96 



MAINE STATE COLLEGE 



The object of this bulletin is to present certain facts, lately- 

 ascertained by the Station, bearing upon the second point. These 

 facts were obtained as follows : A representative of the Station, 

 Mr. Hayes, during a certain part of August, September and Octo- 

 ber last, accompanied the cream collectors of two butter factories, 

 viz : the Turner Centre Factory and the Poland Factory, on their 

 trips to the houses of the patrons, and thoroughly sampled the 

 skimmed milk from twenty-four hours' milk. These samples, which 

 were kept sweet by means of a preservative, were promptly shipped 

 to the Station laboratory, where the per cent of fat was determined. 

 The Turner Factory patrons were visited between August 24th and 

 September 9th, and the Poland Factory patrons, between Septem- 

 ber 30th and October 10th. Besides the names and addresses of 

 the patrons, Mr. Hayes noted other data, which, when summarized, 

 give the following figures : 



No. of farms visited 224 



No of cows then milked 1,360 



Quarts of milk produced 7,623 



No. of herds full-blooded Jerseys 6 



" grade Jerseys (occasional full-bloods,) 167 



" full-blood Holsteins 2 



'* grade Holsteins 1 



" miscellaneous (mixtures of Jersey and 



other grades, &c.,) 



farms using deep setting process 



" separator 



" shallow pans 



with ice constantly in tanks 



out of ice 



using some ice. 

 no record . . 



52 



221 

 1 



2 



194 



16 



5 

 6 



Doubtless some will remark that neither the number of cows 

 kept nor the yield of milk make a very favorable showing for 

 Maine dairymen. It should be remembered, however, that these 

 farms were visited at a season of the year when there would proba- 

 bly be found more dry cows and more in an advanced stage of 

 lactation than at any other time. Besides, a severe drought ren- 

 dered the past season a particularly unfavorable one. 



In regard to the methods of creaming, it appears that but one 

 separator was found, while 221 out of the 224 farmers are using 



