253] THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTER 2 Q 



sparsely-settled sections, notably in the West, in order that 

 sufficient quantities of cream could be collected. The cream 

 from these skimming stations was shipped to the creamery 

 where the milk from nearby farms was separated and where 

 all the cream was churned. This system was also followed 

 in some Eastern sections. In northern Vermont, for in- 

 stance, a creamery company has a number of skimming 

 stations located all through Franklin County and some in 

 adjoining counties where the farmers' milk is separated 

 and whence the cream is shipped to the creamery at St. 

 Albans to be churned. In the Western States, however, 

 skimming stations have been more numerous, and when the 

 hand separator came it had the effect of eliminating a great 

 many skimming stations throughout this section of the 

 country, because the farmers separate their milk on the farm 

 and ship the cream long distances to a creamery. Thus, the 

 hand separator has brought back into use a system of gath- 

 ering cream instead of whole milk. It will be remembered 

 that only the cream was collected by creameries organized 

 on the Cooley or Fairlamb plan. The great producers in 

 the Middle West, known as " centralizers," have most of 

 the cream separated by the farmers and shipped to them 

 over the railroad. 



The system by which the skimming station is used to 

 collect the cream at a central point, there to be churned, is 

 by far the most satisfactory system from the manufacturers' 

 point of view. The cream is better taken care of and is 

 more uniform in quality, the result of which is that better 

 butter can be made. Where the hand separator is used the 

 cream is sometimes kept too long, and frequently improp- 

 erly cared for. The result is that when this cream reaches 

 the creamery numerous lots of cream of different degrees 

 of ripeness and varying in purity are worked up together, 

 making a grade of butter that cannot be as good as butter 

 made of cream collected by means of skimming stations. 



