384 FARMERS' INSTITUTES, 



Mr. Neil McCallum : I took some butter lately to Muskegon, where it sold 

 from 16 to 20 cents and retailed from 25 to 30 cents. 



Mrs. Hall : There is a creamery at Whitehall and when we can get.but a 

 shilling they get 20 and 25 cents. At Whitehall each family has a small 

 creamery at home. The cream is weighed when taken from the houses and 

 the farmers say they are making a good thing of it. 



Mr. Jno. Brotherton : I don't think butter pays at present prices and 

 would be glad to see a creamery or cheese factory started here. If neighbors 

 club together to make cheese 1 believe there is more money in it than in 

 butter. I would increase my stock of cows in such case. 



Dr. McNabb: I approve of the creamery idea to abolish this nuisance of 

 churning at home. I took my first lesson in swearing at that business — not 

 aloud, because I would have got licked. 



Mr. Wilsey : Having a creamery or cheese factory involves a large increase 

 in the number of our cattle ; and feed will have to be found for these addi- 

 tional animals. Can any one here give figures of cost of keeping these cattle 

 and the relation of that to the proceeds. What is the cost of wintering, the 

 cost of pasturing, the cost of marketing, etc., and what is the profit left? I 

 find cheese much more profitable than butter. 



Dr. NcNabb: I think it takes no more fodder to keep a big animal than a 

 little one. I can sit down at table with a great big man and eat three times 

 what he will. 



Prof. Johnson : Cheese now brings eleven cents per pound, and butter 

 carefully made and sold brings twenty-five cents, and it is true that a given 

 quantity of milk will make two and one-half times as much cheese as butter. 

 I think that part of the low price for dairy products is due to lack of care in 

 marketing. At these figures, and calling skim milk worth half a cent per 

 pound, the point is in favor of creameries instead of cheese making, espe- 

 cially considering that the former takes the labor out of the family. As to 

 profit and loss account of stock raising. Is it not better than wheat raising? 

 Winter dairying would be profitable. More of our cows should be in milk in 

 winter. The home market for butter, etc., should be developed. 



At Charlotte Mr. Nye said: We have tried a creamery one season. Ice 

 gives an additional advantage of one-third to one-half, by giving a uniform 

 temperature so that you get more cream. The cabinet ci^eameries are the 

 best, but they are too expensive for most farmers. Milk should not be 

 chilled too suddenly. A creamery provides ventilation. This is very neces- 

 sary. It keeps an even temperature, more so than tanks in winter. In our , 

 house we set in pans ; that plan is better where women do the work, as cans 

 are too heavy. I don't know the average price of cream, but from April 

 19th-our cows paid us over 818 apiece for cream. The price in April was 20 

 cents per gauge. If cream is raised with ice one gauge gives one pound of 

 butter. If with water one gauge gives more than one pound of butter, i. e., 

 we get more and thinner cream by usmg ice. 



Mr. Hallenbeck of Vermontville: We skim into the churn and let it 

 stand in cold water 24 hours. Then add a teacupful of old buttermilk to 

 four gallons of cream; heat to 80° till slightly acid, cool down to 62° and 

 churn. By that method I can get butter in 15 minutes. At 50° I would 

 have to churn an hour. 



Mr. Childs : I have had one season's experience selling to a creamery aa 

 follows: — 



