316 Bliieau of Faumeks' Institutes. 



condition. In Denmark, experiments were made with 1-50 cows, 

 for the purpose of ascertaininfjj whether butter fat could be fed 

 into the milk of cows kept up to their normal working condition; 

 the result showed that it could not. 



Which make of cream separator will leave the highest per cent, of fat 

 In cream; that is, which will leave it the thickest, and what ought the per 

 cent, of fat to be in centrifugal separator cream? 



Mr. Cook. — There are two or three good kinds. The De Laval, 

 United States, Sharpless and others. A separator should skim 

 very close, at the same time it should leave a cream having about 

 35 per cent, of butter fat. 



Do you advise the use of a commercial starter for the ripening of cream? 



Mr. Van Wagenen. — I suppose the most of you know what a 

 commercial starter is. The theory of the starter is that we may 

 always have the bacteria necessary to ripen the cream. When the 

 milk is frozen, commercial starters are as a rule the best, because 

 they are free from gas and are clean. There are two or three of 

 them on the market, but I do not know that they are any better 

 than a home-made starter made from pure, clean milk slightly 

 soured. 



Mr. Cook. — I would no more think of getting along without a 

 commercial starter than I would without rennet for making 

 cheese. A home-made starter is just as good when made of the 

 milk from one cow, which has been heated up to 170 or 180 

 degrees to kill all the germs in it, held there for half an hour 

 or more, then cooled down to 70 degrees and allowed to stand 

 until it is slightly acid. 



Mr. Van Wagenen. — The starter is almost universally in use in 

 Denmark. 



Why does it take so much more churning at some times, to get the 

 butter from the cream from the same cows, than at others? 



Mr. Cook. — As a rule, the trouble all lies in the failure prop- 

 erly to ripen the cream. It will not churn unless it has been 

 properly ripened and mixed. No matter how it was raised. The 

 best way is to take a quart of milk from your best cow; have it 

 pure and clean; set it away and allow it to become slightly sour; 



