720 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Mr. Martin: 1 can not get along without a commercial starter. I use 

 them all the time. 



Mr. HQlloway: Have you any special choice as to kind? 



Mr. Martin: AVell, no. I thinli they are all good. I think when a 

 man gets used to one kind it is better for him to stand by it, and use 

 it all the time. 



Mr. Hollo way: How long will a commercial starter last for you? 



Mr. Martin: I do not like to use theip too long. They sometimes get 

 slimy after they get too old. It seems to me it loses its life. 



■ Mr. Holloway: How long can you carry a starter without getting a 

 new one with good results? 



Mr. Martin: Well, I have carried them from one day to six weeks. 

 It all depends on the starter. Some of them are not right when you get 

 them. Of course as soon as you try them the first time you can tell 

 whether it is right or not. I have sometimes used a starter for six weeks 

 with pretty good results, but I would not advise you to try it, but I have 

 done It myself. 



Mr. Holloway: Haven't I heard of persons using a starter for six 

 months? It seems to me so. 



Mi*. Slater: I made that statement myself and I think I have done 

 a good deal of harm by saying that. I went to a creamery this fall, and 

 the man was putting a starter into his cream. You could smell it before 

 you got to it. I told him it would spoil the butter, and he informed 

 me that I had said a starter could be used six months and he had used 

 it only four or five months. Now, this starter would have spoiled any 

 butter that you inoculated with it. I am very sorry I made such a 

 statement and am ti-ying to correct it now. 



Mr. Hursh: I have a ripening vat, and we separate our cream into 

 four different cans six inches in diameter, and when we get ready we 

 put the cream into a ripening vat and turn on the steam until it reaches 

 about seventy-five degrees. This is necessary this time of j'ear. When 

 it is ripened sufficiently we cool it down possibly 12 hours befoi'e churn- 

 ing. We do not put in any starter, possibly it would be better if we did. 

 but would you advise it imder these circumstances? 



Mr. Martin: I would not advise any one to leave the starter alone. 

 I do not think there is a piece of butter Imt what would ho benefited 

 about two points by the use of a good starter. 



President Johnson: Well two points are certainly of value. 



