CREAMERY. A factory where butter is made from milk or cream, furnished by the farmers of the neighborhood. It is an American institution. and originated in New York about 1864, being suggested by the success of the cheese factory (q.v.). which had been in operation for several years. Within the past fifteen or twenty years the growth of the creamery system has been very rapid, and creameries are now thickly distributed over the principal dairy regions. They differ in their form of organization, and also in the method of operation. Cooperative factories are owned by the farmers ('patrons'), who supply the milk, and who choose from their own number a managing committee, or board. The cost of running the factory, and the proceeds of sales, are divided pro rata according to the milk, cream, or butter-fat contributed. This is the oldest and in many respects the most desirable form of organization. In the joint-stock and proprietary creameries the milk or cream is bought of the fanners under a contract, or the factory may make butter and dispose of it for its patrons, for a fixed charge per pound. The milk may be delivered at the creamery, where the cream is separated by power. the farmers receiving the skim milk for feeding; or the cream may be raised or separated by the farmers themselves and sent to the factory every two or three days. The latter are called 'gathered-cream creameries.' The cream-gathering plan originated in Wiscon sin, and was the basis upon which creameries were established in New England, where it con tinues popular. The cream is raised by gravity usually, in deep cans, and is paid for by the `space.' This measure has been shown to lie an unreliable one, as the value of a space of cream for butter-making varies widely; and payment on the basis of the fat furnished, as determined by test, is beginning to be adopted Where the whole milk is furnished to the creamery, it is delivered daily, which involves a great deal of labor in hauling. In almost all eases the hauling devolves upon the milk-pro duce•; often the farmers' living near together co3perate in this, or contract with some person who makes a business of doing the hauling. The milk was formerly paid for by the pound. this being a convenient means of measurement ; but the injustice of this to the producers of rich milk, and the introduction of the Babcock milk test, have led to payment on the basis of the butter-fat. The milk of each patron is weighed
as it is received and a sample taken for testing; usually the samples for a week or so are combined into a composite, to reduce the labor of testing. From the amount of milk delivered, and the fat content, the amount of butter-fat furnished by each patron is calculated at the end of the month. In most of the leading creamery districts the separator factory is now the favorite system. In many places these creameries have located `skimming stations' at points convenient for the patrons. where the milk is run through the sepa rator, and the cream then taken to the creamery. This reduces the labor of hauling to a minimum. The system of making butter at creameries is, in many respects, a vast improvement over the ordinary farm dairy practice. The use of ma chinery reduces the cost of butter-making, and the milk and cream are handled by experienced butter-makers according to the most approved methods. The result is a uniform product, equal to the best of the single dairies, and a great improvement over the average, which sells for a high price. Furthermore, there is less loss of fat in making than at farm dairies, and hence a larger quantity of butter is produced from the same cows. The labor and expense of making and marketing the butter are removed from the farms and households. Creameries have been of great advantage to the farmers where they are located, and the payment for milk on its fat con tent has stimulated the farmers to keep better and more profitable cows. Some of the more modern creameries have a very large capacity. The Franklin County Creamery, at Saint Albans, Vt., was formerly the largest in the country, having a capacity of five or six tons of butter a day. There are now a considerable number equally as large, and several much larger, running up to fifteen tons of butter a day in some eases. A large creamery in Nebraska has over 100 skim ming stations connected with it. In the Elgin district in Illinois creameries using 10,000 pounds of milk a day are quite common. See BUTTER-MAKING.