The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-11-28

turn the farmers their milk; IN which
case, he said, they explained to the
farmer as pleasantly as they could how
he should keep his milk to avoid alb
sorbing odors or otherwise iDjuring
it's quality. In this way the creamery
served as an educator to its patrons,
and thus supplemented the work OF the
DAIRY Institutes"
Regarding the machinery in the
creamery little need be said except that
] everything was Immediately clean.
Superintendent Sondergaard made no
loose boasts about the "wonderful
economies" of improved machinery
over the ordinary farm implements,
but stated clearly the exact amount OF
the saving. On one hundred pounds
of milk the farmers skimming OF the
natural cream lost one half pound Of
the butter fat contained, Dr. nine cents;
the ~Creamery's separator reduced the
loss to ne-tenth Of a pound, or less
than two cents. The rest Of the ma
chinery used, he said, did not make
better butter than the best Of dairyWo
men made by the old hand churns, but
it made a uniformly high grade, for
which there was an immediate end
certain market. The Litchf1eld cream
cry, he told me with some pride, he'd
taken the first priz2s at two State fair'.
It's butter usually brought twenty
cents q pound at ST. Paul. He showed
me the price list for butter in a daily
paper, disclosing that the market
recognizes as much difference between
butter and butter as it does between
eggs and eggs. The prices ranged
from twenty and one-halt cents a
pound down to four or five. Before
the CO. operative creamery was built
most Of the farmers had to sell their
butter as packing butter" for about
twelve cents a pound.
TIE DAIRY FARMERS VIEW OF 1T
The next day I drove into the coun.
try to learn how the farmers looked at
this remark able experiment., and l
came back thinking even better of it
than when I set out. The most criti
cal farmer I met admitted that the
creamery had been a great gain to his
wife, though he insisted-and my
escort thought justly-that she could
make better butter than the creamery.
The best talk I had was with the farmer
who was the first president of the
creamery association. H9 gave me
the history Of the experiment from tbs
beginning, end pointed out the fnan-
cial gain which the creamery had
brought even to the farmers who used
to make { better" butter at home than
the creamery made for them. The
farmers of the whole district, he said,
were now planting less wheat and
raising more" The great increase in
the dairy farms made possible by the
crea merry had enabled them to ems ich
their land with manure, so that the
yield Of wheat had been increased from !
about IF esn bushels an acre to nearly
twenty five bushels. The value of
land had gone up proportionately. It
ls now selling, he said, at $50 an acre, !
while a few yea 8 ago the selling value
al less than half that sum. 1.-The .
creameriCs have enriched our land and
relieved our wives slavery"
The history Of the local creamery
was, briefly, az follows: Mr.. Ames
and nine others had given their note
for So 100 to erect the plant, and the
stock, in $50 shares, was distributed
among the farmers in the neighborhood
40 n receiving more than two
This stock was paid for by the
sto 3kholders accepting a deduction Of
IS a month for each share from their
payment for the milk they took to the
In ten months the stock
was all paid for in this way. and the
note given to the builders Of the plant
Cancelled. Since that time repairs had
been kept up, some new machinery
had been purchased, and dividends
had been paid to the co operators aver
aging fifty per cent. q year.
These results seam almos. incredible,
but Professor Hacker at the State
University assured me that fifty per
cent. was less rather than more the
ordinary dividends realized by the CO.
operative daries of the State. Mr..
Ames gave me some detailed figures
regarding the running expenses, which
supplemented those previously given
by thu Superintendent in such a way
as to show that each had been accurate
in his statements. To those who are
fond of figures, the balance sheet of
creamery may be interest