JOTTINGS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1163, 15 June 1894, Page 6

JOTTINGS.

A Canadian dairy expert says : " The white spots or streaks found so often in butter are neither salt nor curds. There is more affinity between salt or curds and butter than there is between oil and water. You may occasionally find a lump of salt or a small flake" of casein in butter, but not enough of either to make any more than a speck, and if allowed to escape will do so. The only cause of this trouble is overheat, which destroys the life, grain and flavour of the butter, and explains why dealers do not like it, although they may not be able to state why. If after the cream is skimmed it is not properly held so that it will fully mature, the globule is not full, and some artificial means must be used to expand it and to bring about the result which Nature intended to do herself. This is usually done by placing the cream can by the stove and warming it to the desired temperature, or by pouring warm water in the churn. In either case the part of the cream on the outside nearest the stove, or that the hot water strikes first, is killed or partially destroyed and will make white butter, and if all of it had been subjected to the same degree of heat, it would have all been alike. With proper appliances the cream may be held to avoid this, and at the same time get rid of ths lactic acid, which is the destroyer of butter material."

The whole process of steiilizing milk is to heat it to a degree high enough to kill all the germs of living things in it. Pasteurizing is killing, by several heatings, the growing bacteria, which die at a lower temperature. If milk bo heated to 155 degrees F. and held at that temperature for a few minutes and then cooled immediately, not slowly, enough of the injurious germs will be killed for all practical purposes. The milk should be put in a tin can with something on the bottom to keep the can from coming directly in contact with the stove heat. Then put it in a pot of water to the full height of the milk. Keep it well stirred, and when the temperature rises to between 155 and 165 degrees take the milk and water off the stove and allow the milk to stay in the water five or ten minutes, then take it out and cool it to 60 degrees with ice or cold water.

If the animal is handled kindly from calfhood, and the proper kind of person milks her—one who has sense enough to control his temper—there will be very little probability of the animal developing the kicking habit. If the cow's-udder is sore, or if one handles tender teats too roughly, the cow is liable to kick. If she does, it will be wise to handle her more kindly and more gently, lest she repeat the kicking so many times that it becomes a habit, nothing may serve to cure her. Young heifers, which have just dropped their calves, may kick occasionally at the beginning ; and if the milker kicks her back, or strikes, or scolds her roughly, the chances are that the evil will be aggravated, and the cow ruined. Gentleness and kindness with dairy cows is the best plan to avoid having kicking cows. But there are frequent instances where the kicking propensity seems to be transmitted in the breeding from dam to offspring, and in such cases it will be a hard matter to effect a cure. As a rule, however, kicking cows are the result of ignorant and brutal treatment by those having them in charge, and entrusted with their training. The Bruce Herald, in speaking of the closing of the local butter factory for the season, says that the business has been about an average but the full returns are not yet available ; still we may say that the quality of the factory's product is fully maintained. Twenty tons of cheese went to the Old Country in the Duke of Westminister and, notwithstanding the test it was subjected to of a protracted voyage, it arrived in excellent condition and realised £6O a ton, something approaching top price. Six tons were also sent away in the Tongariro the other day and if all goes well with the steamer the shipment should realise a high figure. Messrs J. Gray and Son inform us that that will be the last consignment to the English market this season, for although there is a large stock still on hand every pound of it will be required for the large and increasing local demand. We are sorry I to say that the factory is not supplied with milk to its full capacity by quite ono third. This entails a loss in more wavs than one. In the first place more

milk means a larger production and an enhanced money return, and in the second a better price would be paid for milk.