1 Ocr., 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 227 
Milk must be started on its creaming way as soon as it comes from the 
cow. If some of it is allowed to get cold before running it through the 
separator, you will probably lose much of the butter fat in the skim milk, and 
that is almost a dead loss. 
Remember to strain the milk (although it should have already been 
strained) once more into the receiver of the machine. Turn the handle very 
slowly at first, increasing gradually till full speed has been attained. It should 
take from three to five minutes to get up full speed. Watch how the cream 
runs out. If it runs out with a spiral twist, it is too thin. In that case, stop 
the machine and adjust the cream-regulating screw. Do not mix freshly sepa- 
rated cream with old cream until it is cold. When cold, you may mix them 
thoroughly by stirring. Remove the separated milk from the dairy at once. 
Keep no lid on any cream can while it is in the dairy; merely put a piece of 
muslin or cheese cloth over the mouth of the can to keep out dust, flies, &c. 
Send the cream to the factory as soon as possible. When you have finished 
separating, take the machine to pieces and wash all the parts first in cold water, 
for the reason I gave you in a former lesson on washing milk cans. After this, 
wash all the parts with hot water, and oil where necessary. Never forget that 
dirt is the great breeder of injurious microbes, so wash down the dairy floor 
with scalding water. Cleanliness in the dairy and dairy utensils means money 
in your pocket. 
Now, let us see what the apvanraGes oF THE Homer SEpaRaror are:— 
1. Supplier saves expense of hauling milk to and from the factory. 
2. Cream can be gathered from a larger territory with the same hauling 
facilities. 
Less number of cans needed to transport material. 
Skim milk retained at farm in best possible condition for feeding. 
. Every farmer gets his own skim milk ; therefore, no difficulty in its 
division (as now at the factory), and less danger . of spreading 
bovine diseases. 
Smaller bulk of material to be cooled and cared for. 
. Less sour milk and cream. (It is argued by some that cream will not 
sour as fast as milk, owing to the reduced proportion of acid- 
forming material.) 
8. Quality of cream better when separated immediately after milking. 
9. More thorough separation when run immediately after milking. 
10. Cream need not be delivered to factory daily, even in hottest 
weather. . 
11. Less chance for farmer to be cheated on tests. 
12. Saving of cost and expense of operating separator at factory. 
13. Less work at the factory for butter-maker. 
Against these advantages, we have the opinion of other dairy farmers who 
say that the chief cause of the deterioration (¢.e., falling off in quality) of our 
Queensland butter is mainly the introduction of the Home Separator. 1t 
alters, they say, the quality of the cream—first, by the different degrees of 
density at which the separation took place; secondly, by the length of time 
elapsing before the cream is sent to the factory ; thirdly, by the conditions 
under which the milk is separated. Under the factory system, or rather 
skimming station system, when the milk from all the neighbouring farms used 
to be skimmed, 400 Ib. to 500 Ib. of cream of an even density would be 
despatched daily to the factory. To-day, this quantity of cream is sent from 
nine or ten suppliers, each man’s cream being of a different density, and its 
age varying from one to seven or even ten days. 
They also maintain that very few proper dairies are constructed on our 
farms, so that the cream has to lie amidst the most unsanitary conditions, 
absorbing all sorts of disgusting odours and injurious microbes. 
Such are what I may call the pros and cons. of the subject of the Home 
oe 
WS 
‘Separator. I may tell you this: That the whole objection to the Home 
