as lately been shown to possess very antiseptic properties.

The mixing of the salt with the butter is effected in the following
manner:--The butter, after being well washed, in order to free it from
the butter-milk, is spread out in a tub, and the salt shaken over it;
the butter is then turned over on the salt by the lower part of the palm
of the hand, and rubbed down until a uniform mixture is attained. A good
plan in salting is to mix in only one half of the quantity of salt, make
up the butter in lumps, and set them aside until the following day; a
quantity of milk is certain to exude, which is to be poured off, and
then the rest of the salt may be incorporated with the butter.

According to butter-makers, the quality of the article is greatly
dependent on the quality of the salt used in preserving it. I think
there is a good deal of truth in this belief, and I therefore recommend
that only the very best and _driest_ salt should be used in the dairy.
Common salt is essentially composed of the substance termed by chemists
chloride of sodium, but it often contains other saline matters (chloride
of magnesium, &c.), some of which have a tendency to absorb moisture
from the air, and to dissolve in the water so obtained. These salts are
termed _deliquescent_, from the Latin _deliquere_, to melt down. When,
therefore, common salt becomes damp by mere exposure to the air, it is
to be inferred that it contains impurities which, as they possess a very
bitter taste, would, if mixed with butter, confer a bad flavor upon it.
The impurities of salt may be almost completely removed by placing about
a stone weight of it in any convenient vessel, pouring over it a quart
of boiling water, and mixing thoroughly the fluid and solid. In an hour
or two the whole is to be thrown upon a filter made of calico, when the
water will pass through the filter, carrying with it all the impurities,
and the purified salt, in fine crystals, will remain upon the filter.
The solution need not be thrown away: boiled down to dryness it may be
given as salt to cattle; or, if added in solution to the dung-heap, it
will augment the fertilising power of that manure.

The proportion of salt used in preserving butter varies greatly. When
the butter is intended for immediate use, I believe a quarter of an
ounce of salt to the pound is quite sufficient; but when designed for
the market, about half an ounce of salt to the pound of butter will be
sufficient. Iris