TWELFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VIII 375 



erally be worked out successfully. I had a good opportunity of 

 seeing and helping to work out a similar condition to this. Let me 

 say to you that in four years after the creameries in a certain state 

 adopted the grading system and paid 3c more for good cream, they 

 succeeded in improving the quality so that 95 per cent of all the 

 cream delivered to the creameries was sweet enough to be pasteur- 

 ized and sold as sweet cream. 



I would like for you to consider what has been done; consider 

 the advantages of this proposition and decide for yourself if the 

 grading proposition is not the only one that will tend to uplift the 

 quality. Patrons very often say "How can this be accomplished? 

 How can I bring 95 per cent sweet cream?" The delivery is an 

 important factor, and it may be that every-day delivery would be 

 necessary at first. In the state I mention, however, it was accom- 

 plished by the free and liberal use of ice. 



The harvesting of ice and its general use with milk is not as 

 difficult as a great many creamery patrons believe. I am going to 

 take up the ice proposition briefly and give you some simple hints 

 on harvesting ice. People in the extreme northern states have told 

 me that is was impossible for them to get a supply of ice, and I 

 presume many in Iowa feel that way, but I am sure it is far less 

 difficult than it seems. If there is a stream within a reasonable 

 hauling distance, that means a source of supply which can't be 

 better. There may be a creek that can be dug out cheaply and 

 easily. It doesn't take a very big pond to harvest enough ice for a 

 herd of 20 cows. If no other means are at hand a depression in the • 

 land can be scraped out and the fall rains depended on to fill it 

 and give a supply. In either event, neighbors can co-operate in pro- 

 viding an ice supply that will be inexpensive, satisfactory and near 

 enough at hand to make the cost of harvesting ice of small con- 

 sideration. The time is coming when the state of Iowa will have 

 ice houses on the farms of practically all of its dairymen. It is 

 really amazing to note the small expense that is attached to having 

 a supply of ice, an ice pond and an ice house. In the state that I 

 have mentioned, the first people to store ice didn't build a house that 

 cost from $125 to $200. Many used an outbuilding that they already 

 had. Maybe they partitioned off part of some shed. They provided 

 good drainage and good ventilation and put in enough ice to carry 

 them through the summer, with the result that their cream was de- 

 livered to the creamery often than three times in summer and two 

 times in winter in sweet enough condition to be pasteurized and 

 sold for sweet cream. 



If you want to build an ice house, there are several cheap methods. 

 The setting up of piles with plain boarding and plain roof is one of 

 them. Give attention to the drainage and ventilation and you can 

 have a building that will keep your ice without an excessive amount 

 of waste. The amount of ice that is necessary for a herd of twenty 

 cows is not large. We have found that 500 pounds of ice will cool 

 the cream from one cow for a year — that is during the summer 



