622 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



nearly all fat; keep on stripping a while after you have the last drop; 

 It will produce another extra drop the next time. 



The problem of feeding is one that also deserves closer attention; 

 the proper feed is produced on every farm, but the cow, to get what is 

 coming to her, is another question; milch cows must have milk-pro- 

 ducing food to do their best; what these feeds are and the amount and 

 proportion to feed is the kind of information you get by reading good 

 dairy papers. It would take too much time to treat here. The care of 

 the dairy herd, especially in winter, is also much neglected. Good, 

 warm and well ventilated stables are essential to the comfort and 

 eflacient work of the dairy cows. They will do their best if kept in 

 such stables twenty-three hours out of twenty-four all through the win- 

 ter, and right here I wish to bring out another point for reform and 

 that point is more winter milking. Other things being equal, the cow 

 that is fresh in September will show up the best results for the year. 

 It is no hardship to milk eight or ten cows in a good stable during the 

 winter, while it is almost impossible to milk during the dog days, 

 and that is the time when the fall freshened cow is dry, besides there 

 is the advantage of better prices. The caring for milk and cream 

 needs reforming very much. Since the introduction of the hand sep- 

 arator we have taken a long, long step backwards in the proper handling 

 of the cows' product, but here the blame has to be shouldered not by 

 the farmer only, but the creamery as well, and the state comes in 

 for a share also. Since on nearly all the farms in this county the 

 cream is sold to creameries, direct and indirect, I will treat this sub- 

 ject only. It seems some of us have wholly lost sight of the fact 

 that cream is intended for human consumption; we find cream every- 

 where; we find it in the dry goods and grocery stores, among bananas, 

 kerosene, herring and cheese; we find it in the feed store and elevator, 

 keeping company with chickens and ducks, giving out odors and receiv- 

 ing others; we find cream on the depot platforms, some in the cans 

 and some trying to get out; if you slip on the sidewalk the cause is 

 apt to be not the proverbial banana peeling, but spilt cream; we find 

 cream hauled over the country in all directions, some starting from 

 ten miles behind a creamery, passing by that creamery, and landing 

 ten miles further on in town. We see creamery wagons chasing each 

 other over the same roads, passing your gate as frequent and regular 

 as the electric cars on the loop in Chicago. This condition will and 

 must come to an end; the farmers, the creameries, and the state must 

 co-operate to regain the reputation of Iowa butter. The farmers must 

 take better care of their cream and deliver oftener; the time will 

 come when sour and tainted cream will not sell at par with good 

 cream, and while at present you get nothing for extra care and labor, 

 it is best to acquire or stick to the habit, as the case may be, to de- 

 liver your cream in the best possible condition. 



The creameries, and especially the central plants, and would-be central 

 plants, in their mad chase for business are the chief sinners and re- 

 form must come from them. The hand separator has made the central 

 plant possible, but that the central plant is not the proper solution to 

 economy and high quality in buttermaking is evident. Iowa butter 



