ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 163 



much acid. My reason for using a higher temperature and less 

 starter and less time to ripen the cream in summer is that cream 

 must be churned at a much lower temperature in summer than In 

 winter and ripened cream cools off very slowly. By having a 

 little higher temperature the cream has developed sufficient 

 acidity that it can be placed in the spring in the evening and 

 will be thoroughly cooled to 50 degrees F. by morning. During 

 the time that the cream is ripening, it must be thoroughly stirred 

 several times, so that it will develop a uniform degree of acidity. 

 If the ripening is not uniform the churning will not be exhaus- 

 tive. In the winter the churning temperature must be higher 

 and by not allowing the temperature to go so high, it can be 

 kept from accjuiring too much acid until the next morning and 

 the temperature will then be about right for churning. 



The Starter. 



I use a home made starter made as follows : 1 take the milk 

 from a cow that has not advanced too far in her period of lac- 

 tation. Set this milk at a temperature so that it will be coagulated 

 in 24 hours. Before milking the flank and udder are carefully 

 brushed, the fore milk is rejected and the pail and strainer are 

 scalded. 



During the ripening process this milk should be stirred 

 occasionally and should be loosely covered. This starter is pro- 

 pagated from day to day by adding some of the starter to some 

 fresh skim milk to coagulate it in 24 hours at a temperature of 

 about 65 degrees F. On the days that the cream is ripened the 

 balance of the starter is used for ripening the cream, or so much 

 as is required to develop the proper degree of acidity. On other 

 days the starter not needed for propagation is tlirown away. 



Care must be taken in propagating the starter. A poor 

 starter is worse than none at all. A starter that has developed 

 gas bubbles in it should not be used. 



Before using the starter always reject about an inch from 

 the top of the starter. It is not so good. After rejecting an 

 inch from the top of the starter it is thoroughly stirred before 

 it is added to the cream. 



