162 ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



decreasing and unless something is done to improve the product, 

 the people will be compelled to eat a poor grade ot" butter. 



Not long ago a merchant handed me a one-pound prim oi' 

 hand separator storage butter. It was neatly done up in a wrapper 

 bearing the name of the manufacturer, and I am thankful to say 

 it was not an Illinois product. The merchant wanted to kniw 

 what was the matter with the butter. He said, "People will not 

 eat it." 



A short time ago a speaker in one of our sister states boasted 

 of the following fact :"A few years ago Illinois made the best 

 butter that was made, but today the buyers of the East pass Illin- 

 ois up and call for our product ." Is this true? If so, it is time 

 that something is done. Being in a position to know, I would 

 like to state that the butter made in our best whole milk cream- 

 eries is equal to the best butter made in any state and that our so- 

 called hand separator butter is not scored off the market any more 

 than the butter made from the same grade of cream under simi- 

 lar conditions in our sister states. But we must have the co-op- 

 eration of creamerymen, buttermakers and farmers, and a similar 

 disposition existing towards those who are in position to aid and 

 distribute the information that will help improve the dairy condi- 

 tions. 



Recently it was my good fortune to score the butter at a 

 county institute. Over fifty samples of butter entered the contest 

 and all of them were made in dairies scattered throughout that 

 county. It was a good lot of butter, representing study, care, 

 skill and advancement, and showed what could be made out of the 

 milk skimmed on the farm. 



What is this subject that I am to discuss today but taking 

 this same cream, delivering it at one plant and making it into one 

 lot of butter? 



The care that the cream receives while it is on the farm plays 

 a very important part as to the quality of the butter. In one sense 

 under present conditions we might say that the farmer is the man 

 that ripens the cream ; for it is often the case that the cream con- 

 tains all the acid that is necessary when it reaches the creamery. 



