46 THIRTIETH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



they want. If the men who patronize the creameries in this 

 state are not receiving - what they should it is an argument 

 against American citizenship. No creamery has any business 

 to operate in any state that allows it to handle the product 

 without every patron knowing what they are about. In my 

 own state it would not be suffered. In my own county there 

 are 103 creameries. There are, I presume, one hundred or 

 more herds that constitute that patronage that make over 300 

 pounds per cow. The Babcock test and the skill and intelli- 

 gence of the patrons are factors which are brought to bear up- 

 on the business; and if business is conducted in Vermont un- 

 der any other or different system it is time there was a change. 



Mr. Tinkham. I have the figures of a creamery near where 

 I live — though I do not know how correct they are — showing 

 the excellent results of creamery management during the three 

 years of operation. They had bought a new engine, made all 

 their repairs, paid their salaries, expenses, etc., and had $2,000 

 surplus. This came from the farmers, of course. It seems to 

 me that tells the story very plainly, Mrs. Nelson gets six dol- 

 lars for churning and making her butter, over what she would 

 get if she carried milk to the creamery, I do not see why the 

 ordinary farmer cannot as well make his own butter as to pay 

 some one else to do it. For that reason I have never patron- 

 ized a creamery. I made the statement in one Association 

 meeting that every farmer had it in his power to make better 

 butter than any creamery could make, that the farmer from 

 the very ground up has the matter in his own hand- — the selec- 

 tion of the cow, the selection of the food the handling of the 

 milk. Within twenty-four hours I visited a dairy, the owner 

 of which also ran a creamery. I went into his barn where 

 there were thirty cows standing. There was no drop behind 

 the cows, there was not the remotest sign of there having" 

 been any bedding there for thirty years. The flanks of the 

 cows were reaking with filth and in places behind them the 

 droppings were piled just as sharply as they could be without 

 slipping down into the gutter; and that man was running a 

 creamery. When I got there he was just out milking. His 

 receiving pails stood right there on a shelf and he would milk 

 from a cow and pour it into the cans. He probably succeeded 

 in running a creamery and I guess he got full as good results 

 from his milk as he would if he had not reduced it with other 

 milk. 



A great cheese maker was asked by a man to come over and 

 see his cheese. He went over and looked at the cheese and 

 smelled of it and rubbed some between his thumb and finger 

 and smelled of it and the man said "Mr. — what is the matter 



