CARE: OF Miuc AND CREAM ON FARM 67 



it escapes from the separator. Age will gradually deteriorate 

 cream under any condition. While proper care retards such 

 deterioration it cannot entirely prevent it, hence, if intended 

 for the sweet-cream trade it should be delivered daily; if 

 butter is made on the farm the churning should be sufficiently 

 frequent to avoid the necessity of using stale cream. If sent 

 to the creamery, deliveries should be made two to three times 

 per week or oftener. Excessive age of cream is one of the arch 

 enemies of the butter industry, because it paralizes largely all 

 other efforts to improve the quality of the butter. 



Protection of Cream in Transit. The cream cans should be 

 kept in the cooling tank until they leave the farm. While on 

 the road they should be properly protected against excessive 

 heat in summer and cold in winter. While hauled to the 

 creamery or station this may be effectively done by covering the 

 cans with a wet blanket in summer and a dry blanket in winter. 

 For shipping long distances the use of insulated cans, or cans over 

 which a jacket has been slipped, is desirable. In the absence 

 of this practise a tank with cool water should be provided at the 

 station in the summer and the cream should be shipped in iced 

 cars during the hot summer months. These precautions are as 

 yet very largely ignored, both by the shipper and by the railway 

 and express companies and it is to be hoped that, with the future 

 development and more intensive practises of cream transporta- 

 tion, this important phase may receive its due share of attention. 



Another feature of transportation which has had an un- 

 iavorable influence on quality, is the difficulty of insuring a 

 prompt return of the empty cans to the farmer. For reasons 

 which have not as yet been satisfactorily explained, the return 

 of the empties has been consistently neglected by some trans- 

 portation companies, causing these cans to reach the farmer 

 frequently after weeks of delays and misshipment. The empty 

 can should receive the same attention as the full can. It should 

 be considered perishable merchandise, for if it is not returned 

 to the farmer promptly, he has no means to ship the cream which 

 has been accumulating- on the farm, causing this cream to spoil. 



