194 DAIRY FARMING 



use of a liberal amount of starter nearly always insures 

 a majority of good bacteria and the larger this majority 

 the better the product. 



NATURAL STARTERS. 



Natural starters are those obtained by allowing milk 

 or skim-milk to sour in the ordinary way. If the milk 

 or skim-milk is produced and handled under cleanly con- 

 ditions, it will have a fairly good flavor when soured to 

 the point of thickening. But it is difficult, even under 

 cleanly condition, to get uniformly good flavored sour 

 milk or skim-milk by allowing it to sour in the usual 

 way and for this reason the following method of pre- 

 paring natural starters should be given preference. 



Selected Natural Starters. The most satisfactory 

 natural starters are selected and prepared in the follow- 

 ing manner: Secure, say, one quart of milk from each 

 of half a dozen healthy cows not far advanced in lacta- 

 tion, and fed on good feed. Before drawing the milk, 

 brush the flanks and udders of the cows and then moisten 

 them with water, or preferably, coat thinly with vaseline 

 to prevent dislodgment of dust. Then, after rejecting the 

 first few streams, draw the milk into sterilized quart 

 jars provided with narrow necks. Now allow the milk 

 to sour, uncovered, in a clean, pure atmosphere at a 

 temperature between 65 and 90 .F. When loppered 

 pour off the top and introduce the sample with the best 

 flavor into about forty pounds of sterilized skim-milk 

 and sour at a temperature of about 70 F. 



A starter thus selected can be propagated for a month 

 or more by daily inoculating newly sterilized or pasteur- 

 ized milk with a small amount of the old or mother 



