The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1899-10-13
Modern Butter Making
Difference Between the Methods
of Today and Those of u Guar
ter of a Century Ago.
Advice to Beginners.

In a letter ID The Creamery Journal
G.. 3. Lawson says that the butter
makers Of the present day have no
idea Of the work there was to do in a
creamery 20 or % years ago. At that
time we had to make our own color.
When | began the business, I sent
John Stewart Of AnamOsa SIS for a
recipe for making butter color, the kind
that he used in making the butter that
took the gold medal at the Centennial
in Philadelphia in 1876. In those days
all the butter cloth came in bolts. We
had to buy it by the yard and cut the
circles to fit the tubs after they were
put on top Of the butter. Many day,
after l had my work done in the
creamery and was waiting for the
cream haulerS to come in, have / gone
to the tin shop and cut tins to fasten
the covers on the tubs. All the butter
had to be worked by hand. Butter
color, cloth circles and tins were not
in the market in those days. Neither
were separatOrs combined churnS nor
refrigerator machines to be had, but
still we used to make good butter. We
did the work and never heard Of mot
ties in butter either. 1t might be that
the notifies were in the butter, but the
commission men were not so particular
as to quality then as they are now,
and they never mentioned notified but
ter.
The butter was all worked twice,
which no doubt had something to do
with the notifies. Neither did we have
the dairy papers nor the fairs and con-
ventiOns that are held in all the states
now In those days dairy exhibits were
few and far apart, and the butter max
er never saw any but his own make
of butter Now all is changed, and
butter making is one Of the most di-
versifed and one of the leading indus
tries of this country.
To get back to the present time and
run one Of the creamerieS Of the pres
ent day, with all the improved machin-
cry, is what we as butter makers have
to do now. One Of the principal points
in keeping everything running in the
creamery is motive power. The two
primary articles for that purpose are
fire and water. Without these we could
not run creamery. The combination
of the two makes steam. With steam
as the motive power we keep the ma
chinery running. To make steam we
must have a boiler, and to get water
into the boiler we must have an in
jectOr or pump, but as injectOrs are
mostly used in creameries I will give
my experience with them. They some
times get out of order after they have
been run for two or three years. The
injector is a small piece of mechan-
ism, but creamery cannot be run
without something Of the kind to force
water into the boiler AS long as the
injector works all right no attention is
paid to it, but as soon as it ducks"
and doesn't work it must be looked
after and fixed up, or else you cannot
run. The only way it can get out Of
order is by having it clOgged up. The
valve stem on the inside has three Or
four small holes in it, and if these get
stopped up, so the water or steam can
not get through, the injector will stop
working. Sometimes q scale off the
pipe or packing out Of the pump will
get into them, or they may get filled
up with lime scales out of the water.
When the injector will not work, you
must unscreW the cap, take the valve
out and see that all the small holes are
open. If they are clogged with lime,
they can be cleaned by soaking the
valve stem in salt and vinegar or a
weak solution of sulphuric acid.
To run the injector properly you
must have tight connections between
the injector and the water supply and
also from the injector to the boiler.
The check valve between the injector
and boiler must be tight and not leak
and cause back pressure. Some in
jectOrs will work best to start the wa
ter first, others by starting the steam
first. Some of the same make will run
with 20 pounds Of steam, while others
will not run unless you have 40 pounds
pressure. If the injector is properly
cleaned out and all the connections are
tight, it will invariably run when you
have the required pressure of steam.
While talking with young butter
maker lately he said he dreaded run
ming the separator more than any other
work about the creamery. He said
that it ran so fast that he was expect
ing all the time something would get
out of order. 1 asked him If anything
had ever happened to the separator
while he was running it. He answered
mo" Still he had that fear on his
mind all the time and seemed unable
to help it. That is a nervous fear that
all beginners have. While they are
helpers in the creamery they don't
have the responsibility If anything goes
wrong. After they take charge and
have all the responsibility they have
this peculiar feeling, but it soon wears
off. My advice to all beginners about
that matter is that when you get your
separator ready In the morning for the
days run be sure that it Is properly
put together and that it is all in rum
ming order before you start 1t. Don't
t.