FORTY-FIRST ANNUAL CONVENTION 187 



I have been asked to tell you how you can produce a better 

 quality of cream. I would like to ask a qeustion of the farm- 

 ers who are producing cream, ''Why don't you produce a better 

 quality of cream?" Your answer to that is, ''What is the use?" 

 You truthfully say it is uneconomical to produce first grade 

 cream especially when there is no difference in price between 

 first and second grade cream. It costs me more to produce first 

 grade cream, you say. There is no incentive and therefore no 

 desire on my part to improve. According to Dairy Commis- 

 sioner Harmion of Nebraska, one- fourth of the cream produced 

 in that State is second grade and when mixed with the ^rst 

 grade cream, it causes all of the cream to become second grade. 

 When poor quality cream is mixed with the best quality of cream 

 the poorer quality will not improve the better quality of cream 

 no more than a rotten apple will improve the quality of three 

 good apples if allowed to be together for a period of time. I am 

 safe in saying that at least one-fourth of the cream produced in 

 Illinois is second grade cream and directly responsible for a 

 large per cent of Illinois creamery butter grading only seconds. 

 It is not necessary to tell the dairymen of the State how to pro- 

 duce a better quality of cream because they do, but since the 

 largest per cent of milk and cream is produced by the farmers 

 who milk from three to ten cows, the grain or live stock farm- 

 ers, and who consider dairying as chores, it is necessary to call 

 to their attention this important branch of Agriculture and tell 

 them how to improve the quality of cream. 



Illinois cream can be improved by first, educating the farmer 

 to observe the following factors : Cleanliness in producing and 

 handhngmilk and cream; control of temperature of cream on the 

 farm and temperature of cream in transportation to market; fre- 

 quent delivery of cream to markets and the richness of cream. 

 Second: By causing the farmers to realize the importance of 

 grading cream and by having them demand of the State, 

 through this Association, laws compelling the grading of cream 

 and a differential in price between the two grades. Third: By 

 causing the Manufacturers of Dairy Products to realize what 

 cream grading means to the Creamery Industry and by having 



