Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1900-02-21
CREANERIES INCREASE
Eutter That Once Cost az Cents
Touches 80.
AND HENCE, CAPITAL IS EAGER.


Learning These Industries--Cheese for
the Paris Exposition-B nbcock Ties,
Fitted for Cheese-Makers, nad Not Alone
for Creameries.
Madison, Feb. 2O.-I spent a recent
afternoon looking over the dairy build
Ing at the state university. where some
400 young men and a Mrs. Cronkitr
are learning to make butter and
cheese. 1t is a busy scene. 1t is
where the butter-makers and cheese
makers of Wisconsin largely come
fforl. There are LOO cheese factor
les and 200 creameries in Wisconsin,
They all have a power engine or, Al
least water motor, and the man in
charge must know number OF things
beside the mere making Of the com
modify. Many of the operators never
had any training except what they
got under The boss" But now it is
the practice for farmers sons and
others to save up from 500 to $75 and
take the course from Dec. to Feb 20
at Madison. Then they go out and
earn from $50 to $75 per month run
ming a cheese factory or a creamery.
They find cheap boarding place in
Madison and pay from $3.50 week
aud upwards for board. They range
in age from 16 years to 60 years,
though of course most of them are un-
der 30 They listen to two lectures
a day, at o'clock and O'Clock, and
from o to II and from to 4 they
work in the dairy building, doing with
their hands all the things that they
will be required to do when tucked
away in the villages and at the cross
roads of the state, many in remote
parts far from a railroad.
.
They are earnest fellows, here for
business. although differing in the
amount of brains and the capacity for
intelligence. Many Of them have had
very limited schooling, and 1 expect
the lectures of erudite experts, like
Russell and King, must BE- nhrased
very simply for them to comprehend.
1t takes a well disciplined mind to I'M
derstand a lecture. They have their
evenings to themselves and in debat-
ing clubs, manage to get acquainted
and to enjoy themselves socially
The glimpse of city life they get dur.
ing their stay in Madison and the con.
fiaence it gives any man TO nave even
this casual connection with univer-
Sity is worth not little. His shout.
ders are thrown back forever after.
wards and he Is a man among men.
Professor Harrington is Maine
man and studied in the agricultural
college in that state and was at Yale
from 1882 TO 1886 in the scientific
school. He has been with the Wiscon-
sin State university since. He is an
enthusiastic, inspiring worker, and
with Professor Baer, much esteemed
by the dairy interests of the state.
The students listen to a course of
twenty-four lectures on the chemistry
of milk by Professor Babeock and
Professor Russell gives fifteen lee.
lures ON bacteriology. Professor Hen
ry aud Professor King give them
courses of eight lectures on Feed and
Feeding" and Agricultural Physics"
respectively.
On the top of the building which
bears the name of Hiram Smith (the
regent from Sheboygan, who owned a
cheese factory and died in 1892 is a
weather vane in the form of bronzed
COW. On the walls Of the corridors
are maps of Wisconsin, pictures Of rec.
Ord-breaking cows, charts showing the
location Of creameries in the state and
pictures Of successive classes of stu
dents. There is a busy Office with
bookkeepers ut work, where Superin-
tendent f. II. Harrington and Profess
sor Baer give out instructions for the
! days work, aided by eleven instruc.
nil IV
educated men, but who have operated
factories for many years. Each stu
dent dresses in a suit of white duck
which costs him rs cents. The teach.
prs are similarly dressed, but wear q
badge Instructor" across their caps
o
These dairy students learn both to
make butter and to make cheese
There are 12O of them, only sixteen
from outside the state. In addition
there are 252 students liking the
short course, which means fourteen
, weeks in each of two years; and full
term agricultural students, which
means four years of study in all that
pertains to the farlu. The dairy stu
dents, or those who are fitting to oper
ate factories, study steam power
with the hand separatols, buttermaK
ers and the like which they will use
on the farm. for every farmer makes
his own butter
In the cheese storage room we saw
the result of the terms work, now
nearly ended. There were fat cheeses
special sizes, and cheese put up IN
pound packages, like butter. This /:
81 To fsrfY1 rtn n
and will probably prove very popular
o
| have often wondered why there is
so little really choice cheese in the
market. You go to "A grocery and try
the stock looks good. 1t Is nutri
tious and wholesome but only now
ana then does one get the peculiar
tlavor that makes him happy. This
is chiefly because the cheese Is mar
keted too soon 1t must~be kept II
stock-"cured"- attain the flavor.
Then. too, it must be said that some
prefer greer cheese. There is nothing
in which taste is more a matter OF
cultivation than in the eating OF
cheese.
The room was kept at tempera
ture OF 30 degrees and we saw great
towels dripping moisture. for cheese
does best at GO degrees moisture
Each cheese weighed 30 pounds. and
represented 800 pounds of milk. IN
The big room are eight watts, in each
one Of which is the milk for one
cheese: and this is the output for the
day. 1t is sold i'll Chicago through the
commission houses.
We saw six cheese in a
row made from 200 pounds If milk
respectively. but they varied in size,
the smallest being not more than one
third the size of the largest. They
are destined for the Paris exposition,
at the request of the agricultural de-
partment, and the object is to prove
that the Babcock test is applicable to
the cheese industry, rs well as TO the
making of butter III the cheese maker
will pay for his milk by weight of
butter fat, he will do well; for the
more butter fat goes into the vat, the
more cheese win come out. And 1t
will be OF bett0T quality, too.
There will be four tons of cheese to
he sold, when the shipment is made.
Cheese is now quoted at II cents n
pound. The advance in prices of but
ter and cheese presages an increase in
the establishment of factories this
spring, aud the dairy department Is
receiving many inquiries as TO how
to organize a company and put up a
plant 1t costs about 81 900 to fit up a
creamery or q cheese factory.
The prizes as the result of the re-
ant oh l. orr