118 THE BOOK OF BUTTER 



to exist only a few weeks in the flush of the season; so 

 that it actually would not pay to buy the extra machinery 

 in order to give the cream the ideal inoculations of starter. 



What has been said concerning the capacity of cream- 

 vats is also true of the churns and of the starter-cans. 



Kind of milk for starter. Obtaining suitable milk 

 for starter propagation is often very difficult. Either 

 whole milk or skimmed-milk may be used. Many butter- 

 makers say that whole milk is the better and others assert 

 that skimmed-milk is more desirable. What is really 

 important is a milk-serum with a clean flavor. The 

 presence or absence of a little fat, such as might be in 

 either skimmed-milk or whole milk, is not important. It 

 is usually considered that whole milk is more easily se- 

 lected, for the man in the receiving room can quickly 

 pick out the best milk when it is delivered at the creamery. 

 If it were separated, special care would have to be observed 

 in the separation process to prevent contamination w^ith 

 poor milk. The most serious trouble exists in gathered- 

 cream creameries. Usually in such cases, skimmed-milk 

 is obtained directly from a few farms at a special price. 

 When the creamery is in a large city, it is often impossible 

 to secure good starter milk in the liquid condition. In 

 the past few years, several firms that powder milk have 

 placed on the market a dried skimmed-milk product 

 which is very satisfactory for the starter culture. It 

 is useless to ripen cream with an artificial starter if a good 

 milk cannot be obtained for its propagation. 



Making the transfer. If it is not the custom of a cream- 

 ery to pasteurize the cream, the starter may be trans- 

 ferred to the cream-vat before the cream is put into it or 

 when a part or all of the cream is in the vat. In such case, 

 the time of this transfer should depend on when it is most 



