41 



ous cow amid foul surroundings and deliberately put it into unclean pails, 

 through unclean strainers, run it through a filthy separator, or leave the 

 milk or cream at a high temperature, is nothing short of a crime against 

 the state. As soon .as milk is produced it begins to decay, and the rate 

 at which this decomposition takes place will almost entirely depend upon 

 the amount of dirt which has been incorporated with it, and upon the tem- 

 perature at which it is held. On these two points there is still much room 

 for improvement. 



It is practically impossible to avoid getting at least a small amount 

 of dirt into the milk, and with this dirt are introduced countless numbers of 

 bacteria. At this stage we must act with promptness to prevent as far 

 as possible the harmful effects of these bacteria. Where the milk is to 

 be sent to a whole milk creamery, cool at once to a temperature of 60 

 degrees or below, cooling Saturday night's and Sunday morning's milk 

 mucn lower. The holding of cream for two, three, or more days Is a 

 very bad feature of our cream-gathering system. This means the hope- 

 less destruction of fine butter quality in the cream unless ample prepara- 

 tion is made for, and thorough care taken of, each lot of cream. Treat- 

 ment that will assist in retaining this fine butter quality is to be found in 

 skimming a rich cream, pasteurization, or holding the cream at a low 

 temperature. The cream separator furnishes the best means of getting 

 a rich cream, but if we cannot get a separator that will do close skim- 

 ming, while delivering a rich cream and that can be purchased at a rea- 

 sonable price, we are better without one. The serum or sKim-milk por- 

 tion of the milk furnishes the bacteria with food for growth and repro- 

 duction, the fat in itself not being a bacterial food. For this reason the 

 more milk drawn off as skim-milk the few bacteria we have in the 

 cream and the less serum for them to feed upon. 



The cream from the separator should test not less than 30 per cent, 

 fat. A rich oream gives the buttermaker better control of his part of the 

 process as well as being beneficial to the patron. The cream should be 

 cooled immediately to at least 45 degrees. This temperature applies to 

 all creams to be sent to a creamery whether they be from the certtrifugal 

 or gravity methods. Pasteurization is a very efficient method of preser- 

 vation. The heating and extra cooling, however, mean more work and 

 expense than would be considered practicable under average conditions. 

 Nature, in her kindness, has in this country supplied us with an abun- 

 dance of ice for keeping our cream cold, but the average creamery patron 

 simplv ignores this fact, supplies a cream out of which a first class butter 

 cannot be made, and then grumbles at everyone but himselt when he is 

 reaping the reward of his own transgression. 



A great many creamery patrons will argue that cream is not sour 

 until it has coagulated or thickened, whereas about half of the pojsible 

 acidity is produced before this condition is noticed. Cream must oe in 

 good condition when taken up by the cream hauler so that good butler 

 can be made from it after being on the cream wagon and in the creamery 

 for the greater part of a day. The fact of a cream hauler acceptinsr a 

 patron's cream is certainly not the end of that patron's responsibility. 



