Farm and Garden.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 168, 28 June 1909, Page 4

Farm and Garden.

Butter Making.

The making of butter from so-called "sweet" cream differs from other methods in that it excludes the ripening of the- cream. Briefly described, the process is as follows: The cream is cooled<as soon as it cornea from the separator—a fairly large quantity of pure culture, used as a starter, is added to it and churning is begun at once. Simple as that method of but-ter-making may seem, satisfactory results will not be obtained by it unless certain rules are strictly adhered to, and judiciously applied according to changing conditions. —Thickness of the Cream -

The percentage of fat in ;hc cream must be high enough ton'low of churning within a reasonable time at a low temperature. It nrust b«: varied according to thf dcason of the year, the more or less advanced period of lactation ot the cows, and the quantity of starter to be added. In springtime, when the cows are newly calved, and when churnig is relatively easy, the proportion of fat may be made as low as 2S per cent., but during winter and autumn, when the viscous condition of the cream prevents the rapid agglomeration of the fatty globules, it may run as high as -10 per cent. A safer rule to follow would be to separate in such a way as to have a weight of cream two and a-half to three and a-half times the percentage of fat contained in the milk. Thus, 100 lbs of milk containing 4 per cent, fat should give from 10 to 14 lbs of cream.

—Cooling of the Cream.—

The cooling of the cream is one of the most important operations in this process of butter making. Its main object is to ensure the complete agglo;me rat ion of the globules of fat by churning, and to prevent the develop* ment of certain germs that would destroy, or at least endanger, the keeping qualities of the butter. A special cream cooler should be connected with the separator, to receive the cream as l it issues from it. If the churning is to be done immediately after skimming, the cream must be cooled to 40 or 42 degs.; but if churning is to begin only two or three hours afterwards it will be sufficient to carry the cooling process to 50 or 52 degs., provided that temperature is maintained up to the time of churning. It must pc understood that if the cream is cooled to 10 ![ or 42 deg-*.,it must be churned at once, , for if it is kept too long at that low temperature, its fatty globules will I become so hard as to render agglomer- , atton much more difficult. The cream | issuing from the cooler at 40 or 42 I degs. is immediately poured into the > churn, which should have been cooled j previously. When the skimming is i completed, the required quantity of [ starter is added to the cream, and the | churning is proceeded with. The i amount of starter to be added varies from 20 per cent, in summer to 30 per £ cent, in winter. That proportion of jj starter should also be varied according to its own acidity and that of the \ cream, in order that the greatest | possible uniformity of flavour may be obtained. The temperature of the startr, as prepared every day, should be between 60 to 65 degs. when ready to be used. When added to the cream in that condition, it will raise the temperature of the mixture to about 50 degs., which is a proper temperature for churning. If it is not convenient to churn immediately after skimming, it is desirable ot store the cream in a ripening vat kept cool by water and ice. If it is impossible to cool the cream below 50 degs. when skimming, and if churning must take ' place within two hours, it will be nccssary to cool the starter to about the same temperature.

The Cow's Annual Spell. If change and rest are good things for the farmer and his family, they are good things for the cows also. The tendency on too many is to keep the cow in milk as long as possible. This does not give a sufficient time for her to recuperate ber strength. Discrimination, of coarse, must be exercised ; no bard and fast rule can be laid down; but if a cow is poorish in condition she should have at least two months—ten weeks is better, and she should be on the best of feed all that time. The herds that do the best during the milking season are those that are well provided for after they have dried off. They should have coroplets change of pasturage, too,as this works in a double way, when they come back | into the summer paddocks. They should not only have change of pasture, tbey should have a winter ration of some concentrated food in addition. It need not be much, but there should be one feed a day of such a food. Why is this necessary, it may be asked,when she is no* in milk. No, she is not in milk, but she is supplying the equivalent of a bucket of milk a day towards building up the calf in ber, and, in additlon.sbe has to use a great deal of the feed she gathers for the purpose of bodily warmth. Winter pastures frequently lack carbo-hydrates—beat formers; they are usually very watery.

If no hay or ensilage is bandy, therefore, some bran should be given. Remember you not only get a good return for this in the increased health of your cows, and their more abundant milk yield next season, but you enrich your land as well, for the manure from animals so fed will be richer. It is,therefore, thvC highest economy to feed good or some of the by-products to a dairy herd during the off-season. Two values are received —the direct and the indirect.

Lan urgent call for i HELP. I TO THE EDITOR. Dear Sir, The last few months have been unusually strenuous ones in connection vviht the social work of our Mission, and our financial resources have been | overtaxed. Will you oblige by again putting our needs before the sympathetic public. The industrial and commercial depression has made work scarce and folk who have recently arrived here, and others who, perforce of circumstances regularly live from hand to mouth, have been in straitened conditions nad some have had to endure acute privation. We recently found a ' man and his wife and five infants livi ing in a dirty little house in a gull)-. ' The place was destitute of furniture, • the cupboards quite empty, the frai \ mother more than occupied in looking ■ after her hungry babies and the sober and straightforward husband footsore | and dejected by his fruitless search for I work. We guaranteed the rent for a [ few weeks to avoid them being turned f on to the street, and provided food and . nourishment for their immediate necesf si ties, also got the man a few day 3 casual work and generally played the Sister's part till they were "round the corner." The man has since secured regular work and is looking forward to refunding to us at an early date the money expended in their interest. | This family does not need our help i now, but we are facing the same problem in the lives of others,and with our f very limited financial resources we are j often sorely perplexed to provide the | help which our heart and judgment } prompts. We were recently attracted by a superior little woman, who, with her husband and children, is bravely facing life's hardships with a cheerful- | ness, ability and courage which calls I for real admiration. The husband is a \ hard working man who in another town ] recently lost some £2O through the ! man for whom he worked, absconding. Because of being in arrear they had not been able to keep their credit good so they gravitated to Auckland to get work but instead found disappointment and the man is greatly depressed by his repeated failures. The wife, however, keeps cheerful for the sake of her husband and children but her resources are greatly straitened. Recently she found when contemplating the evening meal that stale crusts and dry tea was the only food in the house and she was entirely without the means of purchasing more. She remembered her travel stained husbnad who would shortly return from his disappointing quest for work and children who had not bad a proper meal all day. They needed more than stale crusts, and even they were in short supply so she went to one of our beaches and collected pippies 'which she took home and prepared for the evening meal. And such a meal! Tea without sugar or milk, stale crusts and pippies which the ministering love of a heroic woman transformed that mean dwelling into a banquetting chamber. This occurred in Auckland, and the people concerned are worthy. Surely they deserve something better. This is one case out of many. The incident is of course different, but the same pressing need is to be found in many of the homes which we visit and in which our poor friends live. Only this morning because our funds are exharsted we had to refuse help to two decent little women who, in both cases, burst into tears in telling of their babies at home were entirely without food. Even the stale crusts were missing. Their appeal was so genuine and so urgent that we had to find temporary help for them, but more is required immediately, and we urgently appeal to generous readers of your paper to supply us with the means of carrying on this work amongst the Master's needy ones. Some of them are only not poor, but sick. If space permitted we could multiply instances but they are altogether too numerous to detail. Some cf the persons concerned are strangers within our gate; others are separated from their fair weather friends by hardship and sickness. We urgently ask for a prompt response to this appeal as the needs are pressing. Work for these people will be welcomed. We also need clothing cither new or second hand. Firing or food will be very much appreciated and money is urgently required, and we ask those who will assist us please to communicate with our social department Treasurer, Mr H. E. Pacey, care of New Zealand Dairy Association, Wellesley Street, Auckland, or with Yours faithfully, SISTER KENNETH, Rose Road, Grey Lynn. SISTER ESTHER, Kent Street, Ponsonby. For the Auckland Methodist Mission and Helping Hand Mission.