122 
February 22 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
HOW FINE CREAMERY BUTTER WAS MADE. 
Wisconsin Buitcrmakers Talk. 
The following' reports are made by creamerymen whose 
butter scored high at the recent meeting of the Wis¬ 
consin State Dairymen’s Association. Other reports will 
follow: 
In making the butter for exhibition at the Wiscon¬ 
sin buttermakers’ convention we used the methods 
commonly employed. The first requisite in making 
good butter is good milk, and our weigher is instruct¬ 
ed to refuse all milk that is sour or that comes in 
dirty cans, and in Winter any that is more than two 
days old. No special instructions were given about 
the milk for this butter. In fact, I did not tell any¬ 
one that the butter was to go in any but the regular 
channels. The milk was heated to about 85 degrees 
with direct steam, which is no doubt detrimental, and 
separated with Alpha separators. The cream was run 
directly into a Farrington cream ripener, into which 
about 180 pounds of morning’s milk from good, fairly 
fresh herds, and 80 pounds of buttermilk starter were 
placed. These additions reduced the cream to about 
28 per cent fat, and it was held at 80 degrees until 
about half-past one, when five-tenths acidity was de¬ 
veloped by the Farrington acid test. The ripeners 
were then put in motion and cold water allowed to 
circulate through it, reducing the temperature to 54 
degrees in about one hour. It was then allowed to 
stand until next morning and churned in a Victor 
churn at almost the same temperature. After revolv¬ 
ing the churn five times, we stopped, and took out 
enough for our exhibition tub, and set it in the refri¬ 
gerator. We then continued the working and pack¬ 
ing into prints the remainder of the butter, about 500 
pounds. We then placed the butter taken out in the 
churn again and gave it five more revolutions, which 
I should say here, ought to have been doubled, as in 
packing butter into prints a certain amount of work¬ 
ing is done which I did not allow for, and therefore 
caused the color to be a trifle wavy and lost one point. 
The butter was packed in a 20-pound spruce tub and 
heavily papered and burlaped, as a good many times 
convention butter is injured in transit by becoming 
heated near steam pipes or stoves. This butter was 
scored five off on flavor and was made from over 
11,000 pounds, more than half of which was two days 
old when delivered. We have 180 patrons. Many of 
the cows are well graded Short-horns, Durhams and 
Guernseys, with several purebred Jersey herds. Among 
our patrons only one uses the silo, and the high price 
of feeds is keeping many who in ordinary times would 
buy from using them. A good many do not consider 
that it pays to feed anything but hay, but we are 
laboring with them and trying to buy feed for them 
in car lots at wholesale prices, as we have done with 
salt, coal and binder twine. We expect shortly to 
make a tour of all the patrons’ homes, investigating 
the conditions under which the cows are kept and fed 
and the care of the cans and milk. We think that in 
this way we shall be able to make some helpful sug¬ 
gestions, and trace to its source any trouble in the 
milk. J. G. MOORE. 
Albion, Wis. 
The butter was made as usual. The milk is receiv¬ 
ed every day with the exception of a few batches, and 
it was not selected. It arrived at an average tempera¬ 
ture of 50 degrees. I have steam connection under my 
receiving vat and warm the milk to about 65 degrees, 
as I think by so doing one receives better results in 
skimming, as I am not in favor of so-called flashy 
heating. It is then pumped with a Penn pump through 
a No. 4 Curtis heater and warmed to between 78 and 
80 degrees. We are at present using two No. 1 Alpha 
separators and take in about 11,000 pounds daily. 
Cream is run directly into a 300-gallon Boyd cream 
ripener, and generally held till about two to three 
o’clock at a temperature of 65 degrees, when I begin 
cooling by pumping ice water through the coils. At 
this time the cream contains about three per cent of 
acid. I cool to 54 degrees this time of year; in Summer 
to 49 or 50 degrees, and in the morning it will contain 
about 5.5 per cent acid. I always skim a good heavy 
cream; at present I am skimming 41 per cent fat. I 
find that by so doing and adding a good starter one 
can somewhat overcome the effect of milk that is not 
quite up to the standard. I am using at present about 
eight per cent of Hansen Lactic Ferment starter, but 
I find that by skimming such a heavy cream the 
starter will not work as fast as in thinner cream. As 
a rule, I select about 160 pounds of good morning 
milk, put it in the cream vat and add my starter to 
this before I start skimming. By so doing the starter 
gets a better hold. I churn in a No. 5 Disbrow churn 
generally about 40 minutes, gather to the size of a 
wheat kernel, add just a few pailfuls of water after 
it breaks; run the buttermilk off as rapidly as pos¬ 
sible, wash once with a little salt in the water, and 
salt one ounce to the pound. The butter is worked in 
the course of an hour and put into pound prints. The 
cows are of mixed breeds, Holsteins and Durhams 
crossed with either Jerseys or Guernseys, which 
make large cows and good milkers. For coarse feed 
they use cornstalks, hay and millet; for grain corn 
and oats or corn and bran, but grain being so high 
this season they are not feeding so heavily, which 
accounts for the small amount of milk we are getting 
compared with other seasons. f. w. huth. 
Troy, Wis. 
ANOTHER FRUIT TREE FRAUD. 
For a year or so past there has been a nursery firm 
from Ohio canvassing, through a set of sharp agents, 
in Maryland, and perhaps other sections, after a new 
plan that is exceedingly profitable to themselves and 
very injurious to their victims. When lecturing in the 
farmers’ institutes there last month I met several 
persons in the northern part of the State who had 
been induced to yield to the arguments of these tricky 
fellows. Their plan is to sell an orchard of apples. 
JOHN L. SHAWVER. Fie. 49. 
peaches and occasionally*some other fruits of 100 trees 
in all, covering one acre, for the sum of $100. The 
nursery is to select the varieties, which, according to 
their statement, are very profitable bearers and ex¬ 
cellent in every way. They agree to replace any trees 
that die, and prune them for the first five years after 
planting. The purchaser is to pay $50 cash on receipt 
of the trees, plant them and cultivate them thorough¬ 
ly. At the end of five years he is to give the entire 
crop that year, the fifth one, to the nursery firm, 
which is to be accepted as the final $50 payment. 
Now, the fact is that the first $50 is about four times 
the real cost of 100 good trees, and the nursery is far 
too well paid by the first installment, provided the 
trees were of suitable varieties. But, according to 
what I was told by the farmers who bought them, they 
were of very doubtful character, if not practically 
worthless. The apple trees delivered were labeled 
Wisconsin Spy, Milwaukee and one or two more 
equally obscure and untried varieties. The same is 
true of the peach tree of which they told me, none 
of which I have ever heard of before. I do not say 
these trees are utterly worthless, but they certainly 
are not known to be valuable in Maryland, and it 
would be unwise to plant more than a tree or two of 
each as a trial. Their rareness is one of the argu¬ 
ments the agents use in their favor, when it is in 
reality one of the very reasons why they should not 
be planted, provided they are true to name. Any nur¬ 
seryman who is unreliable, not to say dishonest, 
enough to urge and impose upon his customers varie¬ 
ties that are not known to be valuable for that region 
is not worthy to be trusted to deliver those that are 
true to name. In this case it is a question in my mind 
as to whether the trees delivered may not be Ben 
Davis apple and Elberta peach or some other varieties 
that will succeed there, instead of the kinds previous¬ 
ly mentioned; because, if they really intend to get 
the fruit crop the fifth year, provided they are posted 
on varieties, they would want to be sure of having 
such kinds planted as would produce a good crop. 
But, it seems to me doubtful that they will come for 
the crop, inasmuch as they already have received 
more than the trees are worth. It may be that they 
will soon offer to discount the whole or a part of the 
remaining $50 for cash instead of waiting for the fruit 
in prospect. While I have no shadow of desire to 
hinder any fair business or to prevent people from 
planting good fruit trees, even at a high price, I can¬ 
not but look upon this as a shady, gouging business 
for the farmers. It is very expensive for them, to 
say the least, and flavors of downright dishonesty. 
Let those who want orchards buy trees of responsible 
and preferably home nurseries, plant and care for 
them properly and have whatever fruit they produce. 
H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
TRAINING A STUBBORN MANE. 
I see in your issue of February 1 a letter from an 
Ohio man about training manes of horses. His way 
may be very good, but I know of another way which 
I am sure never fails. Make the mane into braids as 
big round as the little finger, tie up the end with a 
piece of string a little longer than necessary, take a 
stick and tie all the strings to it, wet and brush at 
the root of the mane as at Fig. 50. After two or three 
days take off, it may be necessary to begin once more, 
but few manes can resist two trials. I have served 
three years in the French cavalry and 18 months in 
the United States cavalry, and have seen it done very 
Often. PIERRE DE SOTJCY. 
Nelson Co., Va. 
I see in The R. N.-Y. that the Hope Farm man is 
asked how to make a mane lie on one side. I would 
braid it in small braids on the side I wished it to stay 
and keep it in the place I wished it for two weeks or 
so, and I don’t think it will trouble any more; if it 
does braid again. j. f. gates. 
THE NEW YORK MILK TRADE. 
Mr. Cook Makes Comparisons. 
On account of the constant complaint among farm¬ 
ers against the milk business of New York City (and 
at the same time a personal opinion that these com¬ 
plaints were not well founded) I have been much in¬ 
terested in studying the milk supply of other cities. 
I have always reached one conclusion, viz., that New 
York City had the safest and best system yet adopted. 
That it is imperfect from the standpoint of the ideal¬ 
ist all will admit, but by comparison we must judge. 
It would seem to me that the milk business is very 
closely managed, and not the wealth-maker usually 
accredited, from the fact that it has quite largely 
drifted into the hands of Germans and Jews who live 
comparatively cheaply, and are not wasting their sub¬ 
stance in riotous living. Of course, they base their 
prices on butter and cheese just as any sane system 
must be founded. The prices are living prices, and 
the losses are very light. Take Chicago for compari¬ 
son. The milk station idea has not been followed. The 
farmer consigns his milk or makes a contract with a 
dealer or peddler. The milk is not always cooled and 
cared for properly, and as there is no one to inspect it 
on delivery the condition must be judged in the pres¬ 
ence of one interested party alone. Of course its condi¬ 
tion depends much upon the supply and demand. If the 
market is active almost anything passes; on the other 
hand, when the surplus appears a very slight defect 
is sufficient to condemn the shipment. The losses 
from irresponsible dealers are of common occurrence, 
and the sentiment at Hebron, Ill., was that losses 
from these two causes would range from five to eight 
per cent. This would mean a general reduction of that 
many cents per 100 pounds, while the prices paid are 
not higher than for New York. Furthermore, the 
milk must be delivered at an unseasonable hour in the 
morning in order to reach Chicago in time for delivery 
the same day. Milk was coming to the platforms at 
five to six o’clock in the morning. I was fortunate in 
meeting the milk superintendent of the Northwestern 
Railroad system, who said he thought the loss I have 
mentioned, which was given by farmers, was too high. 
He frankly admitted a loss to the farmers, and said 
further that he was interested in the New York sys¬ 
tem. The milk producing district begins at once when 
fully outside the city limits, which means only short 
hauls, and not the elaborate icing practiced here. 
When we see an effective State police supervision 
watching carefully the adulteration at both ends New 
Yorkers should feel free to use milk in large quan¬ 
tities. In my judgment the weakest part of the whole 
business is found in the stables of the cow keepers. I 
should say that the use of old cans offered a greater 
opportunity for contamination, only from the fact that 
the milk is kept cold from cow to consumer, thus re¬ 
ducing the germ growth to a minimum. The situa¬ 
tion at Buffalo is much the same as Chicago; losses 
and dissatisfaction due to a complete absence of any 
well organized system. I wish every milk producer 
for city trade could be thoroughly impressed with the 
idea of doing his best in quality and seeking to in¬ 
crease the consumption by decreasing the prejudice. 
H. E. COOK. 
