232 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



answer is that the bacteria which are within the cleanlr- cow's; teats, and 

 'themce get into the milk, are mos t coimmonly of. the djesired) character. 

 Favorable' species are more cotmmon than unfavorable. This appears, to 

 to.e demionsttated beyioind question, and of coiur&e if the milk is then 

 •dirawn into sterilized vessels' and kept from further contamination, the 

 resu'ltinig starter will have: been p reduced by the growth of advantageous 

 species of bacteiria. it will occaB/ionally happen that a starter obtained 

 in this way will not be satistflacto ry. There are some cowS' that for some 

 unknown reason do not furnish the prorper kind of bacteria. There are 

 (cowsi in a dairy herd) iii' Mi ddleto win whose milk when dtrawsn in this man- 

 tner will not sour at all, and; will com tain no species, of bacteria fitted for 

 creami ripening., But in geneTal this is not the caise and the milk of the 

 ordinary cleanly kept- cow usually does cointain. bacteria, useful for cream^ 

 -ripeining. 



If we try to compare the results obtained by ttie use of commercial 

 cultures and those obtained by naitural starters in our general dairying 

 in this oountry,^we reach tlie concPujsio'n that there is, very little differ- 

 ence between the two method's., Both methods are certainl'y coimmo^nly 

 us.effui and in many cases there has been a very general improvemient ini 

 the quality of butter as they have been used. As' a result of expeTilnen- 

 tal tests) it has appeared! that in s ome caseisi, certainly, a natural' starter 

 thhis oibtainedi prodtuces results' rather beftt'er than any one ofi the com- 

 mercial cultures compared with them. In otheir tests the reverse is the 

 case. But in accordance with the general expeTienoe of dairypaen and 

 tests of experiment stations ther e is nothing special to choose with re- 

 gard to the two methods of prep aring a sit^arter so far as concerns the' 

 effect upon the butter. It may b e hoped that in time bacteriologists can 

 produce a commercial culture that shall' be superior to a natural starter, 

 but as yet they have hardly done so. 



As a result, the method that will be adopted by the buttermiaker re;- 

 solves itself into a matter of convenience. It is frequently easier for 

 tlie buttermaker to use a commercial starter than to gO'to the necessary 

 trouble of hunting up the proper barn and obtaining a natural starter. 



