Address on Butter-Making. 353 



the successful running of a dairy, for the production of milk and 

 the manufacture of butter and cheese from that milk. It is diffi- 

 cult, in very many cases, to get as good conditions as are desired, 

 owing to surroundings which are not easily controlled. In order 

 to overcome this as far as possible and make the business a suc- 

 cess, there must be a better understanding between the farmer 

 and the creameryman than there is at the present time, in most 

 instances. While it is true, in many places, they are working 

 together, and, where they do, they are making a success of the 

 business, in many of the places where they are failing, it is 

 because the farmer and the creameryman fail to see the necessity 

 of thorough co-operation at every point to secure satisfactory 

 results. One trouble is that when the farmer kept the milk 

 at home and made it up himself he knew that if he succeeded he 

 must do certain things and do them well; if he did not, there 

 would be trouble, and he would have to stand the loss. When he 

 came to take his milk to the creamery for another man to work 

 up, in many cases he lost sight of the approved plan of the 

 up-to-date dairyman in care of milk and method of manufacture. 

 In fact, work to secure the most comprehensive knowledge possi- 

 ble of modern dairy practice. 



One of the things we want to remember is, that the weakest 

 link in the chain is the test of the strength of that chain. In 

 other words, if one man neglects his business, doesn't take good 

 care of his milk, he is going to determine the success or failure of 

 that creamery. You may say, " Oh, I don't know about that; I 

 hardly believe it; maybe there is a little bit of bad milk there; but 

 when you mix it up with the rest, it isn't going to do any harm." 

 But, let me tell you, this is just where you will get the bacteria. 

 Now, for a few minutes, I am going to talk to you about some of 

 the troubles that come to dairymen through bacteria. 



Many farmers have strange ideas about what bacteria arc 

 They have very peculiar ideas about milk anyway — that is, some 

 of them. They think that if they give the milk ordinary care 

 it is all right. Let me illustrate a little: At the station at 

 Geneva we have been working and experimenting with milk, and 

 we find that in our milk, taking good care of it, making the 

 conditions reasonably good — not as good as we could, but ordi- 

 narily — in a cubic centimeter of milk, which is about a half tea- 

 spoonful, there is about 8,000 of these minute plants. Bacteria 

 are not animals; they are very minute plants --the lowest order 

 of vegetable life. They grow very rapidly. When they went to 

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