204 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



weather No. 2 is low in acid, but stale, greasy, musty, bitter and 

 sometimes cheesy and rancid. 



That warm cream sours and gets bad is not a new discov- 

 ery. It is an old fact, but its force is not appreciated: 



I have endeavored to ascertain its true numerical value and 

 perspective. My firm conviction is that lack of cooHng causes 

 nearly all the bad cream in the summer and that dirty milking, 

 dirty separators and long keeping causes nearly all the bad cream 

 in the winter. In the light of these facts it is logical to declare 

 that when cream gets too sour it will not make good butter, and 

 therefore it is No. 2 cream. For this it is necessary to have an 

 acid standard. To prevent evasion of the law and confusion 

 among cream ^buyers the acid test must be applied in contro- 

 versies. 



All the benefit that is to come from speaking and writing 

 on the care of cream has already been obtained. No other 

 measure will bring as much improvement in quality and give as 

 much encouragement to production of cream as paying a better 

 price for better cream. The principle of paying a better price 

 for better cream is sound. The failure of attempts to buy by 

 grade do not prove that the principle is impractical. These fail- 

 ures may have been caused by lack of faith or fault of method. 

 Grain, live stock, eggs, cheese and butter are bought by grade. 

 The grade is determined solely by personal judgment. Often 

 the producer ships to the buyer in a distant market. The buyer, 

 by personal judgment, determines the grade and price. No one 

 interested in these products wants to sell or buy regardless of 

 quality. The difficulties in buying cream by grade are not great- 

 er than in buying grain, etc., by grade. Cream buying ,is not 

 the only business in which competition occurs. To believe that 

 the competition in the other businesses is just as keen will be 

 nearest the truth. If all the cream buyers do not have sufficient 

 ability to buy by grade, the grading system would cause the 

 elimination of the poor ones. This might prove a good thing. 

 Elimination by incompetency to buy by grade would be more 

 natural than elimination by force. 



