THE MAORI MESSENGER. Auckland, August 16, 1849. DAIRY FARMING.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 1, Issue 17, 16 August 1849, Page 1

THE MAORI MESSENGER. Auckland, August 16, 1849. DAIRY FARMING.

[Continued from our last.] The author, (from whose pages we have partly copied, partly varied, the instructions relative to an improved system of Dairy Farming), having disposed of the milk-house and other preliminary arrangements, proceeds to consider the operation of churning and hutter-making. I**- an extensive and well organized dvry, the churning-room should be under the same roof with the milk room, Laving a door of communication between tfaem, and with fire-place and boiler for washing, scalding, and cleaning the vessels. In scouring and preparing the cream vessels, the greatest care and cleanliness should be observed, as Uie 'quality of the butter mainly depends i thereon. Vesse's well scoured with clean river sand at a running stream, then well brushed and scalded, and exposed to the air after being rinsed with

cold water, will keep the milk to its own natural state of progressing to fermentation, give the butter a quality for keeping and a natural sweetness and flavour. When scoured, scalded, and cleansed, airing the vessels is]of more service than many are aware of, and for which purpose a stone bench, breast high, should be built near the milk-room, for the exposure of the vessels to the different currents of air, which will search and sweeten them exceedingly. Their outside, as well as inside, should be well scoured, and the iron hoops kept bright and clean to prevent rust, as it will more or less affect the milk, if allowed to accumulate.

Churns are of various forms, —upright, horizontal, and barrel shape. TJic former is generally a tall, comparatively narrow pail, with a tight htting Jicl, having a hole in the centre through which the staff of the churn-dash passes. A piece of circular wood, in which largo | holes are bored, is fixed at the lower end of this staff, and the cream being pon red into the pail, the staff continues to be worked up and down, until the agitation causes the butter and the milk to separate from each other. The horizontal churn is shaped like an oblong box, a shaft passing throughputs centre; from this shaft four breakers extend, and these, being turned by a spindle cause a separation of the butter in n manner nearly similar to the dashing stall*.

•Some barrel churns are worked in precisely the same way as tlic horizontal. Others, on the contrary have no internal agitators, but are worked by handles attached to the ends of tlic churn ;and turned several times as it were to the 'cast and west, and, then reversed and turned back again Pius producing a rotary motion or agitation inside, without breaking the mass of butter by any interior machinery. As barrel churns thus worked must be closely stopped, no external air can enter or visit the contents, 'nor can any escape when dilated or disengaged by the agitation of the machine- | In such case there must be a vent hole, with a small cork or peg to stop it, and this must be opened occasionaly to let o it the confined air which is disengaged from the substance inside. For small dairies this barrel churn would seem to be the best, for the purest butter will be made by churning the cream with a rotatory motion without an inside agitation, as the butter will more speedily collect and grow into a solid mass ; and because the particles will not bo broken or kept asunder by the action of the churn-dash or agitator. The disad»antage of the internal machinery is this:—the butter, from the time it begins to collect, or separate from the milk, until the operation isfinislud, is, at eveiy stroke, broken hy the clijrn-f'ash or agitator, and thus, by constant working acquires a toughness similar to that which is too much worked and toughened by the'\hands of an unskilful dairy maid; v whereas cream agitated by the motion of a churn, without any inside machine to break or work the mass of butter, must produce a substance superior, either for present use or keeping. This difference in point of quality may be determined in a very simple manner—namely, when the dash churn is ready for operation, take out about a pint and a half of the cream, put it in a quart bottle, then cork it, and hold it in a horizontal position between your hands; agitate the cream by a motion of the bottle to the right and left, as if rinsing it, until butter is produced, then compare it with a sample ot butter taken from the churn and the difference will be fairly ascertained. I Barrel churns, on oscillating principles,

would abridge labour in the operation < very considerably, as a vibrating or pen- I riulous motion might be given to one on that construction by a boy or girl, a large 1 qnantity of cream might be churned with i a very small share of labour, and the i butter so obtained would be of greater i Ditritv than if broken or worked by in- i i side machinery. Thus, if a barrel churn 1 were suspended from ft beam by ropes or i chains, the crenm could be agitated by n j ! pendulous motion of the churn from I rMit to left, or in any direction, without i labour above the reach of a school boy. : A rotatory motion can also be given to : the churn, ns the ropes hold it by handles at each end, and this rotntory motion should be given to it occasionally. The vent hole, as before stated, should be opened, to discharge the disengaged air, twice or thrice during the operation. By this new mode of churning a great portion of labour will be saved, which the common method requires ; and, besides, an uniformity in the agitation cannot be so well maintained by inside machinery as if on vibrating principles or pendulous* motion. This new mode of churning combines simplicity and effect; the person who works the churn may sit at ease and swing the vessel quick or slow, as the state of the weather may require; that is, in cold weather, a hasty motion, and, in warm weather, a less degree of agitation ; but an uniformity of motion should be kept up in such during the operation. In cold weather the churning process is, in general, very tedious, ns the milk doss not ferment or separate from the butter so readi'y as it would in mild weather, in which case it is the practice of some dairy owners to pour boiling water into the ' churn to promote a degree of heat and hasten separation; others use boiled new milk for the same purpose; but a regular degree of heat and a separation effected by a hasty action or agitation is far superior, as the butter is injured and brought into a state somewhat resembling curds, with a loss of colour caused by the immediate heat of boiling water or milk. Thus, by giving the cream an agitation according as the seasons ate hot or cold, the qua'ity of the butter may be preserved, and those artificial applications ayoided. To the length of time which the churning process requires there can be no fixed limits, as it entirely depends on the state of the cream and temperature of tho weather ; however, by practice and observation iiveach dairy establishment, the precise time may be very nearly ascertained, which will be extremely serviceable, as too much churning will give the butter a tougli clammy character, and, if not sufficiently churned, it will be weak, or, as it were without a body ; so, in either case there will be a deficiency which must be corrected by the best possible observations of the dairy manager, as no positive rule exists for a guide in this process. "When the churning operation is performed, the butter should be immediately taken from the churn and freed from the milk by spreading it on the bottom of a large shallow butter tray, with a gentle inclination to one side, where, through a hole level with the bottom, the milk drains off; this hole may, when necessary, be stopped with a cork or piece of wood. If the mass of butter be large, it should be divided, and the milk well pressed out, as on this part of the business the goodness of the butter greatly depends ; because, if any of the milky particles remain, the butter will surely suffer; therefore great care must be taken to clear it from milk, water, or anything else, and that with as little hand-labour as possible, to prepare it for the salt. Hard flat wooden pats are the best for this purpose. (To be continued.)