Imperial Valley press., 1922-06-07

ings, but q well constructed dairy
house for handling milk and making
butter and cheese was usually avail
able.
Dairy equipment conNisted principal
ly of milk pans for setting the milk
for creaming, milk pals, a caldron for
heating water, q churn or cheese vat,
moulds, firkins, etc, for packing the
butter.
The market milk supply of our cities
was produced principally within or
near the city limits and with little care
was delivered Immediately to the con
sumer and used within "a hours before
serious deterioration could take place.
This method of handling dairy pro-
ducts was general throughout the
United States at that time. Butter
i making was a farm process or a house
hold art, and because the population in
this country was small and the markets
near mt hand, the application of scien-
tific principles in the handling of dairy
| products was not essential The dairy
I men Of that time took interest in the
care of their product, and voluntarily
| followed practices in cleanliness that
are frequently overlooked by the dairy
men of today. They were producers,
, manufacturers and distributors of their
products and as such on the whole
took a greater responsibility and in
terest in the business.
The advent of the cream separator
and the Babcock method of testing
milk for butter fat toward the close of
the nineteenth century, gradually
changed the dairy business in Califor-
mia to the condition we have today,
where butter-making and cheese max
ing are scientific factory processes car
ried ont by men specially trained. The
cream is separated on the farm and de-
livered to or collected by the cream
cry; milk is cooled and delivered i'm
mediately to the cheese factory, milk
| cOndensery or milk processing plant;
or it is delivered to the country ship
ping station as market milk to be used
in cities.
Few people realize the extent of the
dairy industry in California. On ac
count of the wide diversity of agricul
tural crops grown in this state and the
number of distinctive crops grown,
such as raisins, citrus and dccidu0us
fruits, rice, cotton, etc, dairying does
not stand out as prominently as i'll
other states with equal production
where q smaller number of distinctive
crops are grown. There are 502,4l5
dairy cows in California, and from the
value of dairy products dairying ranks
third of agricultural industries of the
state.
The report of the United States Bu-
reau of Markets for 1920 showed Cali
country in the production of butter,
first in milk sugar and casein produc.
ton, fifth in cheddar cheese, and sixth
in ice cream manufacture. Forty seven
percent of the milk sugar manufactur-
ed in the United States was produced
in California during that year.
Our state is fortunate in having some
of the best dairy manufacturing plants
in this country and several of these are
managed by technically trained men
who have held high positions in federal
and state departments. This fact ac-
counts largely for the progress that
has been made particularly in the man
ufacture of special products such as
milk sugar, condensed milk, casein,
milk powder and albumen, all of which
are now being manufactured in this
state.
The development and use of better
equipment had led to products of high
er quality, making it possible to
market more of our products in other
states and countries. The grass season
in California opens a month to six
weeks earlier than in eastern states and
during the early spring when produc-
tion is increased, many carloads of
butter can be and are shipped to New
York and other eastern cities. During
this period, the price Of butter in east
ern markets is usually enough higher
than in our state to offset the cost of
freight and give a margin of profit in
addition. California produces more
butter than can be consumed by its
population and those outside markets
are necessary to maintain the proper
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