New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 129 



This mixture of germs, wlien received from a laboratory, is 

 introduced into milk that has been first heated to near the boiling 

 point for 2 hours to kill other bacteria and then cooled below blood 

 heat. This starter is propagated from day to day with so much 

 care that at the end of four to six weeks, when it is finally rejected 

 for a new one, the usual fault with it is merely a too sharp flavor 

 of acid. 



The preparation of the cream begins ^vith cleanliness in the 

 barn. Either the whole milk or the cream after separation is 

 heated to free it of objectionable forms before receiving the 

 starter. This heating is only momentary and various temperatures 

 are advocated — those from 70° C (158° F.) to 95° C. (203° F.) 

 having been used. After heating, the cream is quickly and thor- 

 oughly cooled. Formerly cream was heated after separation, both 

 for economy and because of less opportunity for after-contami- 

 nation. 



A knowledge of the increase in feeding value produced by pro- 

 longing the period of sweetness, and, later, a desire to prevent 

 the spread of tuberculosis among their calves, caused the skim 

 milk to be heated above 85° C. (185° F.). Since it has been 

 found that the capacity of the separator is increased by skimming 

 at high temperatures and that whole milk can be heated to 00° C. 

 (104° F.) without injury to the flavor of the butter, there is a 

 tendency toward a single heating of the whole milk. 



The points of excellence claimed for the Danish product are 

 uniformly good quality and the property of holding its flavor for 

 long periods. 



the AMERICAN SITUATION. 



Butter is now selling at from 11 to 28 cents per pound, with 

 less tlian 15 per ct- of the product bringing tlie latter price. The 

 quality of the best butter i? above reproach, but the lamentable 

 thing is the lack of quantity of such butter. So great is this lack 



9 



