FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 13 



DAIRYING m THE SOUTH. 



(Abstract.) 



BY E. N. BATES, MOLINE. 



In many portions of the Gulf States milk of any kind — good milk, 

 poor milk, butter-milk, skim milk, or any old kind of milk, brings ten 

 cents a quart, summer and winter, and there is never enough to go 

 around. It is not for want of a market that no more real dairying 

 is carried on here, but it is for the want of grass. In Michigan grass 

 grows everywhere. If a piece of land is cleared a spontaneous crop of 

 grass will develop within two or three years, but I did not see a good 

 meadow or pasture in Alabama and I am told it is impossible to grow 

 either clover or timothy; in fact it is impossible to grow any kind of 

 a crop there (except pine trees), without using commercial fertilizer 

 to the extent of 25 per cent, of the value of the crop. While some 

 corn is raised with the aid of fertilizer, only one stalk is grown in 

 a hill and thirty to fifty bushels in the ear per acre is called a good 

 crop. The ears and leaves only, are saved. The stalks, after being 

 stripped, are left until spring when they are cut down, raked up and 

 burned. The cows and other stock are left to shift for themselves 

 through the winter months on such food as cotton seed hulls and a 

 little cotton seed meal. Judging from the appearance of the stock it 

 would seem to be good economy to save and feed the stalks. The butter 

 and cream, as well as the milk, seen in the South are pure white. 



STARTERS: COMMERCIAL AND HOME-MADE. HOW TO PRE- 

 PARE AND USE THEM. 



BY HELMER RABILD, CHESTERFIELD. 



In the production of wholesome milk and in the manufacture of 

 butter, bacteria play an all-important part. We have long recognized 

 the fact that certain bacteria are beneficial and certain others injurious. 

 It becomes, then, the office of the butter maker to encourage in the 

 creamery the development of those bacteria which are his friends and 

 to do away with or reduce to a minimum those that work injury. To 

 accomplish this the scientist has taught us to make use of a starter. 

 Starter, in general practice, is the name given to a mess of sour milk 

 which in souring has developed that indescribable flavor and taste 

 which is desired in butter; in other words, a starter is a collection of 

 lactic acid bacteria. 



A commercial starter is a pure culture of lactic acid producing bac- 

 teria, and contains only those species of bacteria that produce the 

 desired* flavor. In its preparation and its successful development much 



