542 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



save from $450 to $700 in building and equipment but if there were 

 100 patrons, each one would have to purchase a hand separator for $100 

 each, which would amount to $10,000. Thus it can be seen that their 

 creamery would cost them $12,500 or more, and in a newly-settled 

 country, the people could not raise the money to start such a concern 

 but were compelled to ship their cream. I am sure that if the farmers 

 in general all over the country knew how much butterfat, worth from 

 60 to 75 cents a pound, they are feeding to their pigs and calves, they 

 would be tempted to return to the factory separators again. I have 

 made this test and know what I am talking about. 



I remember that at one of my meetings an old gentleman asked, 

 "which should we do, put a large separator in our factory or each one of 

 us buy a hand separator?" I was stuck. I told him that in a few days 

 I could tell, or on my next trip over the territory. I took 40 half pint 

 jars and some corrosive sublimate tablets with me, made some fast drives 

 early in the morning and in the evenings, caught the farmers operating 

 their hand separators, took samples of their skimmed milk, sent the 

 samples in by express and had the professor of the Experimental Station 

 test them. It was found that the farmers, regardless of the kind of 

 separators, were losing from two tenths to one and a half pounds of 

 butterfat in the skimmed milk. One man's machine left two pounds of 

 fat in the milk, while the 39 samples tested, showed an average of a 

 little over three-fourths pounds butterfat in every 100 pounds of milk 

 extracted by the 39 machines. When I met the gentleman again, I was 

 able to tell him the difference. Just before this I had sold a large 

 machine and in the contract had guaranteed it to show not over .03 

 of 1% fat in the skimmed milk, and I knew it must have done as 

 guaranteed because I never heard from the people afterwards. 



From about 1891 to 1896 competition in factory separators taught us a 

 great lesson. The tester gave us a chance to show what a machine was 

 doing, so much so in fact that we frequently had our separators located 

 in a factory beside competitors' separators, neither one paid for, but 

 guaranteed to do good work in skimming. They had to be tried out in 

 order to convince the company which was the best. The only way to 

 settle it was for each salesman to be present, three judges appointed, an 

 expert from the factory where the machines were made and an expert, 

 superintendent, or some other fellow from the house, all ready. Each 

 separator would have to separate equal* quantities of milk and the one 

 which did the closest skimming won. But how did they win? In contests, 

 like in war, everything was considered fair. In consequence, every ad- 

 vantage was taken to win. One might dilute the acid and one might buy 

 off the judges. I have seen them drag their fingers through the cream and 

 rinse them off in the other fellow's sample. In fact there was so much 

 rottenness done in contests that they became a thing of the past. I 

 have even seen the experts sleep beside their separators so that his 

 competitors would not get a chance to sand his bearings. Oh, yes, every- 

 thing is fair in war, but I am glad to say that education changed all such 

 actions. The leading idea of manufacturers now is to improve their 

 machines, and attempt to show up their machines in the proper manner. 



