274 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



all right. The skill of coloring, salting and working can soon be acquired 

 by a person of average intelligence, yet we find hundreds of thousands of 

 dollars are lost annually because our dairymen can not make good butter. 



We have a great industry flourishing in our country, making the so-called 

 process butter. The whole business is based on the ignorance of the dairy- 

 men as they furnish the material to keep the process factories running. This 

 is not only a disgrace to the dairymen of our country but to the dairy in- 

 structors as well. In this age of enlightenment along the various lines of 

 agricultural pursuits it should not be necessary to have these large factories 

 established for renovating or making over a great portion of the dairy butter. 



The milk used in making this butter in the first place was undoubtedly 

 as pure as that which goes into butter that scores 97 or 98. Therefore we 

 find that a lot of the dairy buttermakers do not understand the underlying 

 principles of buttermaking. Anything in the form or shape of butter that is 

 worked up in a lump or grease can be sold or traded to the groceryman for 

 goods at some price. The groceryman knows that he can throw this stuflE in 

 a barrel in the back of his store and keep it there for weeks or until he gets 

 an old salt or sugar barrel full and then dispose of it to the process man who 

 melts it so as to remove all the oil or fat from the other constituents. By 

 forcing air through this oil the disagreeable odors are carried off and then by 

 the addition of sour milk or starters a new flavor is added. The result is 

 that what was once an unsalable mess of grease is changed into a fairly good 

 grade of butter, and the process man gets the profit, and this class of dairy- 

 men proclaim to the world that dairying does not pay, and it certainly does 

 not pay them, owing to their lack of skill. Now dairymen should make the 

 finest butter possible as they have the whole business under their own control. 



I once heard an address on the requirements of a- buttermaker and from 

 all the necessary qualifications described it would be about impossible to 

 find a person competent in all respects. Among other things he said they 

 should be as wise as a serpent, as harmless as a dove, with a nose as keen 

 of scent as a fox hound, and should possess the wisdom of Solomon. 



What I think is most needed in a creamery buttermaker is a well devel- 

 oped sense of taste and smell, a good constitution, a willingness to work, an 

 inherent love of cleanliness and order, a knack of getting along well with 

 patrons and the public, and a thoroughly honest man who will always look 

 after the best interests of his patrons and his employer. 



The cry at the present time seems to be for licensed buttermakers, and I 

 feel sure that this is coming, as well as licensed factories. You can not have 

 one without the other as it is almost impossible to make good butter or 

 cheese in some of our factories or creameries. The licensing of makers and 

 factories would have to be on a sliding scale. It would not be sufficient to 

 give a maker a certificate just because he passed a successful examination, 

 and make this good for all time. He should be compelled to keep up the good 

 work. With a factory, it may be in good condition this year and poor next 

 year, so the whole question of granting a certificate to makers and factories 

 is a very complex one, which will need lots of work to make it successful. 



One of the great drawbacks to many buttermakers is the lack of cleanli- 

 ness in personal appearance. It is about useless for a maker whose clothes 

 are so stiffened with dirt and grease that they will almost stand alone to talk 

 to patrons about keeping their cans clean and sending better milk or cream. 

 It does not take patrons long to size up the maker. 



