78 MODERN METHODS OF TESTING MILK 



SAMPLING AND TESTING GATHERED CREAM 



In many dairying communities, hand separators are 

 used by dairymen, and cream instead of milk is sent 

 to the creamery. The cream of several patrons is 

 gathered at intervals by some one employed for the 

 purpose. The ideal plan would be to keep each pa- 

 tron's cream separate until delivered and sampled at 

 the creamery, but usually the different lots of cream, 

 being comparatively small in amount, are not kept 

 separate, being put together indiscriminately into large 

 cans on the gathering wagons, as a matter of conven- 

 ience. Under such circumstances, it becomes neces- 

 sary to obtain at each farm a sample of the patron's 

 cream before it is mixed with other lots. Outlining 

 the general procedure, the person collecting cream car- 

 ries a sample bottle for each patron, puts into this a 

 sample of cream, takes this to the creamery and either 

 tests at once or makes up a composite sample for each 

 patron from the samples gathered during a period of 

 one or two weeks. These composite samples are care- 

 fully prepared and kept in the manner described on 

 pp. 24-31 and p. 73. The test for fat is made accord- 

 ing to the directions given on pp. 69-77. 



Taking up the details, the method of sampling gath- 

 ered cream on farms is carried out in the following 

 manner: The person who collects the cream is 

 equipped with (i) large cans into which different lots 

 of cream are poured after weighing and sampling, (2) 

 spring balance, (3) two pails for weighing cream and 

 mixing before sampling;, (4) sampling-tube, and (5) 

 a, case containing sample-bottles. At each dairy the 



