SIXTH ANNUAL YEAR-BOOK —PART V. 399 



and hogs are the three graces of Iowa prosperity. Any combination 

 that neglects the cow needs revision. 



With all the bright prospects for the dairy business there is 

 growing up in our midst a condition of affairs that is threatening the 

 very life of the dairy industry. Some two years ago a system was 

 inaugurated by some of our creameries which permitted grocers, 

 butchers, blacksmiths or most anyone else to buy cream and test the 

 same without any training for this kind of work. The result is that 

 cream comes in all conditions to the stations and it is a common thing 

 during the summer months to see cream at stations, waiting to be 

 shipped over the country, so decomposed and fermented that the seals 

 are broken and covers are forced off the cans. It is impossible to 

 make a first class quality of butter from such cream. No one would 

 think for a moment of constructing a good house if the raw material 

 was faulty. Then why should we attempt to make first class butter 

 from decayed cream? 



We have been for years fighting oleomargarine and butterine yet 

 in the judgment of many these are preferable to butter of the kind 

 gust referred to. If we expect to successfully battle with oleomargarine 

 we must keep up the standard of our butter, and this largely lies in 

 the hands of our commission men. There is not enough distinction 

 made between good and poor butter to reward the maker and patrons 

 for the extra efforts required to keep up the grade. 



Some years ago when examining butter in the English market I 

 found a variation in price of five and six cents per pound when there 

 was only a difference of a few points in the quality of the butter. I 

 could not imagine what would be the difference in prices if they had 

 to contend with the different grades of butter we have here. I have 

 at home now a tub of butter sent in by a certain creamery where they 

 maintain they lost thousands of dollars during the past summer, owing 

 to a peculiar flavor that developed after pasteurization of real old and 

 sour cream. Some people have an erroneous idea that pasteurization 

 is a panacea for all defects in cream. Pasteurization does not destroy 

 the flavor that is already present in decomposed cream, but it does 

 largely destroy the germs that produced this flavor. This reminds 

 me of the colored man talking with his lawyer who was consulting 

 him about the crime he had committed. The lav/y^v remarked: "Why, 

 they caanot put you in jail for that," but the colored man said: "My 

 Lord, man, they've got me, I am already in jail." When this flavor is 

 already in the cream it cannot be removed by pasteurization. Every 

 loss that is sustained in manufacturing this kind of cream is a great 

 injury to the dairy business. 



The question then naturally arises, what is the remedy for all 

 these defects? I would say, shorter hauls for cream, better and cleaner 

 cans for transportation, shipping of cream at least three time per week, 

 cooling of each lot of cream after separation before mixing with 

 previous lot, thoroughly cleaning separators after each separation, and 

 keeping cream where surrounding atmosphere is pure. 



