ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 269 



dairy utensils, such as pails, strainers and cans, for other pur- 

 poses and not cleaning them thoroughly before they are again 

 used as receptacles for milk or cream, allowing the cream to 

 stand in a warm, ill-ventilated room where it becomes tainted 

 and acquires an off-flavor or becomes too sour. Let us suppose 

 that ever3^one that has handled milk has learned that cleanliness 

 is one of the things that must not be overlooked ; that everything 

 that comes in contact with the milk up to the time the cream is 

 removed has been of a nature to produce a very fine grade of 

 cream. 



It is out of the question to make the best grade of butter out 

 of cream that has an off-flavor or is in any way tainted. Do not 

 think because you have a small amount of cream it is not neces- 

 sary to churn more than once a week. Aim to churn twice per 

 week. On a number of farms where butter is made, they churn 

 Tuesday and Friday, and market the butter on Saturday. It is 

 not essential to follow this rule, but in order to secure a uniform 

 grade of butter it is necessary to churn at least every third or 

 fourth day. 



Every farm should have a place suitable for holding the 

 cream until it is churned and no place will answer this purpose 

 better than in a well-constructed milk house. As a rule the com- 

 mon practice of keeping the milk and cream in cellars is not 

 conducive to best results, for the cream will absorb the odors 

 of the room. The ordinary stock watering tank is frequently 

 resorted to for keeping the cream, but often the tank is so large 

 that a sufficient amount of water is not pumped in every day to 

 keep the temperature down. A description of a suitable place 

 for keeping the cream is given in circular No. 1. 



While the cream is held during the collecting period it 

 should be kept at about 52. Each new lot of cream should be 

 cooled to that temperature before it is mixed v\^ith the cream 

 that has previously been saved. For if the warm cream is mixed 

 with the cold cream the temperature of the cold cream will be 

 raised and the bulk of cream will have to be cooled a few de- 

 grees. When cold cream is warmed slightly it will sour sooner. 

 The following suggestion has been tried and found to work well : 



