53 



by means of acids with tlie uid of beat, and aHowing tlie melted fat 

 to collect in a narrow tube where its volume can be measured with ac- 

 curac3\ For the solvent, a mixture of strong acetic, sulphuric, and hy- 

 drochloric acids in about the proportions by volume of 9, 5, and either 

 1 or 2, is used. Sulphate of soda is added when necessary to effect the 

 solution of curd, especially in cases where the milk is not fresh. The 

 operation is conducted in a glass tube about three fourths of an inch in 

 diameter and 12 inches long, closed at the bottom and made narrow 

 for about three inches near the middle where the fat rises and its pro- 

 portion is read. 



The api)aratus and the methods of its use are described and discussed. 

 The results of determinations of fat in both milk and cream by this as 

 compared with the gravimetric method show a close agreement. The 

 only considerable sources of error are said to be the incomplete solution 

 of non-fatty portions of milk which is sour (with buttermilk the results 

 have not been satisfactory) and errors in the graduation of the appa- 

 ratus. To obviate the latter, arrangements have i>een made by which 

 the station tests apparatus for buyers. 



Sweet cream butter, G. E. Patrick, M.S. (pp. 317-320). — The 

 making of butter from unripened cream has been long and extensively 

 practiced in Denmark, and, to a limited extent, in this country. Interest 

 in the subject has recently been revived here by the publication of a 

 new method by Director J. A. Myers, of the West Virginia Station (See 

 Hoard's Dairyman, November 29, 1889). Among his conclusions are, 

 that the so-called ripening of cream is unnecessary and undesirable and 

 that the preference for the flavor of ripened cream butter will disappear 

 with the use of sweet cream butter. The new method is used with the 

 centrifugal separator. Its novelty lies in the recovery of fat from the 

 sweet buttermilk by the separator. 



The objections commonly urged against making butter from sweet 

 cream are (1) loss of fat in the buttermilk, (2) lack of proper flav-or and 

 aroma, and (3) alleged poor keeping qualities of the butter. 



To test this method an arrangement was made by the station with 

 Mr. J. N. Daniels, proprietor of the separator creamery at Dayton, Iowa, 

 to furnish the station with samples of butter from sweet and ripened 

 cream, which might be used to make a comparative test of the keeping 

 quality of the two kinds. The sweet cream butter was made according 

 to the directions given by Director Myers, and the ripened cream butter 

 in the ordinary way. Tliree samples each were taken of separator milk, 

 sweet buttermilk as it ran from the churn, and separated buttermilk, 

 and four of ordinary sour buttermilk, for comi)arisou. The samples 

 were analyzed for fat in the station laboratory by the gravimetric 

 method with the following average results : The separator milk yielded 

 0.12 per cent of fat; sweet buttermilk, 0.95; separated buttermilk, 0.39 ; 

 sour buttermilk, 0.00. The low percentage of tat in the sweet butter- 

 milk is surprising since ordinarily the loss of fat in buttermilk from 



