THE DAIRY INDUSTRY 23 



CONDENSED AND POWDERED MILK 



The condensed milk industry in this state dates back to 1865. 

 Long ago the pioneer dairyman recognized the necessity for some 

 means of converting a portion of our spring surplus of milk into 

 some product more valuable than either butter or cheese. The answer 

 to this demand was found in the condensing process. This branch of 

 the industry, like the others described, has reached enormous propor- 

 tions. At the present time there are approximately forty plants op- 

 erating in Illinois. This industry received a marked stimulus during 

 the war, during which time there was an unusual demand for con- 

 densed milk. Not only did the condensing plants increase in numbers 

 during that time, but those already in existence more than doubled 

 their output. The close of the war found both this country and 

 Europe heavily overstocked with evaporated milk, so much so, in 

 fact, that during the past two years many plants have been entirely 

 closed, waiting for the time when their old stocks would be cleared 

 away. 



Another departure which comes well within the period of prog- 

 ress under discussion is the development of the powdered-milk in- 

 dustry. This is a process by which either whole milk or skim milk 

 is reduced to a powdered form containing only the solids of milk. 

 The resulting product contains all the valuable constituents of milk 

 in a volume which measures only eight per cent of the original milk. 

 Dry milk is readily put back into solution and used for drinking pur- 

 poses, in baking or in ice cream. This industry is still in its infancy 

 and opens a fruitful field for the investigative mind. It should also 

 be mentioned in this connection that this same process has been ap- 

 plied to buttermilk, resulting in the conservation of millions of gallons 

 of this product which were formerly wasted. 



BUTTER MANUFACTURE 



The manufacture of butter is not usually thought of as one of the 

 large dairy-product industries. However, if we take the United 

 States as a whole, the value of the butter approximately equals the 

 combined value of all other dairy products. When we study the de- 

 velopments in the butter industry in our own state during the past 

 quarter of a century, we find more significant changes than in any 

 other branch of the dairy industry. The two inventions which have 

 exerted a major influence in bringing about these changes have been 

 the Babcock test and the farm separator. 



