200 AGRICUI^TURH; OF MAINE. 



each part of the work under its proper heading, and as the 

 department is charged specifically with certain duties as to the 

 methods of manufacture adopted by creameries and cheese fac- 

 tories, I will take up the inspection of creameries first. 



INSPECTION OF CREAMERIES. 



During the past nine months I have visited 38 creameries, 

 eight of which I was called for various reasons to visit the 

 second time. The amount of the product received at the cream- 

 eries remains about the same on the average, some creameries 

 reporting a slight decrease and others reporting an increase, 

 but the really encouraging thing brought out by these visits was 

 the very small amount of cream being received that is defective 

 for sweet cream purposes. I believe, from the information I 

 was able to gather, that the defective cream will not exceed 5 

 per cent of the total volume received. There has been a con- 

 stant progress made along the line of better quality. Primarily 

 this has been brought about through the grading of cream as 

 it is received at the creamery, thus emphasizing to the producer 

 the importance of quality. That he has given his active 

 co-operation, the results attest. The amount of butter made, 

 in comparison with the sweet cream sold is each year growing 

 less and less. The high prices realized for butter during the 

 past year, have, however, tempted some creameries to manu- 

 facture and sell more than they have for several years. The 

 products of the creameries are being sold in Maine, New Hamp- 

 shire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The demand in Mass- 

 achusetts for Maine cream is increasing each year. Quite a 

 number of our creameries are shipping large quantities of milk 

 into Massachusetts each year. A ready market is also being 

 found for skim-milk and buttermilk, at good prices. I am 

 convinced that more and more will there be a demand for Maine 

 milk and that gradually many of our farmers will change over 

 from the selling of cream to the selling of milk. The proper 

 collection of milk and cream is receiving considerable attention 

 and the general trend is toward the use of the individual cans, 

 which I believe to be a move in the right direction. 



As a whole the methods used in taking, preserving and 

 testing the samples of milk and cream are very satisfactory. 



