24 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 



Twenty-five years ago the raw material for butter-making was 

 delivered by the farmer to the creamery door in the form of whole 

 milk, which was skimmed, and the cream churned into butter, for 

 which payment was made monthly or semi-monthly. The by-product, 

 skim milk, was returned to the farm for pig feed. The introduction 

 of the farm separator has revolutionized this branch of the industry. 

 The producer was quick to see the economy of a less bulky product, 

 in the form of cream, as well as of less frequent deliveries. This 

 economy, combined with the fact that the souring of cream does not 

 necessarily deteriorate its quality for butter-making purposes, enabled 

 the cream to be shipped long distances to the concern which would 

 give the best satisfaction. The use of the separator has thus resulted 

 in a concentration of the creamery business into a fewer number of 

 large, modern plants, where economy of every kind is resorted to, the 

 results of which are reflected in the producer's cream check. While 

 the amount of butter manufactured in Illinois creameries is more 

 than double that of twenty years ago, the number of plants is less 

 than one-sixth as great, and sixty per cent of the butter is made in less 

 than thirty plants. 



Outside the changes which have taken place in the actual making 

 of butter, two very important developments in the productive side of 

 the business are worthy of mention. First, in respect to the relation 

 between the amount of farm-made butter and creamery butter: 

 Twenty-five years ago, the amount of farm-made butter exceeded that 

 made in the creamery by three times; in 1910 the Census reported 

 46,000 pounds produced on farms and 24,000 pounds in factories ; and 

 at the present time this ratio is practically reversed. This is another 

 way of saying that by the introduction of the hand separator this 

 branch of dairying has been carried to the remote parts of the state ; 

 and it is almost a uniform practise, even on our corn-belt farms, to 

 keep a few cows, the product of which is shipped in the form of cream 

 to some centralizing creamery to be made into butter. Thus the 

 creamery industry has converted a comparatively low-priced product, 

 "farm butter," into a high-priced product, creamery butter, the bene- 

 fit of which largely goes to the producer. As an interesting incident 

 in this connection, it may here be noted that the withdrawal of this 

 large amount of farm butter from the market has virtually closed 

 the plants which formerly made renovated butter. 



On the inside, or in the manufacturing plant, the development 

 has been commensurate with the development in the field. Great in- 

 stitutions capable of making and marketing millions of pounds of 



