^0 REPORT OF THE SCOTTISH COMMISSION 



cart, while the larger farmers use a horse cart. Generally, how- 

 ever, throughout the north and west of Ireland the farmers 

 ■combine and send their milk in bulk to the creameries. In the 

 south the farmers deliver their milk direct. As a rule, however, 

 they have large supplies, and live near. the creameries. In only a 

 few cases is the milk collected by vans or lorries belonging to the 

 creamery. This system, so much in vogue in Denmark, Canada, 

 and the United States, is not in very great favour in Ireland. 



Routine of Creamery Work 



The first deliveries of milk begin to arrive at the creameries 

 about six o'clock in the morning, and from that time forward 

 there is a continuous stream of donkey and horse-carts till well on 

 in the forenoon. At the creamery the receiving platform is 

 usually 4 feet or 4| feet above the roadway, and the cans are thus 

 easily transferred from the carts to the platform. On this plat- 

 form there is always a weighing machine with a can on it 

 sufficiently large to hold several churns of milk. As the milk of 

 each member arrives it is emptied into the weighing-can, weighed, 

 stirred, and a sample taken, after which the outlet valve in the 

 can is opened and the milk passes through a fine strainer into a 

 large receiving tank. 



In the north no milk is received on Sunday, but in the south 

 most of the creameries work more or less on that day. Where no 

 milk is received on Sunday the Saturday evening milk is usually 

 sent in separately that night. In some of the districts the 

 farmers churn at home the milk of Sunday morning, that of 

 Sunday evening coming in on Monday morning. These arrange- 

 ments are only necessary for a very short time during the hottest 

 of the weather, for as soon as it becomes colder there is no 

 difficulty in holding milk over from Saturday evening to Monday 

 morning. 



Sampling 



Each member is known by a particular number, and has a 

 sample bottle labelled with that number, into which a part of each 

 delivery of milk is put. Each bottle contains a little of some 

 preservative, usually bichromate of potash, so that in any kind of 

 weather the milk remains fluid for at least one or two weeks. In 

 most of the creameries provision is made for testing a portion of 

 the samples every day, so that all may be tested once a week or 

 once a fortnight. These mixed samples, which have been gathered 

 during the previous week or fortnight, are held as being a fair 

 average of what was delivered during that period, and payment is 

 made, usually once a month, according to the quantity of butter 

 fat contained in the milk and the price of butter. 



Arrangements for Heating and Cooling the Milk 



Owing to the cost of fuel in many districts in Ireland 

 numerous devices of an ingenious kind have been resorted to 



