214 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



12.8 per cent, graded "extras." This indicates that there is much 

 need of inij)rovo'i"(Mit in cjuahty of cream used by the creameries and 

 also in the wor' m iisliip m the creameries. 



All encourage] lien t possible has been given to the practice of jading 

 cream, so that a first-class cream may be separated from the mferior 

 cream and paid for according to quality. Twenty-eight creameries, 

 located in 9 difl'crent States, report that they are grading their cream 

 with good results. An experiment, begun early in the wmter of 1910, 

 is being conducted at the Algona, Iowa, creamery for the purpose of 

 determining whether or not the farmers can be induced to supj)ly a 

 hi^h grade of cream that will sell for an extra price. The cream is 

 bemg graded, the first grade containing less than 0.2 per cent of 

 lactic acid, and the second grade containing more than this propor- 

 tion. At first the bulk of the cream went into the second grade. At 

 present more than two-thirds of it is first grade and is sold for a 

 premium of about 5 cents per pound of butter. This work is being 

 conducted in cooperation with the State dairy commissioner of Iowa 

 and with the professor of dairying at the Iowa State College of Agri- 

 culture. The main object sought is to ascertain whether or not it 

 w^ould be profitable for creameries to conduct similar educational 

 work at their own expense. So far the results of this work have been 

 satisfactory, and it is proposed to continue it. 



The work of assisting in the organization of new creameries by 

 furnishing articles of agreement, by-laws, lists of machinery, etc., 

 has been continued. Care is exercised to give this assistance only in 

 localities where creameries are justified by conditions. 



Creameries are encouraged to pay more attention to what may be 

 called "side lines" for the utilization of their by-products, and 453 

 creameries are known to follow such a practice. Some of the most 

 important of these "side lines" are feeding buttermilk to hogs, 

 making ice cream, manufacturing ice, shipping sweet cream, and 

 handling eggs. 



HARVESTING AND STORING ICE. 



A very large proportion of the dairymen of the United States can 

 have natural ice at a very small cost if they can be taught the neces- 

 sity of it. In the main the bad cream received at the creameries is 

 due to dirt and heat, and the lad milk in cities is largely due to the 

 same causes. The Dairy Division is therefore doing what it can to 

 encourage the storage and use of natural ice. An investigation has 

 been made in the New England States relative to the most practicable 

 methods of harvesting and storing ice for dairy use, and information 

 on this subject is being prepared for publication. 



INSPECTION OF BUTTER FOR THE NAVY. 



The Dairy Division has continued its inspection of butter for the 

 Navy. Between April 5 and August 15, 1910, 702,000 pounds of 

 butter was thus inspected, and similar inspection was carried out in 

 1911. When this mspection was begun the quality of the butter 

 which was being received was invariably below the grade called for in 

 the contract. The inspectors have consistently rejected all such 

 butter, and in this w^ay a considerable sum has been saved to the 

 Government. In New York, for example, 238,000 pounds of butter 

 was examined, of which 82,000 pounds was rejected. 



