366 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



before us in connection with our cream-gathering creameries is the edu- 

 cation of the patrons to properly care for their cream. This is the start- 

 ing point in the great fight to raise the quality of our butter, which we 

 have been told has been gradually deteriorating for the last ten years. 

 The great cry all over the country is for more good butter. We are told 

 that most of the poor butter that is being made is from gathered cream. 

 You ask the buttermaker the cause and he will tell you it is on account 

 of the poor raw material he receives and he generally tells you the truth. 

 I firmly believe that the whole-milk creamery is the ideal system for co- 

 operative buttermaking where conditions of settlement and milk supply 

 will permit, because it is easier to control the conditions which contribute 

 to the making of a high-grade article, but where conditions will not per- 

 mit the use of this system and we are compelled to use the gathered- 

 cream system then we must do our best to so regulate those conditions 

 which go to make a fine quality of butter as to give the best results pos- 

 sible. 



Of all the plans that I have tried, (and I have tried nearly everything 

 I ever heard of) none have given such satisfaction and lasting results 

 as the cream-scoring system. We found that fully 50 per cent of the poor 

 cream that was being delivered came from lack of knowledge of how to 

 properly care for it, and I believe that this will prove true with 90 per 

 cent of the poor cream that is being delivered to the creameries today. 

 When we began the cream scoring we found that a good many of the cans 

 which at first sight appeared to be perfectly clean, upon careful inspec- 

 tion along the seams, contained enough dirt to spoil ten cans of cream. 

 This fact was brought to the attention of the patrons with instructions 

 how to remove the same and how to keep clean afterward, and I want to 

 say right here that I will give anyone a $10 bill that will come to my 

 creamery and find a can of cream delivered in a dirty can. This may 

 sound a little like bragging, but it is a fact and a fact of which I am 

 very proud. Another thing we found and which has been eliminated, 

 was the practice of flushing out the separator bowl at night and allow it 

 to stand full of water until the next morning, and then doing the sepa- 

 rating without first washing. In warm weather this water would sour 

 and impart to the cream a dirty dish-rag flavor. This is something that 

 is being done more or less all over the country and is one of the chief 

 causes of poor cream. Among other causes for poor cream was the mix- 

 ing of warm cream with cold, keeping separators in the barn or kitchen, 

 milking with wet hands, keeping cream in cellar or too near the barn 

 yards. By studying each man's conditions and pointing out to him 

 where he was right and where he was wrong we have been able in nearly 

 all cases to wipe out the faults and the result is that we receive from that 

 man nothing but a pure, sweet article. 



True it is that there are some people you can not coax; for those the 

 cream scoring will do no good. There is nothing to do but let the law 

 take its course. We have found, however, that by pointing out to each 

 individual the faults with his cream and showing him in a kndly way 

 how to correct them, we have in nearly all cases corrected these errors 



