146 GUIDE TO DAIRYING IN SOUTH AFRICA 



butter muslin to keep flies and rats out. Then, 

 when it is ready to send to the factory, the lids may 

 be put on. 



The writer has examined hundreds of cans of 

 cream on arrival at the butter factory, and in nearly 

 every instance he can tell how the cream has been 

 kept even without visiting the farm to see. Some 

 of it shows great care. A good deal of it, on the 

 other hand, smells of native boys. In some cases 

 he has found dried peaches in the cream ; at other 

 times bits of roll tobacco, once a plate, once a 

 saucer, once a cup, once a spoon ! Once he found 

 a dead rat in a supplier's cream ! 



From the smell alone we can tell that in some 

 cases it has been near a pig-stye or stable. 



These are the things to be guarded against, 

 but at the same time expensive buildings or con- 

 trivances for storing cream are not necessary, the 

 chief points being keeping it cool and in a sweet- 

 smelling place where there is plenty of pure air. 



Cream should never be kept too long ; send it 

 to the factory as often as possible, every day if 

 you can, but never less than three times per week. 

 If the weather is hot, it is best to tie a wet sack 

 round the can when sending it away. 



