The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-06-19
USE LITTLE CARE.
Neglect of Railroads Hurt the
Creamery Business.
Agents Do Not Protect Cream
From the Sun.
MEANS A BIG LOSS.
New Dairy Commissioner May
Change All This.
w. F. Jensen of Continental
Creamery Tells of Conditions.

The Continental Creamery company
is a large factor in the creamery bust
ness in Kansas, handling at the pres
ent time perhaps one-fourth of all the
| cream produced in the state. This
| creamery was started years ago and
is among the pioneers of the west and
has developed a system that has been
copied in a great manv other states.
Mr.. w. F. Jensen. of the company, ex-
pressed himself on the benefits the
creameries of the state expect to re-
ceive from the new dairy commits
sioner, Mr.. j. c. Kendall.
1--WE expect much benefit from the
work of Mr. Kendall" said Mr.. Jen-
sen, land it will, beyond doubt, be the
best money that the state of Kansas
has ever spent. l know of Mr.. Ken
dall's work. and it has been very
creditable. Although / have not seen
him personally he impresses me as
being a man of force and ability.
aside from the improvements in
the feeding and breeding of dairy
cows. or any other kind of COWS that
tant part of his duties-especially in
the start-will be to improve the
quality of the cream that comes off
the farm and is received at the large
creameries to be churned into butter.
In late years this cream has in
creased in quantity, but it has not i'm
proved in quality. In fact, it seems
to be getting poorer every year, and
there is no question in my mind but
what the farmers of Kansas at the
present time are receiving at least
one cent less for every pound of fat
than they would If all the farmers,
and the express and railroad COM
panies as well, would take proper
care of the cream. There is at present
produced in Kansas 100000 pounds
of butter fat annually, which, as any
one can figure, if worth a cent a
pound less on account of poor quality,
means loss to the farmers of the
state of S25O,000.00 annually.
IF Mr.. Kendall can devise means,
in connection with Secretary Coburn.
Professors Err and Burkett of the
Manhattan Agricultural college, to
improve the quality of this cream,
there might easily be made a saving
of hundreds of thousands of dollars
to farmers in the state of Kansas an
nually in return for the 100000
yearly voted to support this office.
ITO stand shipment in hot weather.
it takes rich. heavy cream produced
by the best hand SeparatOrs, and the
cream must be cooled on the farm
and protected from the sun and de-
livered at least every other day. but
there are still a good many farmers
in Kansas that are still skimming by
hand and that do not protect the
cream from the sun. But perhaps the
biggest loss in this respect during the
hot weather comes through the neg
Iect of the express companies and rail-
roads to properly protect the cream
from the sun while in transit. The
Continental Creamery company re-
ceives at the present time about 1900
ten-gallon cans daily of cream, and I
will venture to say that this cream is
standing on depot platforms all over
the state of Kansas in the sun. A few
express agents have enough pride and
ambition to care for the cream while
it is in their hands. They put it on
trucks and wheel it into the depot or
leave 1t standing on the shady side of
the platform, but it is surprising
fact that great many express agents
in Kansas are not provided with
trucks to take care of this cream
in towns where the express agents do
not even possess a truck or any means
of handling this cream. The same
thing is true at transfer points
throughout the state, and just how
much damage is done to cream over
express companies awaiting shipment
at transfer points, is hard to estimate
But it is to be hoped that the new
dairy commissioner will make it his
duty to enforce such rules and regu-
latfons on the express companies and
railroads that the cream will be prop
erly cared for and not exposed to the
boiling hot sun.
cit is a fact that shipments of
vegetables, and other
garden truck, are handled with con-
more care by the express
and railroad companies than are ship
ments of cream, although the latter
is just as perishable and will not stand
any more heat than strawberries and