94 Thirty-Sixth Annual Report of the 



MY VIEWvS ON THE CARE OF THE CREAMERY. 



HERBERT I.. lyste;r, WELLS rive;r, vt. 



The averag'e Vermont Creamery represents an outlay of at 

 least $4000, and upon the butter maker falls the responsibility of 

 preserving it in as sanitary a condition and with as little deteri- 

 oration in value, appearance and condition as possible. The 

 two most destructive forces with which he has to contend are rot 

 and rust. Rot attacks the wooden parts of the building and 

 equipment, and rust the greater part of the rest. Wherever 

 either or both of these agents are at work, sanitary conditions 

 are impossible. The causes of rust are salt and water, while 

 rot is caused chiefly by decomposing milk or excessive moisture. 

 To preserve the creamery and its equipment, we must have all 

 exposed surfaces, where practicable, well painted and kept so. 

 Moisture must be reduced as much as possible, and milk must 

 never be allowed to remain on wooden surfaces such as walls 

 and floors. Boiling water combined with soap and used with in- 

 telligence and muscular force will be found the best means of 

 securing hygienic conditions. 



A creamery soon acquires a reputation for good appearance 

 and clean smelling interior, or else for an indifferent, dirty, run- 

 down look, and a smell that would never be mistaken for the 

 odor of roses, while the demand for its butter ascends in an 

 inverse ratio — its reputation descends. The majority of our 

 creameries are in a respectable condition ; quite a number are 

 head and shoulders above these in all respects ; while a few, 

 I regret to say, are actually filthy and entirely unfit to have any- 

 thing to do with the manufacture or handling of an article of 

 food that is eaten, in what we may term a raw state. A gentle- 

 man who has occasion to call frequently on the greater number 

 of our creameries told me of visiting one last July which actually 

 put to rout his driver wdio had sauntered in smoking a cigarette. 

 He beat a hasty retreat and, as he flung away his cigarette, said 

 he felt like the skunk who roaming along the roadside as an 

 automobile passed, and as the gasoline smell w^as wafted back 

 in his face, remarked "What's the use of my living now?" 



