The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1896-01-08
The Separator.

q
question that confronts many home
dairymen. With the present low prices
of butter it ia a hard question for many
to decide. Whether one should buy or
not depends altogether on cirCumstau-
ces. Ii the dairy business is to be con-
tinuCd and made special feature of
the farm, and there is not plenty of
cold water so that milk can be thor
oughly crtamed, no one should hesitate
to buy separator. Even if there is
plenty of water but it is not available
for that purpose without mourning ex
ira expense, one would better get
separator. Aud where one is just
starting in the airy business, even
where there IS plenty OF wafer, it is
the part 0 wisdom to start with
separator. Thee machines have passed
the experim y .al stage and are a sue
cess, if properly run. They are great
labor-savers, saving much time in wash
ing pans, cane, pals, etc, of which
there is an almost endless variety where
one uses the gravity system.
The washing of all milk vessels is
one of the important parts in the dairy,
since it is known that Objectionable
bacteria harbor or find Judgment even
in the seams of milk pals, so that, TO
say nothing of the work of washing,
the fewer vessels TO care for the better.
Another point in using the separator
is the shortening of the time between
the milking and the churning, as milk
| is less exposed to the air, from which Il
so readily absorbs odors that are not
calculated to do the butter any good.
| do not claim, as many do, that we can
make better butter from separator
cream than we made from gravity
cream, but the butter is just as good
and is made with much less trouble and
work, and this is what cuts the most
important figure in any work.
Then we get practically all the cream
out of the milk, which is next to i'm
possible TO do under all circumstances
losses in the course or year amount to
quite large sum.
" What number of cows should l
have to justify me in getting sepa-
rator?" is the question most frequently
asked. 1t will pay just as we'll in pro-
! portion to buy separator u two cows
rs for twenty, although l would not ad-
wise any one to buy machine for two
cows unless he had plenty of money,
and in that case he needs no advice.
l do not hesitate TO say that to be-
ginner, or where one must prepare
buildings and fixtures TO cream milk by
gravity, it will pay you to buy sepa-
rator for five cows. | have in the last
four or five years tested many samples
OF skim milk, and feel quite sure that
had 1 made record of per cent of fat
found in the different samples tested,
the average would be at least one and
one-half. These samples covered all
manner and devices of Dreaming, from
the gallon earthen crock to the i'm.
proved creamer, by all kinds of persons
under nearly all kinds of circumstances.
In some cases have found as much as
two and one-half per cent Of fat in the
skim-milk; in others, again, 30 little
that the fat was hardly perceptible in
the test tubes. The separator goes af
ter and saves these losses, when prop.
erly run.
To those who contemplate buying a
separator will say, be sure to get one
large enough, so that skimming can be
done in a reasonable length of time.
| We made mistake in buying our sep
aiotoi, VI pciudpo IhO piouc iOi Jul
mistake properly belongs to the manu-
facturers. We bought No. 2, said to
have Swimming capacity of 300 pounds
of milk per hour. This it will not do
by fifty pounds. This is one point l
will demand warrant on if ever l buy
another machine; had 1 known that
before l bought, l would have pur-
chased the larger size. So l would say,
be sure that you get separator of suffi-
cient capacity in the start, as the in
crease of first cost is small matter
compared with the life of a machine.
Where separators are run by hand
the difference in amount Of power re-
quired 10 run them is but little. l can
run our No. 2 with less eXertiou than it
requires 10 milk the same length of
time.
While the cost Of these machines
seems excessive for the amount of ma
chinery or cost Of manufacturing them,
| believe they will in few years work
revolution in the home dairy. l be-
leve machines will be made and sold at
price that will place them within the
reach of any one who can afford to keep
COW. do not wish to be understood
as saying that separator will OF Itself
make good butter, or that it releases
dairymen from eternal vigilance in all
things pertaining TO dairy work, be-
cause Just as mean butter can be made
from separator cream as from gravity
cream, and it can only be recommended
as q labor. saver, in the home dairy. ~
M. E. King, in Ohio Farmer.