52 VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



centrifugal cream separator made its first appearance in 

 America in 1879. We are indebted to Europe for this inven- 

 tion, at least as a dairy appliance. It is the only instance in 

 which dairy invention abroad has been notably in advance of 

 the United States. Yet investigations were in progress con- 

 temporaneously in this country along the same line, and many 

 of the material improvements in the cream separator have 

 since originated here. The machine has been vastly im- 

 proved during its twenty years of existence. Besides its 

 economy and its effect upon the dairy labor, the separator al- 

 most eliminates the factor of climate in a large part of dairy 

 management, and, altogether, has worked a revolution in the 

 industry. Although quite an expensive piece of machinery, 

 its adoption has been so general, especially among creamer- 

 ies, that there are now more than forty thousand cream sep- 

 arators in use in the United States. 



Another great dairy invention of the period is the popu- 

 lar fat-test for milk, being a quick and convenient substitute 

 for chemical analysis. The test-method most generally ap- 

 proved in America and now also in foreign lands is that which 

 has become so well known under the name of its inventor, 

 Dr. S. M. Babcock, of Wisconsin. This fat-test of milk 

 has such wide application that it may fairly be questioned 

 whether it is second to the cream separator in advancing 

 the economies of dairying. The percentage of fat being ac- 

 cepted as the measure of value for milk for nearly all purpos- 

 es, the Babcock test may be the basis for municipal milk 

 inspection for fixing the price of milk delivered to city dealers, 

 to cheese factories, creameries and condenseries, and for com- 

 mercial settlements between patrons in co-operative dairying 

 of any kind. By this test also the dairy farmer may prove 

 the quality of milk from his different cows and (with quantity 

 of milk-yield recorded), may fix their respective value as dairy 

 animals. Cows are now frequently bought and sold upon the 

 basis of the milk-scale and the Babcock test. With perfect 

 apparatus, in competent hands, the accuracy of the test is 

 beyond question and it is of the highest scientific value and 

 practical use. It should be noted that although clearly pat- 

 entable, and offering an independent income through a very 

 small royalty, this priceless invention was freely given to the 

 public by Dr. Babcock. 



The advent of the twentieth century finds the dairy in- 

 dustry of the United States established upon a plane far 

 above the crude and variable domestic art of three or four 

 generations ago. The milch cow itself, upon which the 

 whole business rests, is almost as much a machine as a 'nat- 

 ural product and a very different creature from the average 



