24 STORRS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 
In comparing the experiments in Table 6 with those given 
in Table 5, two very striking differences are to be seen: 
1. The number of acid bacteria present in the unripened 
cream from the private dairy is extremely small. In these 
three experiments the proportions of acid bacteria were re- 
spectively 7, 9, and 1 per cent. The actual numbers were also 
very small. 
2. On the other hand, the number of miscellaneous bacteria 
in the cream from the private dairy was very large, the pro- 
portions being 93, 91, and 99 per cent.; while in“ thercream 
from the creamery the proportions were much smaller. 
The interpretation of these phenomena is very evident. It 
simply means that in these three experiments with cream from 
the private dairy the cream was obtained in a very much 
fresher condition than that which was found in the creamery. 
It was taken directly from a Cooley creamer in each case. 
The great contrast between the samples of unripened cream 
from the private dairy and those obtained from the creamery 
confirms the view that the cream as it is obtained in the cream-- 
ery is always in a partially ripened state, and that in order to 
understand completely the process of ripening, attention must 
be turned to fresh cream. Such fresh cream can be obtained 
only from private dairies. This conclusion has led us to un- 
dertake a series of experiments of quite a different character. 
RIPENING OF CREAM FROM PRIVATE DAIRIES. 
Experiments have been carried on with the cream from four 
private dairies. The cream was separated by the gravity 
method in all cases, but was always obtained in a much fresher 
condition than in the earlier experiments, being the freshest 
obtainable. ‘The first series of plates were made within two or 
three hours from the time the cream was separated from the 
milk. ‘That it was quite fresh is indicated by the compara- 
tively small number of bacteria present, as shown in the first 
line of the first column of Table 7. In some cases the number 
of bacteria was so small that with the dilutions used they could 
not be satisfactorily estimated. After the first plates were 
made the cream was set to ripen at a normal ripening temper- 
ature, about 68° to 70°. A second plate was made at the end 
a 
