IMPROVEMENTS IN BUTTER MAKING.

Waikato Times, Volume XI, Issue 886, 26 February 1878, Page 2

IMPROVEMENTS IN BUTTER MAKING.

Below we give the process of Mr Edward Burnett, of Soutborough, Mass, from the « American Cultivator,' which says it has proved a complete success m the writer's dairy management^ enabling him to average one pound of butter from seventeen pounds of, the milk of kis whole herd, a decided improvement over any method previously tried by him, and a remarkable advance over the requisite amount of of milk required m Massachusetts, Vermont, and .New York to produce the average pound of butter, which is fully twenty-live ponuds. Our contemporary understands hat Mr Burnett, the originator, claims no patent on his system. In relation to the process it say :— The arrange cents consist of a uiimber of i tin pails eight inches la diameter and twenty inches m depth, holding eighteen qmrts.each, which are set m a sink or basin, holding ten pails more or leas. The basin ia provided with, round holes, exactly corresponding m diameter with the tin" pal a ; twelve inches m length of the latter project below the bottom of the basin and eight inches remain above, ihe top being covered with an ice chamber, holding, 200 pounds of ice, the amount ooiisumed daily at ',_Mr. Bennett's. Tue ice chamber is mbun etf on a little truck, so that it may be easily .noved bade and forth, and, when properly rested m place, locked by spring ciampd, making the sink chamber nearly air-tight. ' The ioa melts into the basin but not into the milk, while the, temperature of the water remains at 45 to 50 degs. F. The natural temperature of the milk when poured into the pails is 92 to 96 degrees P. The ».ze of the chamber is. two ani onehalf by five feet ; the sink, m this case holding ten pails, is capable of handing 360 quarts of milk m twenty four hours, since the cream rises and is removed every tea hours. The whole theory, which is one of great simplicity, and will suggest itself to the practical naind at onoe, is that tho effect of reducing the temperature of the upper part of the pail and its contents 45 degrees below that of the lower end of the pail, and the natural heat of >.the milk, is to induce a rapid circulation among all the component parts of the fluid, on the same principle. that prevails m the boiling of water/; heated particles arise, and their place is filled by those of a lower temperature. During this rapidly increased circulation, ' every particle of cream is soon brought near tha top, and since its specific gravity is lighter than that of the bulk of the milk, it remains a.t the surface and accumulates much more rapidly than it would do; without, this enforced circulation. r ' ' Mr Burnett depends . upon the temperature of the atmosphere for the effect on the lower part of the pail, yet we should think m cold weather some artificial means. like heated water, steam-pipes, or other method of retaining the warmth would be necessary to the uniform working of the familiar principle of circulation.