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THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
March  5 
How  the  Butter  is  Made. 
At  the  left,  as  we  enter,  are  three  DeLaval  separa¬ 
tors  ;  then  come,  in  a  prolongation  of  the  row,  the 
three  (soon  to  be  four)  great  churns,  each  of  which 
turns  out  350  pounds  of  butter  at  a  churning.  In  the 
rear  of  the  churns  and  on  an  elevated  platform  are  the 
cream  vats,  into  which  the  cream  is  pumped  as  it 
comes  from  the  separators  and  where  it  is  kept  until 
ready  for  the  churn — until  the  necessary  ripening 
process  is  accomplished.  On  the  same  floor  with  the 
churns  are  the  two  large  butter  workers  (soon  to  be 
three) — see  Fig.  87 — which  handle  about  150  pounds 
at  once. 
At  one  side  of  the  building  is  the  receiving  plat¬ 
form  where  the  milk  is  taken  from  the  farmers,  weighed 
and  emptied  into  vats  from  which  it  runs,  when  ready, 
to  the  separators.  The  butter  maker,  Mr.  George 
Raster,  is  an  adept  in  his  art,  for  fine  butter  making  is 
really  an  art,  and  he  is  justly  proud  of  the  fame  of  the 
butter  there  produced.  There  are,  in  all,  about  20 
employees  in  the  factory  and  20  more  in  the  outlying 
creameries,  of  which  we  shall  speak  later,  and  there 
are,  in  all,  30  DeLaval  separators  in  daily  use.  When 
a  butter  worker  has  fin¬ 
ished  its  load,  deft-lianded 
dairymaids  attack  the 
butter,  and  while  another 
worker  is  doing  a  similar 
stent  under  the  eye  of  the 
master,  the  butter  is 
promptly  packed  in  prints 
or  packages  as  may  be 
desired.  This  process  is 
kept  up  until  the  day’s 
work  is  over.  It  is  all 
methodically  done — neat¬ 
ness,  order  and  precision 
seem  to  be  the  character¬ 
istics  of  the  place.  The 
Rural  representative 
wandered  into  every  nook 
and  corner,  with  perfect 
freedom  and  saw  nothing 
to  excite  anything  but 
praise.  Returning  to  the 
office,  he  began  his 
queries  of  Mr.  Thompson 
and  elicited  much  of  in¬ 
terest. 
The  History  of  the 
Business. 
‘  ‘  How  much  butter  did 
you  make  in  your  first 
year.” 
“About  100,000  pounds.” 
“How  much  did  you 
produce  in  1891  ?” 
The  bookkeeper  was 
called  on  for  figures,  and 
they  are  given  herewith 
in  pounds : 
January . 
.  23,254 
August . 
February . 
. 23,196 
September. . . . 
.  91,504 
. 36,132 
....  88,178 
April . 
.  53.058 
November _ 
.  57,640 
n  y 
. 93,338 
.  38,514 
Tn  no 
. .  .117,800 
July . 
. 114,502 
Total.... 
. 836,782 
“  Hut  where  do  you  get  all  the  milk  to  make  such  a 
quantity  of  butter — nearly  a  million  pounds  per 
annum  ?  ” 
“Oh,  that  is  easy  enough.  A  very  large  quantity  is 
delivered  to  us  here  by  producers  within  easy-driving 
distance,  but  that  would  not  be  enough.  We  have  es¬ 
tablished  at  points  within  a  radius  of  30  miles,  nine  re¬ 
ceiving  creameries,  where  we  buy  milk  as  here.  They 
are  known  as  Cold  Spring,  Trout  Rrook,  Green  Valley, 
Clover  Hill,  Maple  Grove,  River  Side,  Hillside,  Model 
and  St.  Charles.  At  these  milk  is  received  daily  as  at  the 
home  creamery.  Separators  are  ready,  the  cream  is 
promptly  separated,  properly  cared  for  and  at 
once  shipped  to  the  central  factory  here.  At  a  few 
of  them,  it  is  churned,  and  the  butter,  in  granular 
form,  is  forwarded  here,  where  it  is  finished.” 
“  How  many  farms  are  producing  milk  for  your  fac¬ 
tory  ?  ” 
“  Somewhere  between  600  and  700.  I  have  not  the 
exact  figures  handy.” 
“  What  special  troubles  have  you  had  in  your  deal¬ 
ings  with  producers  ?  ” 
“  Well,  they  are  mostly  things  of  the  past.  One  of 
our  greatest  troubles  was  to  get  farmers  to  exercise 
the  necessary  care  in  their  end  of  the  business.  We 
require  and  must  have  clean  milk,  in  clean  utensils, 
properly  handled,  etc.,  all  which  requirements  are  very 
generally  acquiesced  in  now,  but  at  first  they  made 
more  or  less  trouble.  If  you  will  glance  at  this  con¬ 
tract,  which  we  require  each  producer  to  sign  before 
we  agree  to  take  his  milk,  you  will  see  how  careful  we 
are  in  all  our  requirements.  ” 
Food  that  Must  Not  be  Used. 
A  glance  over  the  contract  shows  that  the  milking 
must  be  done  in  a  cleanly  manner,  the  milk  must  be 
strained  through  a  strainer  of  stipulated  fineness, 
thoroughly  cooled  immediately  after  it  is  drawn  from 
the  cow  by  aerating  and  stirring  it,  the  cans  must  be 
kept  in  tanks  of  cold  water,  guarded  from  freezing, 
hauled  to  the  factory  in  spring-wagons  and  covered  in 
transit  to  keep  off  the  sun.  Special  pains  must  be 
taken  with  the  cans  and  no  milk  must  be  delivered 
from  a  cow  that  has  calved  within  12  days,  or  from  a 
cow  that  will  calve  inside  of  60  days.  Among  the  foods 
prohibited  are  turnips,  barley  sprouts,  brewers’  grains, 
distillers’  refuse,  linseed  meal,  glucose  refuse,  starch 
refuse,  ensilage,  or  any  damaged  feed.  Stables  for 
cows  must  be  ventilated  and  the  milk  house  also. 
“  Why  do  you  rule  out  ensilage  ?”  said  The  Rural,. 
“  Such  things  are  our  most  serious  troubles.  I  have 
no  doubt  that  some  ensilage,  scientifically  grown  and 
stored,  is  excellent  food  and  would  make  good  butter; 
but  I  am  equally  sure  that  some  ensilage  would  not 
make  good  butter,  but  rather  the  reverse.  The  making 
of  ensilage  has  not  yet  reached  a  point  where  we  can 
call  it  a  n  exact  science — there  is  ensilage  and  ensilage. 
And  so,  you  see,  we  are  obliged  to  prohibit  it  entirely, 
because  some  of  it  would  likely  be  bad.” 
“  How  about  dried  brewers’  grains  ?” 
“  The  same  difficulty  exists.  It  is  more  than  likely 
that  brewers’  grains,  dried  as  soon  as  they  leave  the 
brewers’  tub,  would  be  a  good  food  and  make  good 
butter,  but  some  of  them  are  not  so  dried  and  are  not 
such  food  as  we  desire  for  a  basis  on  which  to  build  a 
reputation  for  the  best  of  butter.” 
Unseasonable  Milk  ;  Prices. 
“  I  see  your  production  is  largest  in  June  and  July. 
Is  that  a  desirable  state  of  affairs  ?” 
*  ‘  Oh  dear  no.  That  is  another  of  our  special 
troubles.  Our  producers  literally  flood  us  with  milk 
in  June  and  July,  the  period  when  butter  is  cheapest 
and  when  milk  has  the  lowest  percentage  of  butter 
fats.  If  we  could  only  get  them  to  equalize  their  pro¬ 
duction  more — let  some  of  the  cows  be  resting  at  that 
time — they  would  be  better  off  at  the  end  of  the  year, 
and  so  would  we.  We  make  a  few  batches  of  full- 
cream  cheese  in  those  months  occasionally,  and  thus 
take  care  of  some  of  the  milk  which  is  not  specially 
needed  for  butter.  This  cheese  goes  to  regular  cus¬ 
tomers— people  who  want  a  good  article  and  who  are 
willing  to  pay  for  it.  The  demand  for  it  always  ex¬ 
ceeds  the  supply.  But  we  are  butter  makers,  primarily, 
cheese-makers  only  incidentally.” 
“  What  prices  do  you  pay  producers  for  their  milk  ?” 
“  We  pay  them  a  half  cent  per  quart  less  than  the 
net  price  in  New  York.  For  instance,  to-day  the 
price  in  New  York  is  three  cents  net  to  the  producer 
—we  pay  2%.  At  times,  when  the  butter  market  will 
permit,  we  pay  within  a  quarter  of  a  cent  of  the  New 
York  price.” 
“  When  do  you  pay  ?  ” 
“  We  pay  on  the  15th  of  each  month  for  the  preced¬ 
ing  month’s  milk.  But  this  is  not  a  cast-iron  rule — 
any  of  our  patrons  who  needs  money  can  get  it,  on 
account,  at  any  time.” 
Trade  Prospects  ;  by-Products. 
“  How  about  the  coming  season?  Do  you  propose  to 
do  as  much  as  in  the  last?” 
“Oh,  yes,  and  more.  We  shall  establish  four  ad¬ 
ditional  receiving  stations  which  will  materially  swell 
our  aggregate  production.” 
“  What  proportion  of  your  butter  goes  into  prints?  ” 
“  I  could  not  definitely  answer  that  without  looking 
over  the  books.  At  the  present  time,  our  standing 
orders  call  for  about  1,600  pounds  of  print  butter  daily, 
the  remainder  goes  in  small  packages.” 
“  What  siz?  prints  do  you  put  it  in?  ” 
“  In  many  ;  just  as  our  patrons  desire  it,  one  ounce, 
four  ounces,  half  pound  and  pounds.” 
“  Where  does  it  go  to?” 
“We  have  a  large  trade  in  New  York,  Brooklyn, 
Boston,  Providence,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore  and  Wash¬ 
ington.  In  the  summer  time,  we  have  a  very  large 
trade  with  many  of  the  more  famous  summer  resorts.” 
“  How  about  the  by¬ 
products  ?  ” 
4  4  The  skim-milk  and 
buttermilk  go  to  the 
cheese  house,  where  they 
are  made  into  pot  cheese 
and  schmier  kiise.  The 
pot  cheese  is  not  finished 
—we  simply  ship  it  in 
barrels  and  kegs  in  the 
shape  of  curds,  and  it  goes 
to  the  large  cities,  where 
it  is  made  up  for  the  table. 
Mr.  McDowell  our  cheese 
maker,  is  an  expert  in  all 
these  details  of  the  busi¬ 
ness.” 
A  cursory  look  through 
the  cheese  factory  showed 
all  the  appliances  for  the 
craft,  and,  like  its  partner, 
the  butter  factory,  it  was 
neat  and  clean.  Barrels 
filled  with  snow-white 
curds  were  waiting  closing 
up  and  shipping  and 
looked  very  appetizing  to 
lovers  of  these  products, 
and  who  does  not  like 
them  ?  The  schmier  kiise 
goes  in  smaller  packages 
than  the  curds.  The 
laboratory  is  an  interest¬ 
ing  room  and  makes  one 
think  of  the  pictures  of 
Dr.  Faustus  and  his  mys¬ 
terious  arts.  Mrs.  Smith, 
who  presides  in  this  de¬ 
partment,  finds  plenty  to 
do.  The  process  of  testing  milk  from  the  various 
producers  is  constantly  going  on,  in  order  that 
the  firm  may  know  that  it  is  up  to  the  standard 
in  the  matter  of  butter  fats  and  to  prevent  dis¬ 
honesty,  were  any  of  the  patrons  so  inclined.  No 
one  knows  when  his  milk  is  to  be  tested,  but  he  will 
very  soon  know  that  it  has  been  tested,  if  analysis 
shows  it  below  the  standard.  The  buttermilk  is  tested 
from  each  churning,  so  that  no  preventible  waste  can 
possibly  go  on  undetected.  The  Babcock  test  is  mainly 
used,  though  they  have  also  the  Short  and  Cochrane 
systems  at  hand.  The  latter  requires  more  careful 
handling  than  the  others  and  more  skill  in  the  operator. 
The  Process  of  Butter-Making. 
4  4  After  you  have  weighed  the  milk  and  sent  it  to  the 
receiving  vats,  what  is  next  done  with  it  ?  ”  said  The 
Rurai., 
“It  is  warmed  (at  this  season)  to  74  degrees,  and 
then  goes  through  the  separators  running  at  a  speed 
of  8,000  revolutions  per  minute.  In  the  summer  time 
we  run  at  a  lower  temperature  and  lower  speed.  We 
could  get  a  better  yield  by  reversing  this  process,  but 
quality  comes  first  with  us — quantity  second,  and  we 
think  the  method  indicated  gives  us  the  best  results. 
The  cream  from  the  separators  goes  into  the  cream 
vats,  which  are  surrounded  by  water,  the  temperature 
of  which  is  entirely  under  control,  and  we  put  the 
cream  speedily  at  any  desired  temperature  for 
ripening.” 
44  How  far  do  you  carry  this  ripening  process  ?  ” 
44  Just  as  far  as  our  patrons  desire  it.  We  make  all 
kinds,  from  sweet-cream  butter  to  butter  from  well- 
ripened  cream.  We  also  make  what  is  known  as 
44  sweet  butter,”  that  is,  butter  which  is  unsalted,  and 
there  is  a  growing  demand  for  this  kind.  Our  churns 
turn  out  about  350  pounds  of  butter  at  a  churning.  In 
one  hour  after  leaving  the  churn,  it  is  in  prints,  packed 
Power  Butter  Worker  at  the  Standard  Butter  Factory.  Fig.  87. 
