35 



creaming by an electric current, was, however, a short-lived de- 

 lusion, and so was the famous Berrigan Separator, in which the 

 air pump was used to create a pressure in the milk can and the 

 milk diluted with 20 per cent, of water. The Cornell and Wis- 

 consin Universities disposed of this. The former reported the 

 tests showing the percentage of fat in the skim milk to be : 



Laval Baby N2 0.09 



Cooley, set at 40 deg 0.29 



Berrigan Separator 0.59 



Not only was it a failure, but it was an attempt to deceive 

 by using the word "Separator." 



Creaming by dilution was attempted 41 years ago in Denmark 

 and Germany, and many "practical" farmers reported good re- 

 sults, but that was in the ante-Babcock days. 



Drs. Martini and Peters (Germany) tried it in 1869, and 

 found that while apparently more cream was raised the cream 

 contained less butterfat than that from undiluted milk, thus ex- 

 plaining the fallacious result claimed. 



Every now and then during the last twenty years our agri- 

 cultural papers have passed around notices of the wonderful bene- 

 fit of dilution, various experiment stations took up the experi- 

 ments, and while not all in accord, the results were not favorable 

 to the process. Indeed the only experiments favorable to dilution 

 that I recall are those reported in Bulletin 79, Cornell, which seem 

 to indicate that while there is no benefit from diluting with cold 

 water, some gain was observed from diluting with 25 per cent, of 

 water at 135 deg. But, as there was a considerable difference in 

 the temperature of the diluted and undiluted milk when "set" and 

 the latter had the benefit of the higher temperature, those expri- 

 ments are of but little value. 



When comparing two methods, we must have all conditions 

 alike, but the one to be tested ; this is where many "practical" and, 

 I regret to say, even some of the scientific experiments fail. 



Theoretically, the addition of water, temperatures being kept 

 the same, should rather delay the creaming, as it reduces the dif- 

 ference in the specific gravity, but if there is a benefit the ex- 

 planation may lie in its preventing or delaying the coagulation of 

 the fibrin discovered by Dr. Babcock. 



The advertisements referred to are those of the "Hydraulic" 

 the "Aquatic" and other "Separators" (sic) which all profess to 

 be patented and consist of a large can with a faucet into which the 



