128 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



fight, we must all stand together and vote for such representa- 

 tives and congressmen as will pass laws to properly protect the 

 dairymen and consumers alike, by a National General Pure Food 

 law, with commissioners to see the law enforced; or better yet, 

 to come under the Internal Revenue Department for enforce- 

 ment. 



The founders of the creamery system in the Elgin District 

 were wise and thoughtful — they built from the foundation up. 

 First, looking over the country, they found by its natural drainage, 

 its rolling pastures, its creeks fed by everlasting springs, that it 

 was just the kind of a country for producing pure milk, and by 

 delivering the milk from several farms to a central point they 

 could produce a larger quantity of better butter than by each 

 making it up into butter on the several farms. The dairymen 

 themselves entered into the work, and as they had the benefit of 

 the teachings of the Illinois Condensing Co., for several years 

 previous, they were prepared to deliver milk in large quantities 

 from each farm. 



It must be understood that in speaking of dairying in the 

 Elgin section, that in nearly every instance each farm is a dairy 

 farm, and not a stock and grain raising farm with the dairy as a 

 second consideration. The farms will average about 200 acres 

 each, and it is not an uncommon thing to find a dairy of fifty 

 to seventy-five cows, with an average probably of fifty. Hence 

 they make a business of dairying, feeding all that is grown 

 on the farm, and buying bran to lighten up the corn and 

 oats, one-third of each being the ordinary ration, the coarse 

 feed being the corn fodder cut and threshed or shredded, 

 as much as they will eat, in bad weather the. cows are kept 

 in the barn. A great many have water in the barn in easy 

 reach of each animal all the time. The barns are kept well 

 cleaned, and the cows milked regularly at a stated time night 

 and morning; as fast as it is milked the milk is strained and put 

 through an aerator into eight-gallon cans which are then set in 

 a tank of water to cool, stirring often. It is then ready for 

 market. The factories that purchase the milk have inspectors 



