FIFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VI. 583 



At the recent annual State meeting held in Des Moines, Secretary 

 Simpson of the State Board of Agriculture, discussed in his annual report 

 the question of a State organization for farmers' institutes and took the 

 ground that there should be a central organization of some kind, but it 

 should not take from the institutes the power of arranging the dates of their 

 meetings and selecting their speakers. He further suggested an advisory 

 committee which would assist in furthering uniformity in institute work in 

 the different counties. 



Returning to my subject I would say in conclusion that I would not have 

 you think that I believe farming to be a road strewn with roses, far from it, 

 but in comparison with other industries, I know of no occupation where 

 brains count for so much as they do on the farm. 



BUTTER MAKING ON THE FARM. 



H. A. Rjidane, Luzerne, Iowa, Before the Benton County Farmers' Institute . 



Butter making on the farm for market is getting to be a thing of the past 

 on most farms, most farmers are selling their cream to the creameries, 

 but they would get the extra labor of making the butter on the farm wer 

 paid for if they would consider the value of the buttermilk for the hogs, and 

 the cost of transporting the cream to the creamery. 



The main thing to do to make it profitable to make the butter on the 

 farm is to make a fine quality of butter, of which the supply at the home 

 market is always small, and for which the consumer will pay the highest 

 market price, anyone can make good butter if they will give the work 

 proper attention. 



The question now arises what does it require to make good butter? The 

 first reqnisite is a good healthy cow well fed, for a cow in poor condition, 

 fed with a bad quality of feed and not given comfortable quarters in inclem- 

 ent weather, can not give milk and cream of good flavor or quality. The 

 milking should be done as clean as possible, and milk strained and the cream 

 separated from the milk with a centrifugal separator as soon as drawn from 

 the cow; the cream must then be submerged in cold water to cool and aerate, 

 but should not be covered until cool so that the animal odor can escape; it 

 must not be added to other cream until properly cooled, and then thor- 

 oughly stirred when added, the cream should be kept at a temperature of 

 fifty to fifty-five degrees in a place clean from offensive odors until you have 

 the amount you wish to churn, it should be left to ripen at a temperature of 

 sixty degrees, and should not be churned until twenty-four hours after the 

 last cream has been added, as soon as the cream has come to a state of 

 acidity and has slightly thickened it should be churned at a temperature of 

 sixty degrees; the cream should not at any time be allowed to get warm or 

 freeze as either of the extreme temperatures will impair the quality of the 

 butter. 



