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skimming- a thin cream and washing the separator once a day or only 

 when convenient, is not working for the best interests of the dairy indus- 

 try. Agents who advocate such a practice have only one object in view, 

 and the machines which they are offering for sale are likely to be either 

 separators that are hard to wash, or those that are not well adapted for 

 skimming a cream containing a high percentage of fat, and intending pur- 

 chasers should consider very carefully the merits claimed by these agents 

 for their particular machine. , 



Thin cream contains a large amount of skim-milk which is valuable 

 to the farmer for feeding purposes. It requires more water and ice for 

 cooling, and in it the conditions are more favorable for the rapid develop- 

 ment of lactic acid and bad flavors. The cost of delivering the cream at 

 the creamery is greater on account of the larger quantity. The butter- 

 maker has to supply extra vat room, and it is more difficult to get good 

 results in churning. 



When milk is set for cream to rise either in shallow pans or deep 

 cans, the force of gravity compels the heavier portion to go to the bot- 

 tom, and the cream being lighter rises to the top, and is separated more 

 or less perfectly from the skim-milk. But when milk is delivered into a 

 rapidly revolving separator bowl, the centrifugal force acts with much 

 greater intensity. Separation takes place almost instantly and is much 

 more perfect. 



The hand separator has many advantages over the shallow pan and 

 deep setting methods of creaming milk, and its disadvantages are com- 

 paratively few. 



Some of the advantages are : 



1. The loss of fat in the skim-milk is reduced to a minimum. 



3. It saves the cost of utensils and the space required for their ac- 

 commodation. 



3. It gives a better and more uniform quality of cream and butter. 



4. The richness of the cream can be easily regulated. 



5. It saves labor in washing utensils and in the handling of ice for 

 cooling purposes. 



6. The skim-milk is in the best possible condition for feeding young 



stock. 



The chief objections to the hand separator are its first cost and the 

 labor of turning and washing the machine; but when we consider that 

 the increased product made from the saving in loss of fat in skim-milk 

 alone, over the best of other methods of creaming, to say nothing of its 

 other advantages, amounts to from five to ten dollars per year for each 

 cow. it wih be seen that the separator will soon pay for itself. The labor 

 of washing the machine is also a small consideration when compared with 

 the labor of washing the utensils required for either the shallow pan or 

 deep-setting methods. 



The cost of a hand separator is from $50 to $150, according to the 

 size and capacity, and they will skim from 150 to TOO pounds of milk per 

 hour. A separator having a capacity of 450 pounds per hour is of suffi- 

 cient size where from eight to ten cows are kept. 



