FORTY-FIRST ANNUAL CONVENTION 319 



ed, appear often in a more marked degree in the butter. The' 

 cream may be old and have a "bitter" taste, as is often the case 

 if held too long in the winter ; or it may be very ''sour," or ''taint- 

 ed" or "unclean," according to the nature of the conditions or 

 the misteratment to which the cream is subjected. It should be 

 understood by the dairyman and creamery patron that none of 

 these objectionable flavors can be removed to any extent and that 

 a good quality of butter can not be made from cream that has 

 developed these "off" flavors. Every creamery patron should 

 understand that the two factors in the handling of cream on the 

 farm that have the most to do with the condition in which the 

 cream reaches the creamery or market are cleanliness and tem- 

 perature. Other factors less important but which have much to 

 do with the production of good creaiji and butter are the thick- 

 ness of the cream and the frequency of its delivery at the cream- 

 ery. 



Cleanliness. 



In the matter of cleanliness we must go back to the care of 

 the milk before it is separated. No other food product is more 

 easily contaminated by filthy surroundings or absorbs bad odors 

 more easily than freshly drawn milk. 



Dust particles or any form of dirt carry large numbers of 

 small organisms, called bacteria, which when they enter the milk 

 at certain temperatures grow and increase rapidly. Certain 

 kinds of these bacteria cause the milk to develop an unclean or 

 bitter taste, while the kind most common everywhere cause the 

 milk or cream to become sour. Milk that is carefully handled 

 and produced under very clean conditions may have after 24 

 hours only a few thousand bacteria in a cubic centimeter (equal 

 to 16 drops), while milk carelessly handled or produced under 

 dirty conditions may have millions of bacteria in one drop. That 

 is the reason dirty milk will sour so quickly, as the more of these 

 bacteria there are in the milk and the faster they grow and mul- 

 tiply the more quickly will the milk or cream turn sour. That 

 is why cleanliness is so important in the handling of milk and 

 cream on the farm. Let us consider the different .steps in the 



