"NEUTRALIZATION" OF CREAM FOR BUTTER-MAKING 187 



has been converted into acid at the first souring. A great deal 

 of cream arrives at the factories in too sour a condition to make 

 good butter unless the acidity is reduced. Hence, we can see the 

 necessity of using a harmless alkali for reducing the acidity. 



The introduction of the farm or hand separator has revolu- 

 tionized the creamery business in America. While no reliable 

 statistics are available as to the number of separators used among 

 the dairymen of the country, it is estimated that 90 per cent of the 

 butter produced in the creameries of the country is manufactured 

 from hand separator cream. The principal reason for the gen- 

 eral adoption of the hand separator on the farms by American 

 dairymen was that they were always able to get sweet, warm 

 skim-milk for feeding the young stock. When milk was sent to 

 the creameries under the whole-milk system, it frequently hap- 

 pened through delays and other causes that the skim-milk would 

 be in a very bad condition for feeding purposes upon its return 

 to the farm. In addition to this, the lower cost of getting butter- 

 fat to the creamery in the form of cream greatly reduced the 

 expense. A can of cream has concentrated in it the fat of pos- 

 sibly ten or more cans of milk, and the cost per pound of fat for 

 shipping a considerable distance is small. Consequently, there 

 have been established large creameries equipped with the most 

 modern machinery, not only for the manufacturing of butter 

 but for utilizing the by-products as well. In addition to this, 

 many such concerns have cut out the middleman and thus 

 reduced the expenses of selling. Moreover, when a large volume 

 of business is conducted at one place, more skilled labor can be 

 employed. These are some of the reasons why the large or 

 centralized creamery has developed so rapidly. 



It has been estimated that 80 to 85 per cent of our butter is 

 made from cream produced by farmers who are not dairymen 

 in the full sense of that term. Dairying with them is a side line. 

 Hence, the volume of cream produced is not sufficient to war- 

 rant its delivery to the creamery or buying station daily or even 

 every other day. This means that a large volume of the cream 

 received at the central plant is sour to a greater or less degree, 

 although its flavor may be quite clean. When such cream has 



