622 BOAUD or agriculture. 



to t'lmin. I find that aliout 72 or 75 dogrrees will bo about the right tem- 

 peniture to havf the creaiu start to ripen, if it is about lOcc acidity, and 

 hold it at thai till it has about 27cc. and then cool down gradually to 

 wlu-re you want it to churn. But in the summer the milk is generally 

 warm enough, and as a general rule is tainted more or less, and the first 

 tiling we have to lou]< nltei- is to get it cooled down, so that it does 

 rot get too sour, especially where you have several skimming stations 

 and the cream does not get in till al)out five o'clock. Your cream, as 

 a general rule, has developed enough acidity that you would not need 

 any starter. I think a starter is a good thing if you can get your cream 

 in fair shape and then use a grod starter. I can not see why one could 

 not get a more uniform (luality and better flavored butter than where 

 one does not use a starter. 



What per cent, of cream is the best to get a good quality of l)Utter? 

 That depends a great deal on the condition you have for getting the 

 cream at the factory. Itind that a thirty of thirty-five per cent, cream 

 is none too heavy, especially in the summer; the process of ripening is 

 slower, consequently there is less danger of developing too much acid 

 in the cream and it will ripen better, churn more readily and produce a 

 better flavored butter. 



A cream containing but twenty or twentj^-five per cent, fat often 

 brings very unsatisfactory results; it is liable to become over ripe, thus 

 injuring the flavor of the butter. There is less danger of affecting the 

 quality of the butter from running a light cream in the winter than there 

 is in the summer, the process of ripening is slower, consequently there is 

 less danger of developing too much acid in the cream. 



This is perhaps the most important factor in butlermaking. and the 

 one most difticult to explain, as no method of procedure can be recom- 

 mended that will be found applicable to all conditions. In ripening cream 

 properly, much depends upon the experience and judgment of the butter- 

 maker. Methods that may bring the best results obtainable at one time 

 may be altogether unsatisfactory at another; therefore an understanding 

 of all conditions present is necessar.v, before any particular system of 

 ripening can be recommended. Here is where the best qualifications of 

 the buttermaker are brought into requisition. A failure at this point 

 in buttermaking can never be entirely remedied; the influence of impure 

 milk, improper cooling, etc., may be at least partially corrected; but an 

 error in ripening the cream is sure to manifest itself in the impaired 

 qiiality of the l)utter produced. The chief factor in good butter is the 

 flavor. Other defects may be, to a certain extent, condoned or passed 

 by, but a bad flavor never. It is by the proper ripening of cream more 

 than anything else that good flavor is obtained; to be sure other factors 

 exert an influence, but the flavor of butter, whether good or bad, is 

 largely controlled by the acidity of the cream at the time of churning. 

 Acid, like charity, covers a multitude of sins. Therefore many of tti^ 



