The San Francisco call., 1910-02-20
DAIRY IMPROVEMENT BENEFITS CITY

soon spread over the state. BY means
of it the dairyman produces his milk
and takes it to the creamery, where
the milk of many dairies comes to-
gether and where, through remark
able invention known as the Babcock
test, hts milk is analyzed and he gets
credit for the butter fat it contains.
From the time it is delivered it re-
mains under the eye of an expert,
trained usually in the science of but
ter making at an agricultural college
or dairy school. At the creamery the
dairy invention-the centrifugal sep
arator-the cream is held at exact tenn
peratures by means of elaborate ap-
paratus; it is ''ripened" by means of
a pure culture of bacteria, It's acidity
measured by means of chemical APP
paratus, and when the tests show
everything just right IT is churned by
means of machinery. the evolution of
which alone is distinct achievement
in the dairy line. The result of the
introduction of the creamery system is
that really bad butter. such as we used
TO know, is a rarity in California, and
of the butter imported from other
states most of it is low grade stock for
baking and cooking purposes. Nothing
shows better the average high quality
of California butter than the remark
ably high consumption, which is al
On
The creamery system at once took
hold of California dairying with the
result that 80 per cent of the butter
is either made in public creameries or
in creameries conducted on the farms.
But it has done more than take over
the old system of butter making by
means of numerous pots and pans. 1t
has made it possible to extend the
dairy business from the cooler sections
of the Coast range of mountains into
the warmer interior valleys, where irri-
cation and the marvellous prolific al
falfa crops constitute a dairyman's
paradise, if there is one anywhere on
the globe. When I referred to the in
crease in the production of butter I did
not do justice to the expansion of the
Industry in the state because I had ref
erence to the state as a whole. It is
when we take up the extension of the
dairy industry in the Sacramento, San
joaquin and Imperial valleys that we
get an idea what is being accomplished
In the way of extensions and what is
finally going to make it one of the
great industries of the state.
Down at Modesto eight years ago a
few brave business spirits built an
elaborate creamery plant. They en-
gagged an expert butter maker to take
charge of-it. BY skirmishing the coun-
tryside gathering up the milk from
the family" COWS in and about Mo-
desto and much hustling in order that
he might hold his job he secured
enough milk to turn out 125 pounds of
butter every other day, enough to
grease the machinery as he often
told the writer. Immediately, how
ever, the water of the Modesto -Turlock
irrigation system began to be applied
to the land. The eight intervening
SdAS = 1Ac e NOi fASu NOnbStS III Nildb
tion in the dairy line. In the same ter
ritory that originally furnished the
Modesto creamery with less than 100
pounds of butter fat day there was
produced during 1909 approximately
/ 100000 pounds Of butter. The same
conditions that have made this growth
possible have advanced the butter
production of Stanislaus county from
| 270,224 pounds in 1899 to 4.113,S66
pounds in 1908; Merced county from
| 59s,202 pounds in 1899 to 2,S31,S46
pounds in 1908. Fresno county from
! 556,750 in 1899 to 3,315,92s pounds in
1908, Kings county from 25s,750 pounds
in 1900 to 2,419.651 pounds in 1908, Tu-
lare county from 1870 pounds in 1899
to 2.72e,S77 pounds in 1908. In the
other sections where irrigation prevails
similar growth is noted and when the
production for 1909 is reported all of
them will be advanced a good long
notch in the line of dairying.
I can not refrain from referring to
another line in which the dairy busi-
l