UTILIZATION OF MILK BY MAKING IT INTO BUTTER. 297 



This method of utilizing milk is as well suited for the occupant of 

 a small farm as of a large, with the exception that the latter has 

 this advantage over the former, that he can distribute his larger 

 amount of milk over wider areas at the same expense per gallon. 

 This mode of milk disposal is not well suited where the rearing of 

 calves is practised. It is also to be noted that where the milk is 

 sold off the farm, all the mineral constituents of it are lost. An 

 increased price can under certain circumstances be obtained for 

 milk by sterilizing it, or by exercising that amount of care which 

 is necessary to fit it for sale in milk-curing establishments or in 

 the rearing of children. If this be done, however, a considerable 

 increase of expense is incurred in plant. 



140. Utilization of Milk by making it into Butter. On dairy- 

 farms, where the sale of fresh milk is, for economical reasons, 

 impossible, the attempt is generally made to utilize milk by con- 

 verting it into butter, to a far greater extent, than by converting 

 it into cheese. The reason of this is chiefly, but not entirely, due to 

 the fact that butter is the most largely required milk product. It 

 is also to be considered, that the variation in the percentage of 

 bacteria in the milk, due to the utilization of the most widely 

 different kinds of food, does not affect the preparation of butter 

 a fact which in earlier times was rarely noticed, and which at 

 present can be rendered absolutely of no effect by Pasteurizing the 

 cream, so that the preparation of butter is, to a large extent, inde- 

 pendent of certain changes which affect the preparation of fat 

 cheese. Finally, it must not be overlooked that the preparation of 

 butter demands more care and attention than peculiar skill. The 

 above-mentioned facts, cause the preparation of butter to be a very 

 widely practised art. 



The utilization of milk by manufacturing it into butter requires 

 a larger expenditure in plant than the sale of milk; it does not obtain 

 so quick or so regular a return of the capital employed. In dairy- 

 farming, this method for the disposal of milk is not so popular, since 

 it requires more attention to the feeding of milk cows, more time 

 and knowledge for its supervision, more human labour, and lastly, 

 special arrangements for disposing of the bye-products. By the 

 sale of the butter practically no mineral constituents are removed 

 from the soil of the farm. The keeping qualities and the large 

 demand for butter offer many commercial advantages. For one 

 thing, the product may be temporarily stopped if the times are 



