THE DxVlRY. 303 



not quite believe them, and it actually did more harm and 

 created more disturbance in a factory than it did to assume 

 that the cream was substantially alike. They have come to 

 the conclusion that the most important element in a factory 

 is to have a good business backbone somewhere to keep the 

 patrons up to the mark. But I really think it is an open 

 question yet in the West, in spite of all that has been done 

 and said aI)out it, whether it will really do to assert as a 

 fact that there are any very great difterences in cream. 



Mr. . There is a slight difference, perhaps, in 



the quality of difierent cans of cream, 1)ut there is a great 

 diiference in the color of different cows' cream. That I 

 have noticed a number of times in testing several cows^ 

 cream at once. Does the quality of the cream vary with 

 the color? 



Major Alvord. As far as I know, there is no relation, 

 or certainly no law of relation, between color and quality. 

 The coloring matter in a cow is just as distinct from her 

 milk-producing organs as the quality of her hair, and a cow 

 may have the property of coloring her milk to the highest pos- 

 sible point and yet be a very poor dairy cow, and vice versa. 



The Chairman. Is there any danger of establishing so 

 many Ijutter factories as to overstock the market with 

 butter ? 



Major Alvord. I do not believe that is a consideration 

 which is of sufficient weight to be dwelt upon. 



Mr. Myrick. Those little test tubes have been peddled 

 through the country and sold for a dollar each. Some of 

 the Orange County dairymen tried them thoroughly, and 

 rejected them. When they churned they found there was^ 

 no such difference as the test tube indicated. I would ask 

 Major Alvord how much dependence can be placed upon 

 those tubes ? 



Major Alvord. I think that those little glass test tubes 

 are better than nothing for comparing the milk of cows, but 

 I should want to go beyond that, and ap[)ly the churn test to 

 a larger quantity. I do not think there can l)e any conclu- 

 sion drawn from the test tube which cannot be applied to a 

 large quantity. 



