proper every means should be rendered to make it as complete and
perfect as possible; it is very different in regard to purchasers of
large quantities of Butter, who must take lots as they happen, and in
which very often a considerable part of them are very inferior to what
they ought to be, and to buyers of fresh Butter in Markets; who can see
and taste it before they buy, which is a caution to the makers to have
it well made, knowing it will be inspected before sold, those who put
it into Casks or Firkins, for distant sale, are apt not to be so very
careful about it. I have heard frequent enquiry by Cheese-mongers, or
dealers in Butter, what is the cause of Salt Butter being so subject to
get rank, strong tasted, or rancid, or what some people call a fishy
taste, which is a very great detriment to dealers in Butter, and the
cause of the complaint much wants to be known; being well acquainted
that the complaint is very frequent, has often led me to enquire into
the cause when an opportunity has offered, being lately conversing
with a person on the subject, he said it was very common in _Suffolk_
& _Yorkshire_, to heat the Milk before it was set up for Cream, which
is done in order to increase the quantity of Cream. It is well known
that every fat substance that is heated, will in course of time turn
rancid, or reezy, that when Butter, of the last year, or a year old, is
in the Cask through the Summer, the heat will affect it, and so far
as the heat gets into it, will reeze or become of a tallowy nature,
fat Bacon will reeze so far as the fat melts; and the heating of Milk
must certainly alter the nature of it, and in course of time will cause
the Butter to turn rancid, and ill tasted. I have heard it observed by
a person who is used to buy fresh Butter that was made of heated, or
clouted Cream, (which is a method much used in some parts of the South
of England) that it is very apt to get strong and will keep good but
a very little time. So that from all remarks I have been capable of
making, it seems clear to me that the badness or foulness of Butter, is
chiefly owing to the Milk being heated, and is a hint worth the enquiry
of the public, especially large dealers in Butter, in order that some
method may be taken to prevent an evil that is become so very prevalent.
A friend who has been much used to Dairying, lately communicated to me
a method to give Winter made Butter, which is often made from Fodder,
either Hay or Straw, the countenance and relish of Summer Butter,
made in the prime of the Season; which is done by taking the juice of
carrots, being bruised, or pounded to a pulp & then press’d or squeezed
out, putting it into the Cream before Churn’d. And also, a method to
take off the disagreeable taste of Butter made from Turnips, viz. let
your Cream be warmed and poured into a Tub or Pail of cold Water, then
skim the Cream off the Water, which will rise to the top, the same
as in Milk, and by this means leave the foul taste behind it in the
Water, this last method will much improve Whey Butter, taking off the
disagreeable sourness that often attends it, and by adding the juice of
carrots as above, will help its colour and give it an agreeable relish,
and by this means you may salt Whey Butter, down in pots, that will
do very well for paste in Winter. In a very sensible, and practical
Essay printed in the third Volume of the _Bath_ Society’s Letters and
Papers on Agriculture, &c. by _Mr. Hazard_, some useful remarks are
made on Dairying, and also on the Dairy-house, which he says, should
always be kept in the neatest order, and so situated, that the Windows
or Lattices never front the South, South-east or South-west; Lattices
are also prefer’d to Windows, as they admit a more free circulation
of Air, than glazed lights possible can do, and to prevent the cold
Air in Winter, a sliding frame coverd with oil’d cap paper, pasted on
packthread strained thereon, will admit the light and keep out the Sun
and Wind. It is hardly possible in the Summer to keep a Dairy-house too
cool, on which account none should be situated far from a good spring
or current of Water: They should be neatly paved with red brick or
smooth hard stone, and laid with a proper descent, so that no Water may
lodge, this pavement should be well wash’d in summer every day; and all
the Utensils belonging to the Dairy should be kept perfectly clean, nor
should the Churns even be suffer’d to be scalded in the Dairy as the
steam that arises from hot Water will injure the Milk, nor do I approve
of Cheese being kept therein, or Rennet for making Cheese, or having a
Cheese Press fixed in a Dairy, as the Whey and Curd will diffuse their
acidity throughout the Room. He is of opinion the proper receptacle for
Milk are Earthen-pans or Wooden-vats, but not lined with lead, as that
mineral certainly contains a poisonous quality and may in some degree
affect the Milk, but if people still persist in using them, he advises
that they never forget to scald them, scrub them well with salt and
Water and to dry them thoroughly before they deposit the Milk therein,
indeed all Utensils should be cleaned in like manner before they are
used, and if after this, they in the least degree smell sour, they
must undergo a second scrubbing before they are fit for use, he also
recommends Pans with a large-surface, or wide at top; during the Summer
Months he recommends skimming the Milk very early in the Morning before
the Dairy becomes warm, and not in the Evening till after Sun set;
churning he recommends to be done in a Morning before the Sun appears,
taking care to fix the churn where there is a free draft of Air, if a
pump churn be used it may be plunged a foot deep into a tub of cold
water to remain there the whole time of churning, which will very much
harden the Butter; a strong rancid flavour will be given to Butter, if
the churn be so near the fire as to heat the wood, in the Winter season.
After Butter is churned, it should be washed in many different waters
till it is perfectly cleansed from the Butter-milk, but he observes a
warm hand will soften it and make it appear greasey: The Cheese-mongers
use two pieces of Wood (or Spaddles) for their Butter, and if those who
have a very hot hand were to have such, they might work the Butter, so
as to make it more saleable.
Butter will require, and endure, more working in Winter than in Summer,
but he remarks he never knew any person, whose hand was warm by nature
make good Butter.
Those who use a pump churn must endeavour to keep a regular stroke, nor
should they admit any person to assist them, except they keep nearly
the same stroke, for if they churn more slowly, the Butter will in
Winter, go back, as it is called, and if the stroke be more quick and
violent, in the Summer it will cause a fermentation, by which means
the Butter will imbibe a very disagreeable flavor. Where many Cows are
kept, a barrel churn is preferable, but it requires to be kept very
clean or the bad effects will be discover’d in the Butter, to be fixt
in a warm place in Winter, and where there is a free Air in the Summer.
As many of my acquaintance wished to have an enlarged account, of the
Art of making Butter: I was very glad to have the opportunity, of
collecting these annex’d, which are most of them worthy observation,
and as I have before mention’d the method some people use in making
Butter from what is generally call’d clouted cream; I shall now give
you the process as laid down by _Mr. Hazard_.
“In the first place, they deposit their Milk in Earthen-pans in their
Dairy-house, and (after they have stood twelve Hours in the Summer, and
double that space in the Winter) they remove them to stoves made for
that purpose, which stoves are filled with hot embers; on these they
remain till bubbles rise, and the Cream changes its colour, it is then
deem’d heated enough, and this they call scalded Cream, it is afterward
removed steadily to the Dairy, where it remains twelve Hours more, and
is then skimmed from the Milk and put into a Tub or Churn, if it be put
into a Tub, it is beat well with the hand, and thus they obtain Butter,
but a cleanlier way is to make use of a Churn; some scald it over the
fire, but then the smoke is apt to affect it, and in either case if the
pans touch the fire, they will crack or fly, and the Milk and Cream be
wasted.”
Dairy-women are oft times much perplex’d when churning, by having the
Butter very long in coming, the cause of which I have never heard
properly explain’d, some think the Cream was too cold, sometimes it
is thought too hot, many observe that an irregular motion in churning
prevents its coming properly, as before remark’d by _Mr. Hazard_, but
there seems to be a more powerful chemical cause; from observing
common causes, I should imagine there is an alcaline salt in old Milk,
which sometimes overcomes the oily part of the Cream when agitated by
the motion of churning, so as to prevent the Butter, separating in
the churn, the cure for which seems to be, to reduce the alcali to a
neuteral state, which effect, Acids are known to have, or at least
alcalies on Acids, as is common; when Beer gets sour or much Acid, to
recover it by putting a little salt of Tartar, salt of Worm-wood or any
other powerful alcali into it, immediately recovers it to its usual
state, and neither the acid nor alcali are perceived in the Beer, being
made neuteral by their union.
I am much pleas’d to find my opinion seconded, and put in practice by
an anonimous Author in the _Bath_ Papers, who was very earnest to find
out a remedy that would hasten the operation in churning, and from a
very pertinent idea that led him to weigh the matter, seems to have
found out the real cause of the obstruction, met with in the work,
and also a remedy, which many Dairy-women will be very happy to be
inform’d of, as the Author justly observes, it will shorten the Labour
of many a weary Arm, and prevent much vexation to a multitude of good
House-wives.
He observes, that when the operation of churning had been going forward
for half a Day, he caused a little distilled Vinegar to be poured into
the churn, and the Butter was produced within an Hour afterwards.
He also remarks upon the subject, that if the supposition be admitted,
that the Cream of old Milk (and such is Milk for the most part in
Winter,) contains much stronger alcaline salt, or at least more of it
than new Milk does, then the effect of the Vinegar is readily accounted
for on the known principles of Chymistry, it is an acknowledged
property of alcalies to unite with oil into a saponaceous (or soapy)
mass, and to render them intimately miscible with water. But it is
likewise well known to chemists that there is a nearer affinity (as
they Term it) a much stronger elective attraction between acids and
alcalies than between alcalies and oils; consequently the acids being
mixed with the Cream, immediately attaches to itself the alcaline salt,
which is the bond of union, as we may call it, that holds together
the oleaginous (oily) and aqueous (watery) particles, and leaves them
easily separable from each other. It may perhaps be objected to this
mode of practice that the acid mixing with the Cream, would render the
Butter unpalatable; but this on experience I do not find to be the
case, and indeed I should not my self have expected it, as the Butter
is usually well washed in two or three changes of clean Water, by which
the whole of the acid is carried off, or if some few particles remain,
they are so few as not to be perceiv’d by the taste & perhaps have
rather a desirable effect than otherwise, by acting as an antiseptic,
(preventing putrefaction) and preventing the Butter from becoming
rancid so soon as it otherwise would do; he adds, my experiments
have not as yet ascertained the exact quantity of the acid which is
necessary to produce the proper effect, nor the precise time of its
being mix’d with the Cream. But I apprehend a table spoonful or two to
a gallon of Cream will be sufficient; nor would I recommend it to be
applied, till the Cream has undergone some considerable agitation.
After having so much interested myself in endeavouring the improvement
of Dairying, I am unwilling to take my final leave of it, without
adding my sincere wish, that the increase of Dairy-Farms, may meet with
every encouragement from the Public, as it appears to me, a matter of
the first consequence to this Nation. The price of Butter & Cheese
having so much increased within a few years, makes it quite necessary
to give every encouragement to the increase of Dairying, as it plainly
appears, there is not near a sufficiency of those Articles for general
use, and every endeavour to increase the quantity must be for the
Public good, if we only consider how large a quantity of Butter is
imported into England every Year, and yet the price still continues
to advance; it is astonishing to think that there is annually great
quantities of Grain of different kinds imported into the Kingdom, while
such a prodigious quantity of Land lies waste in commons or that are
of very little benefit to the community in general; also, how many
thousand People (both young and old) are now unemploy’d, who might
find sufficient support, if encouragement was given for improving of
Land for different purposes, and growth of numerous materials which
now takes our Money abroad, such as Rhubarb, Liquorish, Madder, Woad,
Teasels, Flax, Hemp, &c. As a plan for improvement in Husbandry, seems
much to prevail at present in this Kingdom, as if in emulation, to keep
pace with the Arts, and ingenuity discoverable in many of our capital
Manufactures in the present Age, so superior to those of former times
and which are still improving in a very great degree, so from the
various Societies connected in different parts of this Kingdom, for the
benefit and improvement of Agriculture, great knowledge is acquired
and made Public for the general advantage of community, and if the
same spirit would animate Gentlemen in common, who doubtless are the
people that will receive the greatest advantage from the inclosure of
commons, it would be a noble example, and discover a true patriotic
spirit, if they would undertake the improvement of the Lands, which
may be inclos’d, and who have it more in their power, especially where
small Farms are necessary, (than the peasant to whom they may be let,
and who, when they are made useful can perhaps best employ them for
the Public good,) they would then be well repaid for their trouble,
be setting a noble example to posterity, making a fortune for their
Family, at the same time they are enabling numbers to gain a livelihood
by their means, and what is there in Life that would more endear them
to their Country, than such a benevolent disposition. I have not a
doubt but the proportion of large Farms throughout this Kingdom is
too great for the small ones, and if the inclosure of commons should
take place, there would be a proper opportunity to equalize them, by
making a larger number of small Farms of different degrees, from 20
Acres to 50, from 50 to 100 and from 100 to 150, for tho’ it is from
large Farms, that our principal supply of provisions must arise, yet
it certainly is from the small Farms that our Markets are chiefly
supply’d with the common necessaries, such as Butter, Eggs, Fowls,
Pigs, Pigeons, Fruit and many other common necessaries of human Life,
and the more small and moderate siz’d Farms there are, the better will
all Markets be supplied. I have not a doubt but if Gentlemen would
undertake the management of new enclosures, great improvement might
be made from the Horse-hove, and drill Husbandry so much commended by
many of the _Bath_ Society correspondents, as well as those of _Arthur
Young, Esq._; and from the advantage proposed thereby of improving
Land by those methods, with very little manure, if Gentlemen would
thoroughly adopt that method upon a large scale of practice, doubtless
it would become universal, and from the great quantity of Seed proposed
to be saved by this method, and a larger crop produced, must in the
end be a very great advantage to this Nation; many may object, that
the inclosed commons, will very little of it become Dairy-Land for a
considerable time; yet it will certainly come in, in time, and the
more Arable Land is brought into use, certainly the greater proportion
of Grass Land may be spared for the Dairy. One great impediment to
inclosures is the great expence of Acts of Parliament, this might be
remedied in a great measure, if Government would grant one general
Act for inclosing commons throughout the Kingdom, under the direction
of County Committees, which might be appointed for that purpose at a
moderate expence, and fully answer the design, but as a hint at the
improvement, is the only thing I can advance toward it, yet, like the
Widows mite, I would not with hold it, as it may encourage more capable
Persons to take it in hand.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
_SOME ACCOUNT_, OF NOXIOUS, BITTER, and POISONOUS, PLANTS.
Ribwort, ribbed grass, black plantain or cock plant; this plant may
not properly be ranged among bitter plants, it not being bitter to
any great degree, but I have often thought upon examination, that the
bitterness in some Cheese more resembles the taste of this plant and
dandelion than any other whatsoever, and in barren soils they are apt
to prevail more than any other.
Arsmart, or lakeweed, is a bitter plant, well known; ’tis said to
produce an essential oil, or oil extracted by distillation, which I
should imagine more likely to affect the bitterness of Milk than colder
plants, it is apt to grow very strong after being mowed, and I have
not observed that Cows refuse or leave it untouched more than other
plants in common. I think this plant much more likely to cause the
bitterness of Butter in _Autumn_ than the falling leaves to which it is
generally referred, though many people are of opinion that Cows eating
ash leaves in _Autumn_, causes the bitterness in Butter.
Meadow sweet--is a bitterish plant that Cows are fond of, especially
the sort that grows on up-lands, commonly called drop-wort, the
meadow sweet of low-meadows is a sort they do not readily feed on where
there is plenty of Grass.
Centaury, lesser centaury or gentian, is an extream bitter plant, bears
a pale red blossom with many florets, or pips, on an upright stem in
old Pastures, blows from _June_ to _August_, I should imagine it must
be hurtful in Dairy-ground being a very penetrating bitter.
Hemlock, with stems and branches, spotted with brown, or black,
and white flower; the whole plant is poisonous, it grows in hedges,
orchards, or among rubbish, and is very common.
Henbane, with blossoms purple & brown--indented leaves, embracing or
cleaving to the stem, grows on road sides or among rubbish, the seeds,
roots, and leaves taken internally are all poisonous.
Nightshade, grows in moist brakes and hedges, with bluish blossoms,
sometimes inclined to flesh colour, sometimes white.
Deadly nightshade--dwale--or belladonna is the worst specie, growing in
woods, hedges, among lime-stone or rubbish; the stem is herbaceous or
of a herby nature, the leaves, spear, or halbert shaped, the flowers
of a bluish purple with a bright yellow thrum, chives, or pointal,
appearing like the snuff of an expiring Candle, the berries grow in
very handsome bunches, first green, then a fine red, next a beautiful
black, are very tempting to Children having cost many their Lives,
causing stupor, delirium, and convulsions, and are certain Death if not
prevented by timely and plentiful vomiting; this plant cannot be too
well known being so very common in most Countries, and so tempting,
both to Children and Cattle.
Cow-bane, water-virosa, or water-hemlock--with rundles or flower
branches opposite the leaves, leaf-stalks with blunt borders, with
about seven pair of little leaves, which are variously divided and
indented, petals, or leaf of the flower, yellowish pale green, grows
in shallow waters, is a perennial plant, or that continues from year
to year, blows in _July_; this is one of the rankest of our vegetable
poisons; numerous instances are recorded of its Fatality to the human
species; an account of it may be seen and an engraving in Martin’s
Philosophical Transactions, Vol. 10. Early in the spring when it grows
in the water, Cows often eat it and are killed by it, but as the Summer
advances and its smell becomes stronger, they carefully avoid it;
though a certain fatal poison to Cows, Goats devour it greedily and
with impunity, Horses and Sheep eat it with safety.
Cow-weed, or wild Cecily, grows in hedges, blows in _May_, or _June_,
with white flowers, roots like a Parsnip, and is very poisonous.
Water-wort, Water-hemlock, or Water-skeleton, is esteem’d a fatal
poison to Horses, occasioning them to become paralytick, which is owing
to an insect called _Curcutia Paraplecticus_, which generally inhabits
within the stem; the usual antidote is pig’s dung, the branches of the
leaves stradling--stem very thick, hollow, scored, petals or flowers
white, grows in rivers, ditches and pools, blossoms in _June_; in the
Winter the roots and stem dissected by the influence of the weather,
afford a curious skeleton, or network.
Kex, or water-parsnip, with white flowers in _July_ or _August_, grows
in rivers and fens, is very noxious to Cattle; also the lesser Kex
called upright water-parsnip, in rivers and ditches, is very common;
blossoms in _July_ and _August_, leaves halbert shaped, rundles or
flower-branch opposite the leaves.
Drop-wort, or dead tongue, grows on the banks of rivers, bears a white
flower in _June_, the petals or leaves of the flower sharp--bent
inwards, tips purple or brown--the whole of this plant is poisonous,
the stem is a yellowish red, the leaves smooth, streaked, jagged at
the edges, the root is the rankest and most virulent of all vegetable
poisons.
Mithridate--or penny-cress, grows in corn fields with oblong leaves,
toothed, smooth, white blossoms; the whole plant has something of a
garlick flavour, the seeds have the acrimony or sharpness of mustard;
Cows are rather fond of it, and I should think their Milk is often
affected by it.
Penny-wort, or white-rot, grows in marshy springy ground, with a pale
red flower, blows in _May_; many Farmers suppose it occasions the rot
in Sheep, but I should expect that complaint proceeds from a very
different cause; though, if flowks that are supposed to be the certain
cause of the Rot, or the spawn of them, are taken in with the food
of Sheep, as some imagine, it is possible the Ova, or Eggs of this
Insect may be deposited in this plant, which to know, may be worth the
Farmer’s enquiry.
_Some Account of the_ RUNNET-PLANT.
Yellow Verum--Goose-grass; the Leaves growing by eights, or eight
leaves round the stem, strap-shaped--furrowed--the flowering branches
short, blossoms yellow.
English Names, are yellow ladies bed-straw or Cheese Renning, or
petty muguet; it grows in dry ground, on road sides, very common, is
perennial, blows in _July_ or _August_. The flowers will coagulate
boiling Milk, and some _Cheshire_ Cheese is said to be made with them;
according to an experiment from _Borrchius_ they yield an Acid by
distillation. The _French_ prescribe them in hysterick and epileptick
cases, boiled in Allum-water they tinge wool yellow, the roots dye a
very fine red, not inferior to Madder and are used for this purpose in
the _Island_ of _Jura_. See _Pennant’s Tour_, 1772, Page 214. Sheep and
Goats eat it, Horses and Swine refuse it, Cows are not fond of it. If
the roots will answer the same purpose as Madder it highly merits the
observation of _Calico Printers_ and others, who use large quantities
of that Article, as it is the most common weed, and what in the month
of _July_, there is more of, than any other weed, and if the flowers
will dye yellow, and make Cheese, it must be a very valuable Plant and
be a great help to the Poor to collect it, as it grows on all road
sides, old pastures and hedges in great abundance.
I have omitted giving the Latin names of Plants, not having sufficient
knowledge in that Language; but such of my learned readers who with for
that addition, may refer either to _Dr. Withering’s_, or other books on
_Botany_, to _Chambers_, _Croker_, or other Dictionaries.
_FINIS._
[Illustration]
INDEX.
A.
Page.
Annatto, 68
Arsmart, 95, 135
Alcaline, 127
B.
Bulged Cheese, 58
Blister’d Ditto, 35
Blue-pared Ditto, 52, 85
Brine drippings, 43
Bull Cheese, 45
Breaking-curd, 48, 49, 86
Bitter Cheese, 95
Breeders of Cows, 101
Butter, 116
Brick-bat Cheese, 63
C.
Curd, 14, 90
Cow described, 17
Curdly Cheese, 59
Cream Cheese, 64
Colouring Cheese, 66, 71
Cheese from poor Land, 88
---- from Clover, 94
---- from any Land, 79
Cheese-Powder, 56
Cheese Press, 98
Cheese Vats, 108
Centaury, 136
Cow-Bane, 138
Cow-Weed, 139
Chill Cheese, 31, 65
Cochineal, 72
Correspondence, 90, 109
Cheese Chamber, 104
D.
Dry Cracks, 12, 59, 84
Dairy-women, 11, 15, 72
Dairying, 16
Dairy-Ground, 26
Drop-Wort, 140
Dairy-House, 122
E.