REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. . 381 



raised 3 feet higher than under the rest of the building, so that it 

 may be graded up to raise the cream-wagons on a level with the re- 

 ceiving-platform. Of course, if built in a side hill, no such grading 

 will be required. The joists of the elevated floor are 2 by 8 inches in 

 size, spiked to studs and supported in the center by 4 by 6 timbers, 

 shored up on pillars. The ends are shored up by 2 by 4 studs. The 

 outside walls have 2 by 4 studs 14 feet long. On these are nailed 

 rough 1-inch boards, to which building paper is tacked, and over this 

 1-inch strips or battened siding or clapboards are nailed. On the in- 

 side of the studs rough boards are nailed, then.paper, furred out with 

 inch strips and ceiled with seasoned sheathings, clear white pine or 

 white-wood, with a shellac finish, being best. This leaves three air 

 spaces. In case it is desired to save the expense of rough boarding 

 tack the paper to the sides and fur out 1 inch, then ceil and side 

 as above. For the partitions, set the studs flatways and ceil on both 

 sides of the studs, leaving a 2-inch air space. 



THE LESSONS OF EXPERIENCE. 



Average creamery butter brings at wholesale from 3 cents to 6 cents 

 more per pound than average dairy butter. Suppose one hundred 

 farmers, with ten cows each, making their butter at home (with all 

 the drudgery; this implies) averago 150 pounds of butter per cow per 

 year, for which 20 cents is received, making the receipts per cow 

 $30 per year for the butter alone. Let these same farmers organize 

 a co-operative cream-gathering butter factory and they will net 22 

 cents to 25 cents per pound for their butter and get more per cow 

 at least 170 pounds thus receiving $38 to $43 per cow per year with 

 none of the work of butter making or selling. This is a mild esti- 

 mate. It has been exceeded in many cases. Many farmers get $50 

 to $75 per cow per year net for their cream alone, and instances of 

 $90 to $100 (including the skim milk) are well attested. 



The co-operative or mutual feature of several of these creameries 

 is emphasized by sending to each stockholder a monthly itemized 

 statement of the expenses, showing just where every cent goes. These 

 circulars cost a trifle, and enable a stockholder to keep himself in- 

 formed. If he is dissatisfied with anything, he can find fault with 

 it directly, and thus extravagance and errors are guarded against. 



As to the average returns of the New England cream-gathering 

 butter factories, it was stated at the meeting of the Connecticut State 

 board of agriculture at Danbury, in December, 1888, that where the 

 patrons of these creameries were unable to sell the skim milk, and 

 kept it at home, the return they received for their butter was equiv- 

 alent to 2f cents per quart for all the milk they used in producing 

 cream. That is to say, the well-managed co-operative creameries 

 take the cream at the farmer's door, manufacture it, sell the butter, 

 and return him enough from the butter made from his cream to be 

 equal to 2f cents for every quart of milk set to raise that cream. 

 This is the average of the entire year. Some creameries do much 

 better and a few fall below this. Moreover, the farmer has the skim 

 milk left on his farm to either feed or sell. With the most careless 

 feeding, the skim milk is worth one-fourth of a cent per quart to 

 feed, so that at the lowest calculation the creamery patron nets three 

 cents per quart for the milk, without robbing the farm of the plant 

 food in the milk. The farmer also has none of the work of butter 

 making and selling, and does not have so deliver his milk or cream. 



