in three hundred days, or as long as she is milked, gives, on an average, daily, from six to eight cans of milk, from which the whole annual yield would be from one thousand eight hundred to two thousand four hundred cans. Of this the cow gives one half in the first four months, one third in the next three, and in the remainder one sixth. These superficial results cannot be taken, however, as the fixed rule.

Professor Wilkins, in his Handbook of Agriculture, gives the following estimates of the yield of milk: A good West Friesland or Gröningen cow will, after calving, give daily fourteen quarts of milk. This will, after a while, be reduced to eight quarts. She may be milked three hundred and twenty-three days in the year, and her product in butter and cheese will amount to one hundred güldens.

In Prof. Kop’s Magazine it is stated that a medium-sized Friesland cow, which had had several calves, was giving daily, on good feed, five and a half to six buckets, or from twenty to twenty-two cans, and over. In South Holland, also, this quantity is considered a good yield of a cow. Of the cows of Gelderland, Overyssel, and Utrecht, the yield cannot be reckoned higher than sixteen cans daily, and that only during the first half of their milking season.

Treatment of Milk for Butter.

—To get good butter it is quite necessary that the fresh milk be properly cooled before it is set for cream. In the great dairies of North and South Holland, which not only possess the best cattle, but may be given as models in dairy husbandry, they manage as follows:

The milk, as it is brought from the pasture, is poured from the buckets, cans, and casks, through a hair strainer, into one vessel, the milk-kettle. These milk-kettles are not everywhere of the same size, or of similar form, but are always riveted together with strong brass or copper bands, and lined with tin inside. The most common milk-kettles hold sixteen cans; yet they are found so large as to hold three barrels, or about six hundred quarts. The peculiar kettle form is very rarely found, but more frequently the cylindrical, or vase-shaped. They are held either by two handles or one. The number required depends on the number of cows and the quantity of milk expected.

The milk-kettles, when filled, are set into a basin with cold water, called the cool-bath, for the purpose of cooling the milk. The cool-bath is frequently in the kitchen, sometimes in the bauer-house, so called, or directly before the cow-room, near the spring. The latter is the most common and the most convenient place. The water reservoir is dug in the ground, and an oblong four-cornered form is preferred for it; the sides of the excavation being walled up with hard-burnt building-stones and cement, but the bottom is laid in tiles, either red, hard-burnt, or white glazed. Richer dairymen take finely-hewn blue stone or white marble for it. The size of the reservoir is governed by the number of milk-kettles to be put into it, and so is its depth by their height, so that the rim of the kettle is on a level with the top of the cool-bath, Fig. 96. The sides of the cool-bath in the kitchen project some feet over the floor, yet are not so high that the setting in and taking out the milk-kettle will be attended with great inconvenience and trouble. Where it is desired to make the work of setting in or raising up the milk-kettles from the cool-bath as easy as possible, a beam is fixed along the side of the trough, and iron props are firmly fixed, which extend out a little over the edge of the trough, half-way down from the beam. On these the operator can support himself in lowering or raising heavy vessels. These stays, or props, are sometimes fixed directly into the wall, along which the cool-bath stands. Under the bottom of the reservoir, on the other side from where the water comes in, is an outlet, stopped with a tap or faucet, to let off the water.

The cool-baths in the kitchen are, for the most part, on the floor, and extend up a convenient height; whilst those in the cow-barns, as a general rule, are dug down and walled up, and their top is fastened to the floor of the barn. They are deep enough to allow the water for cooling the milk to come up to the rim of the milk-kettle; but, in order to prevent men and cattle from falling in, it is covered with a strong wooden lid to shut down, as in Fig. 97.

Such a cool-bath is used in the cow-room only in summer, when the heat is so great that it is difficult to keep the milk cool in the kitchen. The cool-bath in the cow-room is considered as only an auxiliary to that in the kitchen, and to be used only in case of necessity. The milk-kettles are hung by their handles, and let down by means of a crank. When the platform is not in use it is taken away from the cool-bath, and the cover is let down and kept closed.

The milk is allowed to remain in the cool-bath until the froth has disappeared, and there is no difference in temperature between the water and the milk. The milk of one milking must give place for the next, so that it will be changed twice daily, morning and evening. A very great importance is, everywhere in the Dutch dairies, attached to this rapid cooling of the milk, because it is known by experience that it is thus greatly protected from turning sour.[3]

The milk, when properly cooled, is brought to the milk-cellar, where it is immediately poured out of the milk-kettles into vessels designed to receive it. Wooden bowls or pans, or high earthen pots, are used for holding it. The pans and pots are set on the table, and a small ladder, or hand-barrow, is laid on there, on which is placed the strainer, when the milk is poured from the kettles. The wooden milk-pans are of several forms, generally made of ash or of linden, and oval. They are, on an average, three and a half feet long, and half a foot broad, more or less; but their dimensions vary.

It has been found, by experience, that the flatter and shallower the pans, the quicker and better the cream rises. The milk-pots are pretty large, but are rather shallow than deep, glazed inside, of different forms, and different capacities; but they are always broader on the top than at the bottom, though they stand firmly on a round, broad foot-piece. Milk pans and pots are rinsed with cold water before the milk is poured into them. When properly cleaned and filled, they are placed on shelves made for the purpose, in regular rows. These shelves are only a few feet high above the floor of the cellar, and of suitable width; but, if there is not space enough for the milk, the pans are placed on the bottom of the cellar. The pots are also set along the walls, on firm board shelves.

The milk-cellar, or rather the milk-room, Fig. 98, in the North and South Dutch dairies, is placed on the north side of the house, next to the kitchen, but a little lower than the latter, so that there are usually three steps down. The longer side, facing towards the north, has one window, whilst the gable end, with its two windows, faces towards the west. The windows are generally kept shut, and are open only nights in summer. The cellar is either arched or covered with strongly boarded rafters, over which the so-called cellar-chamber is situated. The floor of this room is laid in lime or cement, with red or blue burnt tiles, so that nothing can pass down through into the milk-cellar. In the cellar itself are the above-mentioned shelves and platforms for the milk-vessels along the walls, while outside, in front of the cellar, linden and juniper trees are planted, to prevent as much as possible the heat of the sun from striking upon the walls. Cleanliness, the fundamental principle of Dutch dairy husbandry, is carried to its utmost extent in the cellar. Barrels of meat, bacon, vegetables of every kind, and everything which could possibly create a strong odor and infect the air, or impart a flavor to the milk, butter, or cheese, are carefully excluded.

The vessels in which the milk is set remain standing undisturbed in their places, that the formation of cream may go on without interruption. Twenty-four hours, on an average, are thought to be necessary for the milk to stand, during which time the cream is twice taken off, once at the end of each twelve hours. The morning’s milk is skimmed in the evening, and the evening’s on the next morning. But the milk always remains quite still till the dairymaid thinks it time to skim, which she decides by the taste. Long practice enables her to judge with great certainty by this mode of trial.

When the cream is ripe it is taken off by the dairymaid with a shallow wooden skimmer, Fig. 99, in the form of a deep plate, and carefully placed in a particular vessel—a bucket or cream-pot. The cream-pot is generally washed very clean, the staves very finely polished, striped with blue or white outside, and held together by broad brass or copper hoops, kept very bright. For closing the jar they use an ashen cover, which is either simply laid on by a common handle, or sometimes held on by brass or copper hinges. Both cream-pot and cover are always scoured quite white and clean. The cream remains there till enough is got for churning, or till it becomes of itself thick enough for butter. It is known to be of the proper consistence for butter when a long, slender, wooden spoon, thrust down into it, will stand erect. When in summer the cream does not get thick enough in season, they seek to hasten it by putting in a little butter-milk; but in winter the ripening of the cream is hastened by warming, either by holding the cream-pot over a coal-pan, or on a hearth-plate.

The remainder, the skim-milk from the milk bowls or pans, sour milk, or butter-milk, is poured into a particular vessel, and made into spice-cheese.

Besides the methods here described for keeping milk for butter, milk is used for other purposes. Sweet milk cheese is made of the unskimmed milk; cream is used in the house for coffee. Rennet is also added to fresh milk, and the product is immediately sold, being greatly relished by many. From skim-milk and butter-milk put together is made an article called kramery by cooking the mixture, putting it into a linen bag, and hanging it in a cool part of the milk-cellar, or elsewhere, when the liquid drops out and leaves a mass of considerable consistence, called Hangebast.

As soon as the milk is taken from the vessels, they are taken out of the cellar and carefully cleansed and dried before being used again.

Methods of Churning.

—Churning is the principal operation in the manufacture of butter, for by it the fatty particles are separated from the other constituents. There are several methods in Holland of effecting this separation of the butter globules. The oldest and simplest is that of putting the cream into an upright churn, in which the cream is agitated by moving a long dasher, pierced with holes, up and down, till the object is accomplished.

There are, strictly speaking, only two forms of the churn which are used in all parts of the country. One is broad at the bottom and narrow at the top. This has been known from the earliest times, and is called the old churn, Fig. 100.

This old churn is still used in many dairies, and it has the preference over the other form, because it is thought to bring the butter quicker and more completely.

The other form is more like a beer or brandy cask on end, being smaller at each end than in the middle, and is called the barrel-churn. Both kinds are made of oak-wood, and have wooden or broad metal hoops. In the one case they are painted outside; in the other, they remain of the natural color, but are the more frequently scoured, so that the dark-colored oak-wood gets a whitish color. The metallic hoops are always kept polished bright.

Both kinds are of different sizes, according as the quantity of cream is greater or less, or as they are to be worked by hand or animal power simply, or by machinery. In South Holland, where unquestionably the most butter is made, the barrel-churn is at each end about two feet and two inches in diameter, and in the centre is seven inches broader, with two-inch staves. The old churn, on the other hand, is usually fourteen inches at the top and twenty-five at the bottom.

In North Holland and West Friesland, also, sizes are found in which one hundred and fifty to two hundred quarts of cream can be churned. The churns have each a strong cover at the top, which fits into their rim about the thickness of the hand, with a hole in the middle for the dasher.

The churning is performed either by the hand motion of the dasher, as in all small dairies, and in the smallest churns, or by man-power with the help of certain mechanical contrivances. The means for effecting this are different, and so the churns have different names. In many dairies, for instance, they have a lever connected with the dasher; in other places they use a flexible pole, fixed into the ceiling above, for facilitating the motion of the dasher, or put a lever in motion with the feet, which raises and sinks the dasher. There are also complicated artificial butter-machines and butter-mills, which are named after the inventor, the manufacturer, or the motive power. The most known and widely used are the turning-mills, the wheel-mills, and the clock-work mills; as the Hand Butter-Mill of Valk, Fürst’s churn, etc.

There are also still more elaborate machine-works for moving the dasher, which are used in the larger dairies on account of their convenience and economy. Dog-power and horse-power churns are frequently met with.

Churning in the Common Churn.

—The use of this is well known. The dasher is moved up and down by hand, with the churn full of cream, till the butter particles are separated and collected together. The operator keeps his body in equilibrium, to exercise the power of moving the dasher regularly for agitating the cream.

The Lever Churn

is very commonly used in South Holland, Fig. 101. The churn itself is barrel-form, as already described, and the dasher is put in motion by a lever. The upper end is pierced with holes, through which runs an iron pin. In a beam of the ceiling two joists are firmly fixed, about a foot and five inches long and four inches square, and several inches apart. The longer arm of the lever is four feet and seven inches; the shorter, three feet and six inches. The churn stands under the short arm of the lever, where the dasher is fixed. By drawing the longer arm of the lever towards him, the operator presses the dasher down through the cream. This mode is far less wearisome than the hand-churn, because by the lever, with less expense of power, a far greater agitation is produced. A weight is sometimes attached to the longer arm, by which the power required is still further reduced.

Churning with an Elastic Rod.

—The old-fashioned churn is set in motion by the aid of another kind of power, as seen in Fig. 102. A long, tough, flexible stick is fastened into the cross-beam in the ceiling, so that its larger end is held firm by two iron clasps. The elasticity of the rod is such that, when the smaller end is drawn down by hand, which, at the same time, moves the dasher, it rebounds, and thus saves considerable expenditure of power.

Churning with the Treadle Lever.

—In many places the churn is put in motion by the feet, as in Fig. 103, where several levers are united to produce the upward and downward motion of the dasher. The longer arm of the lever is connected with the churn, and the shorter is set in motion by a foot-board. The foot-board lies on a roller, with its longer part attached to the lever; and by throwing the weight of the body upon this part the shorter arm of the lever is drawn down, and the longer, attached to the churn-dasher, is raised. The mode of operation is so plainly seen in the cut as to need no explanation.

Among the more ingenious contrivances used for churning in Holland belongs the churn invented by Fürst. The body is somewhat similar to the barrel-churn, but is smaller; and it is of uniform diameter throughout, as in Fig. 104. It is covered with a wooden lid, furnished with a convenient handle, and stands on a low platform, to which it is fixed, when in use, by means of a screw, k. The motion is communicated to the dasher by means of a wheel, or windlass, and an endless cord.

In the interior of the cylinder is placed a kind of ventilator, Fig. 105. This consists of eight wooden wings, pierced with holes, and motion is communicated to it by means of the wheel, b, connected by the cord to the larger windlass. The wings of the machine when set in motion, strike incessantly in the cream, and so powerfully that the whole mass is agitated, and in this manner the separation of the butter particles is soon effected. The motion is so rapid that it is often necessary to turn the crank very slowly, especially just as the butter is coming.

Valk’s Hand Butter-Mill, Fig. 106, has many advantages. It is less fatiguing to work than the old-fashioned churn, and even than Fürst’s, because the motion of the body required is simple and less exacting. And again, the churn takes up less room, and is easily transported, which is an important consideration in churning, on account of the influence of the temperature. In summer the heat may delay, or render the operation difficult, and in winter the coldness presents obstacles. A transportable churn can be moved into a cool place in summer, and a warm one in winter, when it is desirable. The dasher of the churn is also seen separate in the same figure.

The Dog-power Churn, Fig. 107, economizes labor, while, at the same time, more butter is obtained, on account of the uniformity of the agitation produced. It is in use in all the Dutch provinces. The form and size of the churn are comparatively indifferent; but the tread-wheel and direction of the moving power are the important points. The diameter of the wheel is from ten to twelve feet, and the rim or outer circumference is made of boards two feet wide. The weight of the animal turns the wheel and moves the dasher by means of cogs, as shown in the figure.

Where there is a sufficient supply of moving power, a churn with two dashers is sometimes attached, as shown in Fig. 108, in which case one dasher moves down while the other is raised.

A large and strong dog is required, and he is easily taught to keep to his work, by beginning with short trials, and gradually lengthening them. A steady and uniform step is necessary, and this will soon be acquired. The dog is sometimes left free, and sometimes tied by a line.

Churning by Horse-power.

—On large farms and in extensive dairies the churning is done by horse-power, as shown in Fig. 109. The form of the churn itself is optional in this case, also. The size of the wheel varies, but it is seldom less than nine or ten feet in diameter, furnished with cogs on the upper surface, which are from four to six inches long, and play into a smaller wheel, the axle of which is attached to the dasher of the churn. A third and smaller wheel is sometimes introduced, as in Fig. 110. A quick and regular step is required of the animal, and a quiet and docile horse is always preferred. A horse adapted to this work commands a good price. Blinders are always used on the horse while churning.

Duration of the Churning.

—In whatever way the churning is performed, the result is always a separation of the fatty particles from the other constituents of the milk. As soon as the churning indicates that the butter particles increase in size and collect together, the motion of the dasher must be hastened till the butter has come together in a large mass. Great care should be taken to observe the appearance of this formation. The Dutch dairymaids acquire great skill, by long practice and experience, in judging of the proper moment when the separation of the particles has completely taken place. Very great importance is with justice attached to this skill, for it is undoubtedly true that one with this knowledge can get far more and better butter from milk of the same quality, the same quantity, and skimmed at the same time.

The cream taken from the milk of thirty-five cows, after standing twenty-four hours, is generally churned in summer in less than an hour, sometimes in three quarters of an hour. In very hot weather the cream-pot is frequently set into the cool-bath of fresh water for five or six hours before the churning begins, and it churns the easier for it. Cold water is never poured into the churn with the cream. In winter, as well as in cold weather in spring and fall, warm water is sometimes poured in with the cream.

Working and Treatment of Butter.

—When the churning is finished, the dairy-woman takes out the butter with a wooden scoop, Fig. 111, and puts it into a tub for further working. The tub, Fig. 112, is a broad, shallow vessel, open at the top, and having an opening at the bottom which is stopped by a bung. The scoop is pierced with holes, through which the butter-milk drains. The butter put into the tub is now rinsed, salted, and formed.

The tub is put upon a low, firm table, and the butter is worked by the hands, or by a shallow, rather wide and strong wooden ladle, until the butter is united into one firm and entire mass. Many dairy-women are accustomed to work the butter out from the middle towards all sides before bringing the whole mass together in the tub. Then very clear and pure fresh cold water is poured upon the butter, and worked through it till all the milky particles are entirely removed. After this is done in several workings, the bung is removed from the bottom of the tub, and the watery matter runs down through a little strainer, as in Fig. 113. As a general rule, butter is washed with water and worked over eleven or twelve times; yet the operator must judge whether the butter contains any particles of milk, and must work with water till, as it runs off, it is no longer whitish, but perfectly clear. Butter sometimes becomes too soft from too much working, if it is all done at once; it is then worked over two or three times, and allowed to stand in cold water after each working, which preserves its hardness and texture. This whole operation is called the washing of the butter.

When the washing is finished, the butter is cut with a blunt, saw-toothed knife, Fig. 114, in every direction, in order to remove all hairs, or fibres of any kind, which by any possibility have got into it during the day. It is then sprinkled over with white, finely-powdered salt, the quantity of which is regulated by the taste; and this is perfectly worked in, so that the whole is uniformly salted. Most dairy-women determine the quantity of salt by the eye and the taste, and acquire such facility by continued practice that they always get the proper quantity; but less experienced ones take the salt by weight. The salting is not all done at once, but is continued three or four days, twelve hours intervening between each application, until all the salt has dissolved, and not a crystal is to be found. If the butter has a speckled and variegated appearance, it is a sign that the salt is not completely worked in, and the neglect must be remedied by working it over still more in the most thorough manner. When the salt is all dissolved, the butter is brought into single balls and got ready for the next market-day, or the whole mass is put into a particular keg, in order to be taken to market at some subsequent time as firkin-butter.

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.

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.

The Packing of Butter in Firkins and Barrels.

—If the butter packed in firkins and barrels is to be kept a long time, experience and knowledge are required to pack it so that it will not be injured. The form and size of these casks are different in different sections and provinces. Where butter-making forms a chief branch of dairy business, the particular form and size which have been used for a long time are adhered to, because dairymen know very well that the public recognizes their choice butter by the form and size of the casks, and buys it the more readily. The greatest anxiety of the Dutch butter-maker is to keep up the old, well-earned reputation which Dutch butter has in every foreign country, both for its intrinsic good qualities, the result of the process of manufacture, and for its extraordinary appearance as an article of commerce.

For the proper preservation of the good qualities of butter, it is of the highest importance to have the casks properly made and treated; but the mode of salting and packing the butter in them is also of special importance, since this is examined at the sale. The old and customary forms and sizes of butter-casks are, therefore, of great consequence to the butter-maker, because every butter-dealer and judge of butter recognizes at once, by the external form of the casks, from what section the butter comes, and makes up his mind on the money value of the article from these appearances.

It was not originally known what kinds of wood were best for transporting butter long distances in, and preserving its highest qualities; and butter-casks were made of several kinds of wood, as oak, beech, willow, etc. But it was for the interest of the government that Dutch butter should maintain its reputation for extraordinary qualities abroad, and the most rigid laws were enacted, prescribing from what wood the casks should be made, etc.; and now only oak is allowed to be used, and the casks are all inspected and stamped according to law.  *  *  *  *

Before the butter is packed the casks are properly cleaned and prepared, for which practice and experience are requisite.

Old butter-casks that have been previously used are cleaned of every particle of fat and dirt remaining in them, and scoured and washed out as carefully as possible, and are placed for several days in running water before they are used again. If no running water is at hand, quite clean pond or spring water is taken, and all impure water is carefully avoided. After they have lain in the water five or six days, they are carefully scoured out with good wood-ashes and sand, and again well rinsed. After several scourings and soakings, they are put into a kettle over a fire and carefully scalded; and then, when cold, again scoured and rinsed, for which the most judicious dairymen use milk instead of water, and they are then placed to dry in the air. They are fit for use only when everything has been done in the most careful manner.

But new butter-casks require still more particular and careful treatment before they can be filled with butter without fear of injury. They are got ready for packing in several different ways. Some dairymen let them lie in pure water a whole summer and winter long, and wash them out in lye, and then treat them just as they do those that have been used. Others, however, who give the new casks the preference over the old, but who cannot wait for the soaking in lye over summer and winter, treat them in the following manner: They prepare a lye of good American potash, which generally contains the most alkali, in a cask holding some three hundred quarts, taking a pound of potash to twenty pounds of water. For a cask of the size named fifteen pounds of potash are used, which is prepared by pouring boiling water upon it and stirring constantly, adding a little more water as the potash dissolves. With this lye, which will be about five degrees strong by Beaumé’s aërometer, the butter-barrels are entirely filled. The barrels stand two hours filled with lye, and are then emptied and exposed to the air to dry, without being scoured out with water or milk. The lye may be used again for other new barrels, even though a part of its strength may be gone. Potash is added, from time to time, to keep up the specified degree of strength. A solution of fifteen pounds of coarsely-powdered alum is prepared in about three hundred quarts of hot water, in a vessel as large as the lye-cask. The butter-barrels are also filled full of the solution of alum, and allowed to stand twenty-four hours. This alum solution must also be of five degrees strength by Beaumé’s scale, and it can be used over and over by adding more alum now and then. After emptying out the alum and lye, they are dried a day in the sun and air, and then rinsed out in fresh, pure water, when they can be used for packing butter without fear. Some add a little sulphate of iron or green copperas to the alum, when the solution is more powerful; yet the management of the butter-barrels is then more troublesome, and requires more experience. The effect of the copperas has also the disadvantage that it blackens the barrels, which, though it does not injure them, is not liked by the purchaser.

By this treatment the new butter-barrels are much more quickly and cheaply cleansed, and got ready for packing and transporting butter, than by the course pursued with old barrels. The barrels, treated as above, are not only quite water-tight, but the wood is stronger and more durable. By means of the potash-lye and the alum solution the tannin is taken from the oak-wood used in the barrels, which, if it remained, would give a disagreeable taste to the butter. The effect of the potash and alum upon the wood of the barrels is quite harmless, and does not impart the least unhealthy quality to the butter.

When the old or new barrels have been cleansed and prepared, in either of the ways indicated, suitably for packing the butter, the bottom of the barrel is evenly covered with salt. Then a layer of butter which has been thoroughly washed and salted is made, and another layer of salt, and so alternate layers of salt and butter till the barrel is full, when a little brine of salt and water is poured on top. The butter is now ready to be laid in the cellar, and thence to be sold and exported. When the dairy is not sufficiently large to fill a barrel each day, the butter of several churnings must be used, and the barrel filled from time to time as it stands in the cellar. In that case the upper layer of butter is left covered with salt, and the cover of the barrel is closed down tight. In most large dairies a barrel is generally filled at one churning, which is considered better for the quality of the butter. The butter is always packed in so firmly that no space is left unfilled.

In doing up butter for sale at home, or at a neighboring market, the lumps are worked into the form of half a sphere, and put into little bright-hooped boxes, made to fit into larger casks, which can be nicely covered and closed up, as seen in Fig. 119, where the dairy-woman holds a box in her hand. The covered casks are also seen carefully nailed up.