APPLICATION OF REFRIGERATION TO HANDLING OF MILK. 85 



The centralized, or main, creamery is usually located on a rail- 

 road or, better still, at the intersection of two or more railroads. The 

 cream-buying stations are distributed along the lines of the railroads 

 in the most favorable locations for collecting cream. The collected 

 cream is shipped to the centralized creamery, the time of arrival, of 

 course, depending upon train schedules. In some instances cream 

 arrives at practically all hours, both day and night,, As soon as 

 received at the creamery, the cream is sampled, weighed, and pas- 

 teurized. After pasteurization the cream is cooled and run into 

 vats where it is held until the following morning, when it is churned. 

 Generally the churning and the working of the butter take place in 

 the forenoon, although in some instances this work is done at any 

 time that happens to be the most convenient. 



Usually the cream is ripe when received, and if churning is to be 

 delayed the temperature of the cream is lowered to a point where 

 the development of acid bacteria practically stops, at which tempera- 

 ture it is held until ready to churn. 



In case a force is kept on duty continuously, the refrigerating plant 

 may be operated 24 hours a day; hence, the size of the plant is ma- 

 terially reduced from that required if the plant were operated only 

 8 hourSo Generally speaking the methods of operation employed 

 in the centralized creameries are very similar to those of the local 

 creamery, except they are on a more extensive scale and only cream 

 is handled. 



CREAM-BUYING STATIONS. 



Cream-buying stations are established for the purpose of supplying 

 the centraJized creameries with cream by collecting the cream directly 

 from the farmers and shipping to the main creamery. These stations 

 are located at suitable points along the railroads in close proximity 

 to a large number of farms. The cream is brought to the buying 

 stations by the farmers, where it is received by the agent of the main 

 creamery and held until a sufficient quantity is on hand to justify 

 shipping. Generally no provision is made for cooling the cream at 

 the buying stations. 



In figure 37 are given the weights of a gallon of cream containing 

 varying percentages of fat. 



COOLING CREAM IN AUXILIARY CREAMERIES. 



The auxiliary creameries, commonly known as skimming stations, 

 are erected for the purpose of furnishing cream to the main creamery 

 without the inconvenience of having to haul the raw milk a long dis- 

 tance . By sep ar ating the ere am from the milk in the auxiliary ere am- 

 ery and hauling only the cream to the main creamery a great saving 

 in time and labor is effected, as it is necessary to haul only about an 

 average of 13 per cent of the total weight of the whole milk. 



