THIRTY-FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION. 131 



outfit and so to speak, no curing room at all. Generally the 

 creamery part is left in a badly cut up and poorly arranged con- 

 dition, and even in those built in the last two years invariably a 

 cheap wood floor is put in, when it ought to have been concrete, 

 and a poor drain from the creamery. They are generally poorly 

 organized, the promoting firms furnish them with a cheap man, 

 in many places there is not milk enough in the territory at the 

 time they are organized to cover the bottom of the vat, and the 

 results are that many of them are doomed before they ever get 

 started. Consequently creameries can be found in different parts 

 of the state that never turned a wheel. 



Before I close I want to suggest a few things that I have 

 thought of and observed. A good many Illinois creameries 

 need entirely different men. But let us start at the weigh stand 

 and see what a good many little things I know some men are 

 not doing but ought to do. 



The milk and cream should be correctly weighed and not 

 estimated. A sample should be taken of each delivery, whether 

 deliveries are made once a week or every day. The sample jars 

 should be properly and plainly marked to eliminate mistakes on 

 the part of weigher. These things are overlooked in too many 

 places, but the patrons have a right to demand them. When 

 they go to testing, I find a good many are in the habit of not 

 marking the test bottles and the result is that most of them, by 

 the time they get through don't know where they are. There 

 is a place on the bottle to mark and I hold it is the tester's duty 

 to do so. The test bottles ought to be calibrated before taken 

 into use; though most of them are sold under guaranty to be 

 correct, yet I have found cream bottles off as much as 10 per 

 cent, and milk bottles up to l l /> per cent. That should be enough 

 to convince creamerymen that they ought to go through all new 

 bottles with the calibrating nail, to be sure they are correct. The 

 skimmilk and buttermilk should be tested oftener than it is ; and 

 lastly, keep more complete records. In most creameries they 

 have a secretary and manager, but I can assure you in many 

 places it is by name only and not by virtue. 



