put in cold
water, we put in hot we put in salt, we talked of adding vinegar, but
did not; we churned as fast as we could turn the handle, and then as
slowly as possible, but still no butter. At the end of more than four
hours our labors were rewarded. The butter came; strong, rank stuff it
was.

We determined before the next churning day to try and find out the
reason of all this trouble. We once more took to our books, but were
none the wiser, for none of them told us anything about the particular
thing we searched for. After many experiments we tried the effect of
bringing the cream into the kitchen over night, and see if warmth
would make any difference. It was guess-work for two or three
churnings, but the discovery was made at last, that we were always
sure of our butter in half an hour, provided the cream was, when put
into the churn, at a temperature of from 50' to 60'.* [We kept a small
thermometer for the purpose of plunging into the cream-pot. If it was
lower than 55' we waited till it reached that degree: if the weather
was very warm, and it rose higher than we have specified, we did not
attempt to churn till by some means we had lowered it to the proper
temperature.] No matter how long the cow had calved, how hot or how
cold the weather, if we put the cream into the churn at that degree of
heat the butter was sure to come, in as near as possible the time we
have specified.

This, in the winter, was effected by bringing the cream-pot into the
kitchen over night, and if the weather was very cold, placing it on a
chair a moderate distance from the fire for about a quarter of an hour
in the morning: boiling water was likewise put into the churn for half
an hour before it was used.

Now, no doubt, a regular dairymaid would "turn up her nose" at all
these details; but I do not write for those who know their business,
but for the benefit of those ladies who, as is now so much the custom,
reside a few miles from the city or town in which the business or
profession their husbands may be situated. In many cases they take
with them town-bred servants to a country residence; and then, like
ourselves, find they know nothing whatever of the duties required of
them. To those who have several acres of pasture land, of course this
little book is all "bosh." They employ servants who know their work
and perform it properly; but most "suburbans" require the cook to
undertake the duties of the dairy, and unless they are reg