FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 15 



flanks with a damp cloth and do the milking in a pure atmdsphere in 

 order to obtain the right kind of bacteria. The milk thus secured, I 

 cool down under constant stirring to about 50 degrees and take it to the 

 creamery and set it away at a temperature of 80 degrees and it will 

 always sour in from 18 to 20 hours. If the souring has produced the 

 right aroma and taste I know the right kind of bacteria has had con- 

 trol of the fermentation and after this I treat the home-made starter 

 as I do the commercial. I really believe I can secure a better flavored 

 starter in this way than I can by developing my starter from a pure 

 culture. Too much precaution to keep the starter pure cannot be taken. 

 The Danish dairy maid who taught me to make the starter always made 

 me don a clean apron before approaching the starter can and even 

 went so far as to make me clean my finger nails and comb my hair. 

 In the selection of a suitable starter can care should be taken to see 

 that the inside soldering is smooth and perfect, as bacteria lurk in the 

 cracks and grooves. The instrument with which the starter is stirred 

 should be germ free. The best starter can I ever had was a ten-gallon 

 can placed in an oil barrel full of water and with a steam and water 

 connection. 



I depend upon my starter to control the flavor of the butter and for 

 this reason I skim a heavy cream, about 40 to 45 per cent., and dilute 

 with one or two hundred pounds of freshly milked, good flavored morn- 

 ing's milk. In this mixture a good starter is enabled to get in its good 

 work. The ideal way of using a starter, however, is in connection with 

 pasteurization of cream, and I am surprised to note the slow progress 

 the pasteurization cream system seems to be making in Michigan. 



THE HAND SEPAEATOR CREAMERY SYSTEM. 



BY E. J. KNEIBEHLER^, BAD AXE. 



The hand separator creamery system has but recently been intro- 

 duced in Michigan and many are of the opinion that its adoption in 

 preference to the whole milk system is a step backward. There are, 

 however, many advantages in separating the milk on the farm. A team 

 will haul 1,000 pounds of butter fat at a load in the form of cream, while 

 if hauled as whole milk seven or eight teams would be required. Besides 

 reducing the cost of hauling the farmer has his own skim-milk in the 

 best possible form for feeding and there is far less danger of spreading 

 diseases among cattle than when skimmed milk from a large number 

 of herds is brought back from th'e creamery. 



Another good feature about the centralizing plant is that the farmer 

 know^s just what he is going to receive, as the price of butter fat is 

 usually based upon the highest New York quotations. When the milk 

 is separated on the farm, the dairyman is practically independent as 

 he is not obliged to patronize a local creamery, but if they are not deal- 

 ing fairly and honestly with him he can ship it to the city or to a 

 central plant as he may think best. After the milk has been separated, 

 which takes but little time, and the skimmed milk has been fed the 



