42 THIRTIETH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



Some one in the audience spoke out and said, "If you had 

 used cotton seed and gluten you would have made four hun- 

 dred." I therefore decided to change the feed of my cows after 

 the dairymen's association at St. Johnbsury. The changed 

 ration made a larger flow of milk and we felt quite well satis- 

 fied with it. In a few weeks, however, the butter dealer 

 wrote on the bottom of my weekly return "What are you do- 

 ing to the butter? It is off on flavor." And so he continued 

 writing March 2d, "Quality ought to be better." April 18th, 

 "Butter is not as good as it ought to be." April 27th, "But- 

 ter is not up to the standard." About that time we wondered 

 if it could possibly be the cotton seed and gluten and changed 

 to the corn meal and bran. May 4th, the return read, "Hap- 

 py to- say the butter is all right." May 12th, "Butter is good 

 enough." And for three weeks following it read, "Butter 

 is good." From that time until now the cows have had no 

 cotton seed or gluten, he has never mentioned any defect in 

 the butter and that was all the change that was made. In 

 private dairying we can control the feed while the creamery 

 man has nothing to do with it. 



I have not the experience in patronizing the creamery that 

 most of you have for the milk from my herd has been sent to 

 the creamery but four months and that in the fall of 1893. I 

 have not the exact figures in my mind showing the difference 

 in returns between home dairying and the creamery but it was 

 over $1.00 a day on the amount of butter I was making at that 

 time in favor of the private dairy. I was then using open pans 

 and Prof. Hills said I was losing 0.98 per cent, of butter fat 

 in the sample I sent to him at Burlington I called the skim 

 milk better than an average sample. It takes about three 

 hours to churn and to take care of a churning of butter when 

 put into half pound prints. This comes twice a week in win- 

 ter and three times in summer. Allowing a dollar a week for 

 salt, wrappers, etc., it would leave six dollars for the work 

 of churning balancing the cost of separating the milk and the 

 use of the separators against the use of a team and a man's 

 time going to the creamery seven days in the week. 



The chances of a first class article are full greater in the 

 home dairy than in creamery work; for we often hear the re- 

 mark, "It does not make any difference as long as it is going 

 to the creamery." If milk is only clean enough to be accept- 

 ed is all that some care for. Others will say "What is the use 

 of my being particular when the next patron's milk is any 

 thing but clean? It all goes in together." I know several 

 patrons of creameries who buy their butter for family use from 

 a private dairy, because the private dairyman is more particu- 

 lar and does not save the milk from a fresh cow until it is fit 



