302 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



for a long time supposed that while milk might vary in its 

 constituents, cream was about the same thing, but since it 

 has been found that cream is only less variable than milk in 

 its character," — and then it goes on. 



Mr. Wheeler. I remember the quotation very well. 



Mr. FiTCii. You can set your two cans as you please^ 

 and you will find that the two creams are not alike. I say 

 as you do, that the difference is not so great as it is in milk, 

 by any means, but still it is a great deal more than you 

 think. 



Major Alvord. Both gentlemen are right, and they are 

 both, I think, a little off. I have watched this sul)ject of 

 test churning with a great deal of interest. I agree per- 

 fectly with the statement that cream is only less variable, 

 comparing l)ulk with bulk, than milk. So far, I agree with 

 the gentleman on my right: Now, I claim that cream is so 

 slightly variable, comparing bulk with bulk, that it does 

 not pay to quarrel about it in most Xew England factories. 

 Hence, I agree with the gentleman on my left. I go beyond 

 this, and I say, that notwithstanding the excellent appli- 

 ances that have been introduced at the West, — first, the test 

 churn, where a pound of cream from every patron was 

 churned by itself in gang-churns (a dozen or more little 

 churns strapped on the same board) , and next the Hall test 

 churn, where they take only a fraction of cream, and, after 

 churning it, melt the butter and measure it on a scale, — all 

 of which was theoretically very Ijeautiful, and perhaps, on 

 strict principles of equity, it was desirable to have such 

 tests, — yet, as I say, notwithstanding these appliances, I 

 found by attending the meetings of the Illinois and Wiscon- 

 sin State Dairymen's Association, and from very extensive 

 correspondence with a large creamery association in Iowa, 

 that a good many factories which went to the expense of 

 buying these test churns, have finally concluded that the 

 difference is not enough to pay for the cost ; and there were 

 a good many cases of just the same character as that to 

 which my friend has alluded, where the patrons of a factory, 

 obliged to yield to the decision of those tests, presented 

 before their OAvn e^'es, were so discontented that they could 



