A manual of home-making

Butter ran be laid down during the sumnaer season t4) gmi eatisfaetory supply for winter use. Sweet cream of good qtmliqr should be useib It shoultl lie pasteurised by keeping the cok tainer in hot water for 30miiuUesat a temperature of 145* F. The cream should be stirretJ fretjuently during the proc«B. b should then be eooleti to approximately .50*^ F, It i^ importiuit that the Initter should he nuuli* from sweet cream rather tbin from sour eream, since the keeping quality of sweet-cream butter is lietter. This cream shoo hi be chiu'ned in the usual way, and the butter should contain the tisual amount of salt. It tn^j bt packed solid in stone jars, or it may be made into pound pri« and packed in jai-s, either with or without the reguhir ment pajjcr wrappers. The jars should he thorougldy i«i*aklfd and free from taint or odors. The butter should then lie com- pletely covered with a salt solution in which the amount of foli used is al)oot one-fourth the weight of the water. A larf^ plate or a header made of some odorless wood should l>e pUral on the butter. Cle^n stones or bricks may \ye used to wetgbt it. The butter must be kept covere<l with the brine solutiocu Butter packet! in this way and stored in a cool celhir should all winter. Persons who are not making; their own butter can secure factory results by getting fresh butter made from sweot L r FOOD PRESERVATION 583 Wm m and packinpj it as (ies€riljpcl. Such butter may l)o obtained of I iiear-l)y creameries in wholesale lots. The best time to buy is from the middle of May to the middle of July. Siorage of fruit* Fruit should be picked carefully and without braising, and should be i^laeeil in storage as soon as possilile. It may be packed in l)arrels or boxes or placed in open trays. When the latter method is used and it is de?ired to keep the fruit in particularly fine eonditioUp the specimens should not be allowed to touch one another. Apples that are to be kept for a con- {?iderable time^ whether ex- posed or in ]>aekages, should be wrapped separately. Light manila wrappers, 10 by 10 inches, may be used. Fruit stored in the cellar fre- quently does not keep well; it either shrivels or liecomes spongj' and decays. This fault, w^hich often lie8 in the storage room, may be corrected wholJy or in part- A fruit cellar should be well ventilateiL The prin- ciple of physics that warm air rises and cool air settles, is applicable Iiere. Warm air should be pennitted to pass nyr at the top of the room through vent- ilatoi-s, and cool air from outside should be admitted to the room at the bottom (Fig. 121). In a cellar this can be accom- plishetl by means of a shaft leading down the wall from a window and opening near the floor. A few windo^vs at the top of the wall constitute the system of ventilation for most * C, S. Wilfton, Comt'll Reading-Course for the Farm Home, Bull, 31. rn •^'S. Fta. 121. — Cellar ventilation. 584 A MANUAL OF HOME-MAKING farm cellars. Although this arrangement is ufceptad as m ficient and in many rases gives fairly gocw! siitisfartifm. tempera tiiro eannot be kept sq nearly uniform and correct when intake shafts are used.