Or earn Testing at Creameries. 169 



the fact that it determines the churnable fat, and not the 

 total fat of the cream; the amount obtained of the former 

 depends on many conditions beyond the control of the 

 patron, viz., the consistency, acidity and temperature of 

 the cream, the size of the churn or churning vessel, etc. 

 The same reasons which caused the churn to be replaced 

 by methods of determining the total fat of the milk, in 

 the testing of cows among dairymen and breeders, have 

 gradually brought about the abandonment of the oil test 

 in creameries and the adoption of the Babcock test in 

 its place. 



205. The Babcock test for cream. Both the space sys- 

 tem and the oil-test churn used for estimating the quality 

 of cream at creameries have now largely been replaced 

 by the Babcock test in the more progressive creameries 

 in this country, and composite samples of cream are 

 collected and tested in a similar manner as is done with 

 milk at separator creameries and cheese factories. 



A very satisfactory method of arrangements for work- 

 ing the Babcock test, in use in many eastern creameries, 

 is described by Winton and Ogden in the Connecticut 

 report previously referred to. The cream gatherer who 

 collects the cream in large cream cans is supplied with 

 a spring balance (1, see Fig. 57), pail for sampling and 

 weighing the cream (2), sampling tube (3), and collecting 

 bottles (5). At each patron's farm he takes from his 

 wagon the sampling pail and tube, the scales, and one 

 small collecting bottle. He should find in the dairy of 

 the patron the cans of perfectly sweet cream, kept at a 

 temperature of 40 to 50 F., and protected from dirt and 

 bad odors. Either sour or frozen cream must be rejected. 



