IOO PROFITABLE DAIRYING 



uncleaned cow during milking. They are too small 

 to be seen by the naked eye, but their work soon be- 

 comes apparent to the taste and smell. They may be, 

 to a great degree, eliminated by whitewashing the 

 stables, keeping the cobwebs and dust and dirt swept 

 out, carding and brushing the cows, and using good 

 clean bedding. The end of the teat furnishes a home 

 for bacteria, and the first few streams of milk from 

 each teat teem with them. 



A temperature of 50 is most favorable to the 

 growth of bacteria. Where the temperature of 

 cream or milk is kept below 50 the growth of bac- 

 teria, desirable and undesirable, is retarded. It nearly 

 ceases at 45. The effort of the dairyman must be 

 to prevent the presence of filth bacteria. To ac- 

 complish this the first and last rule is cleanliness. It 

 was a great discovery to find that the ripening and 

 curing of cream is caused by the growth of bacteria, 

 the germ of ferment. It is the key to the solution of 

 many of the difficulties met in the manufacture of 

 butter. 



If the ripening of cream is merely another name 

 for the growth of bacteria, it follows that there is 

 a period in the ripening when the cream will make 

 butter of better grain and flavor than at another time. 

 It also follows that cream twelve hours old cannot 

 be mixed with that twenty-four hours old, thirty-six, 

 forty-eight, sixty, and the mixture be called twenty- 

 four-hour bacteria, any more than a mixture of corn, 

 oats, and peas can be called corn. The reasoning 

 man at once determines that the cream must be kept 

 cold and sweet until enough has been accumulated 

 for a churning; then ripened all in one mass as 



