1901 
the rural NEW-YORKER. 
623 
Jl SIMPLE STORY OF CREAM. 
BUILD1N6 UP A NEW BUSINESS. 
A Suggestion for Farm Neighborhoods. 
Pour or five years ago, being en¬ 
gaged chiefiy in the sheep business, and 
having but few cows, our dairy products 
Were taken at the door by a peddler who 
furnished customers in the city of Wa- 
terbury. Conn., about 15 miles distant. 
Owing to the failure of his health, how¬ 
ever, we were left without a market for 
even the small amount thus produced. 
So we concluded to take the route he 
was obliged to give up. This route was 
small, less than 40 pounds per week, and 
considering the distance traveled—once 
a week in Summer and once in two 
weeks in Winter—was not a very profit¬ 
able enterprise at the prices received, 
25 cents in Summer and 30 cents in 
Winter. Ft was well fitted, however, to 
set one thinking how to improve mat¬ 
ters. Many supplement such a butter 
route with raising and marketing gar¬ 
den truck, eggs, poultry, etc. This 
seemed hardly practicable, besides not 
to our taste. We made observation, be¬ 
gan to sell a few pints of cream, which 
gave good satisfaction, and brought bet¬ 
ter prices than hutter, and cost less 
work. We also noted the condition of 
the market, how little cream, compara¬ 
tively, was used and that the demand 
was growing. We believed that cream 
should be more largely used, and also 
that it would be if a satisfactory article 
were introduced at a reasonable price, 
and so began to extend the business 
along that line. As our dairy was small 
this soon called for the purchase of the 
product of another small dairy, and a 
little later of still another. One of our 
objects from the first had heen to relieve 
the household of butter making and 
this, too, was the desire of some of the 
neighbors. Applications to furnish milk 
or cream came in ahead of our need, but 
several more were taken on as business 
increased. 
We changed from plain to Pasteurized 
cream, and from going once a week to 
twice a week, and later three times a 
week was called for, as we had begun 
to furnish grocery stores, meat markets, 
etc., where there were refrigerators for 
keeping the cream. Under the present 
management confectioners and the Ice 
cream trade have been catered to. Thus 
by close watching out for chances to in¬ 
crease it and close watching of the qual¬ 
ity and condition of the cream, the busi¬ 
ness slowly grew till nearly the whole 
store trade of the city was secured. 
Often it was necessary to do things that 
for a time scarcely paid, or that were 
done at actual loss, and faith was called 
for (as doubtless is always the case with 
every new venture) especially at turn¬ 
ing points, or “divides,” between a small 
business and a possible larger one. For 
example, it hardly paid at first to change 
from once to twice, nor later to three 
times a week, and it called for faith in 
the enterprise based on judgment of its 
possibilities. But it had to be done to 
go forward, and we are not sure but 
once every day in hot weather and the 
ice cream season might be advisable. 
But with proper care and facilities prob¬ 
ably it will not be necessary. 
During this time of growth or up to 
a little over a year ago, we had no 
creamery, not even a regular dairy 
room, but used the pantry, the back 
rooms, the spring house, etc. The build¬ 
ing of a creamery became a necessity as 
the accommodations became too small, 
turning the hand separator a burden 
too hard to be borne, and washing of 
bottles, etc., in fact, the whole business 
was an elephant in the house. For lack 
of capital we resolved to build the 
creamery largely ourselves, or with lit¬ 
tle but unskilled labor for help, which, 
by the way, is in accord with a theory 
we have that farmers should do more 
such work themselves with such help 
its they have-^r it will likely go un¬ 
done. Work upon the creamery and the 
careful personal oversight of the cream 
business. In addition to farm work with 
scant help proved rather too much. So, 
carrying out prematurely a plan cher¬ 
ished as a possibility for some time fur¬ 
ther in the future, when everything had 
become more thoroughly established, 
the cream business was rented to others; 
two men who had for some time been 
helpers, and were quite familiar with 
nearly every part of it, from running 
the separator to delivering the cream 
in the city. They still follow the busi¬ 
ness. One, a man with a family, now 
lives near the city, bottles, sells and 
delivers; the other, single, attends to 
the creamery end of it, and delivers it 
to him in bulk. We sell our milk to 
him as do the other farmers—but with 
the advantage of a market right on the 
farm and so of less travel. 
As soon as the creamery plant was 
sufficiently complete for use above and 
below work on it was done more at lei¬ 
sure, and it is not yet complete in all 
minor details, and probably will not be 
for some time. It is built convenient to 
spring and brook water. With ice pond 
and ice house handy. One end of the 
creamery Wall forms part of the wall 
for the dam. The lower story, or cream¬ 
ery part is of stone and cement (cobble 
work with trimmed stone outlines), the 
upper part, for tenement use, is of wood, 
shingled, and counted roomy and con¬ 
venient for its small dimensions. We 
built small preferring to have left a com¬ 
pact, substantial building rather than 
too unwieldy a one for private dairy 
and farm use. If the time came when 
running it for general use became im- 
pradticable. But there seems no good 
reason why such an enterprise should 
not continue in any farm neighborhood 
when once well established, unless it 
should fall to the management of some 
one with a languid fear lest he should 
take too much and too steadfast pains 
and vigilance to make things as near ab¬ 
solutely secure every time, or to some 
one having a serene unconsciousness of 
the extent of the damage he does his 
business when he allows things to go 
wrong a few times—the cream to go 
sour or the quality poor. In that case 
they would soon be confronted by lessen¬ 
ing sales and a large and unprofitable 
surplus on hand. In the cream busi¬ 
ness as In other affairs, “the prudent 
man foreseeth the evil and hideth him¬ 
self,” according to the proveru. Better 
throw a can of cream on the ground than 
have it go sour on the market. Success 
in the cream business depends peculiarly 
on “confidence” and confidence depends 
on good cream—not the “confidence” of 
the speculating money lender who wants 
confidence that the dollar he lends on 
the bond will appreciate and ne worth 
two dollars 10 years from now, besides 
the interest. But the merchant wants 
confidence that he will not be confronted 
by his customer brandishing a sour bot¬ 
tle of cream, with a still sourer disposi¬ 
tion, and his customer wants confidence 
that the expensive dish she has pre¬ 
pared will not be spoiled by finding too 
late that she has only sour cream. This 
confidence once established a ready and 
growing market Is almost assured. 
Cream will then come, through habitual 
use, to seem a necessity, not a luxury, 
as one of our merchants and best cus¬ 
tomers remarked that It had, when com¬ 
menting on the growth of the business 
since we began with him. a. wetuore. 
"‘Clark” Grass; Cow Peas and Corn. 
Last year I seeded about seven acres 
to Timothy after the Clark method, to 
the disgust of most of my neighbors. 
We had no rain for six weeks after the 
seed was sown, and only about an acre 
came up at all. That acre happened to 
be next the road, and I left it and mowed 
it, getting about 2% tons of nice hay. 
This year I have seeded 12 acres to Tim¬ 
othy, clover and Alsike, and though the 
seed has been sown only a week It is 
now nicely up, and with an occasional 
shower I see no reason why that piece 
of land will not pay better than if sown 
to wheat to he destroyed by Hessian fly. 
I don’t approve of trying to grow two 
crops on the same ground at the same 
time. But I have made so many experi 
ments in the last few years that have 
not proven very successful, and thereby 
have been laughed at hy my neighbors, 
that if I can hide anything new I do it. 
Just as my silage corn was coming up 
last May I planted in the rows on about 
three acres some cow peas, and no one 
happened to see me do it. To-day they 
are a sighc to behold. The corn is fully 
eight feet tall, and some of “them beans 
of Hardy’s are taller. If the Jerseys 
don’t relish that silage next Winter and 
give ample returns therefor in the churn 
why then I shall raise no more cow peas. 
It looks now, however, as though I 
should plant quite a few of them next 
year; just what way I don’t know. 
Seneca Co., N. Y. p. p. h. 
Corn and Cow Peas for Silage. 
On page 547 Of a recent issue of The 
N.-Y. I see a question asked about 
mixing corn. Soy beans and cow peas in 
the silo. The answer given by Prof. I. 
P. Roberts does not agree with my ex¬ 
perience. I tried filling my silo for sev¬ 
eral years with corn alone. I then tried 
filling with corn and cow peas, and was 
so well pleased that I kept it up for sev¬ 
eral years, till I sold out my dairy. 
Judging by the way the coWs ate them 
if anything the peas made the better si¬ 
lage. When run through the cutter the 
green peas would cut very fine and pack 
very close, and made a better keeping 
silage than the corn alone, and for me 
it had one other decided advantage in 
growing the crop. It is very convenient 
to have whatever you put in the silo 
near at hand, and by growing corn and 
cow peas I could use the same field each 
year, growing one-half in each and al¬ 
ternating. The fourth crop with this 
rotation was the heaviest. As soon as 
the silo was filled the ground Was har¬ 
rowed and sown to rye; 100 pounds of 
raw bone to the acte was the only ma¬ 
nuring it had. The calves ran on the rye 
all open weather during the Winter, and 
when it started to grow in the Spring 
my herd of 40 cows were hardly able to 
keep it down till the Blue grass got a 
start, when it was plowed again, and 
left alone for several weeks; then thor¬ 
oughly prepared and planted to corn 
and peas. There is no trouble to get 
them to come together with me. I plant 
our medium variety of corn about 10 
Whippoorwill pea, and 
they have generally come together about 
right. There are others here practicing 
this plan, who like it. I do not claim 
that it does away with the necessity of 
feeding concentrated feeds, but that it 
inakes a better silage, and that it has its 
advantages. There is no rotation I have 
as much feed could be 
got from the same piece of ground each 
N F 
Ulark, Ky. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-T. and you will get a quick reply and 
“a square deal.” See our guarantee 8th page. 
Aet us lend 
you a skimmer 
to prove that you can do 
your skimming easier, 
better, cheaper, with a 
NATIONAL 
Hand Separator 
We want you to use 
enc to daystit 
paying a penny for 
it). Goniparc it with 
any other separator 
aiid return it m 10 ^ 
days if you’re not 
cbnvihced that it is 
the best machine to 
boy. Write to-day. 
IstionsI Dairy Hachins Co. 
lewsrk, S.J. 
Do You Want th€ Best? 
't'hfen buy the 
U. S. SEPARATOR 
J’hat i.s the kind that 
GETS ALL 
the CREAM 
PLEASES 
ITS USERS 
INCREASES 
THE PROFITS 
Reduces 
THE 
EXPENSES 
Send for catalogues con¬ 
taining milch information 
it will be to your interest to 
know if yon are thinking of 
buying some other make. 
226 
-DE LAVAL- 
CREAM SEPARATORS 
wliicli possess tlie patent 
protected “Alpha” disc and 
“split-wing” improvements 
Are as Much Superior 
to other Cream Separators 
as such other Separators are 
to Gravity Setting Methods. 
Send for new ^^20th Oenturif cakdogm. 
The De Laval Separator Co. 
General Offices: 
74 CoRTLANOT Street, 
NEW YORK. 
Randolph <fc Canal 8 t*., 
Chicago. 
t03 & 105 Mission St., 
San Francisco. 
1102 Arch Street, 
P hiladelphi a. 
827 Commissioners St., 
Montreal. 
