396 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



cost of producing the cream, keeping in mind always that his 

 cost of production must be enough below what he receives for it 

 to return him a profit that will encourage him. Otherwise the 

 business can not grow. 



In spite of all that has been said against the hand separator 

 by a few creamery butter makers, it has done more to enable 

 the farmer to meet increased cost in producing dairy products 

 than any other one thing. 



It has enabled him to reduce the cost of getting his produce 

 to market, and under the old whole milk system the cost of 

 marketing was tremendous. 



Among several reasons for the farmer's adoption of the hand 

 separator is the important one of economy of getting his cream 

 to market. A can of cream is now a finished product of the farm, 

 just like a fat hog or a fat steer, and the farmer can patronize 

 the best market whether at home or in some distant city. 



He appreciates this economic feature of the hand separator, 

 and it is one of the things that is keeping him on the milking 

 stool. 



Those who would bring about improvement in quality of 

 cream should keep in mind this economic feature, and if pos- 

 sible — and we believe it is possible — bring about such improve- 

 ment without asking the farmer to add to his present cost of 

 getting his cream to market. 



There is no question but what the quality of cream going 

 to the creameries in this country should be improved. The 

 same improvement that has been made along lines of better 

 dairy stock has not been made in the quality of the cream 

 delivered by the farmer. 



But in working for better quality of cream we must keep 

 in mind certain fundamental economic principles if we are 

 going to get anywhere. This subject of better quality is a 

 beautiful subject on which to theorize, and there are plenty of 

 men in this country who take advantage of the opportunity. 

 Some would compel daily deliveries of cream, some would 

 establish acidity standards, some would have government in- 

 spection, some would establish a mileage limit, while some 

 would require all butter to be made from sweet cream. The 

 majority of those who advocate these different plans for quality 

 improvement have in mind the best interests of the dairy in- 

 dustry. To them we would especially sound this note of warn- 



