DAY IN A BUTTER FACTORY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15521, 31 January 1914, Page 1 (Supplement)

DAY IN A BUTTER FACTORY.

. > .!■ %: :., by Licrro. " ... Daylight is filtering through the windows of the "batch" when the silence ie broken by; the whirring of an alarm clock. The engineer,, whose clock it is, bestirs:WinselL' and I-i follow '. him ~across«..the. .stretch' of ground that separates the ' quarv tors from tho factory. ; We."enter; the engineroom, and,while he is busy with tie gas-producer and engine I glance arouhd. Everything is spick and span. Along the length of the room are ranged gas engine, steam engine, and two refrigerators. The adjoining room houses the gas-producer plant and the /steam boiler.: The engineer has finished at the fan, and after giving the engine a few revolutions with the,-aid of compressed air. it is soon running steadily with the gag. , In a little while the refrigerators are, spinning merrily.

The day's work lias begun. I leave the engineer to it, and' walk into the butterroom. It ie a spacious and lofty room, spotlessly clean and sweet-smelling. At the back, on a raised stage, are six large cream vate, immediately in front of which are the three "combined" churns. The j buttermaker is running the cream into the churns, taking temperatures and, recording j them. One after another the churn doors are made secure, and soon all three churns are revolving. Just then a pot of tea arrived from the "batch," and is very acceptable, as the hour is early. Very soon the speed of the churns become slower,' the butter is beginning to " break." Chilled water is added to the contents of the churns, and the buttermaker is watchful. The churning being completed to his satisfaction, the buttermilk is drained off and the butter washed in the churn. Next follows salting and working. The butterworker is placed inside the churn and connected up, the butter being hungrily chewed up by the moving rollers-. Tho " working" being finished the butter is removed from the churn and wheeled away by the assistants to the scales. After being weighed the butter is placed on a table beside the packing machine. Paperlined boxes are inserted in the machine and the butter dumped in. The pulleys of the machine revolve, and down cornea a huge plunger, which packs the butter neatly in tho box. Box lids are nailed on, the boxes stamped, and placed in cool chamber pending its consignment to the grading stores and its ultimate shipment to the Home markets. The morning goes on, and many churninge are completed before the day's output of five tons 2& finished.

After lunch I was on the receiving stage in time to see the railway trucks shunted in with their freight of cream. The trucks are soon emptied and the seals removed from the can lids. The cream is graded, weighed, booked, well stirred, and a sample taken for future testing. After this it is dumped into a vat, and then pumped into the vats in the pasteurising room. Here it is tested for acid, and the acids neutralised. The cream is then run into the pasteuriser in a continuous stream, and is suddenly heated to a high temperature. It emerges from the pasteuriser pure and sweet, and passing down over the coolers is almost instantly brought down to a low temperature. A cream pump then • takes it in hand, and it is pumped along the pipes to the cream vats in the butter-room. The cream is well stirred, and the lactic "starter" added. These vats have water jackets with freezing coils within, and by freezing on the vats the cream is reduced to the desired temperature for churning next morning. I pass along to the testing-room, with its array of bottles and testing gear. Here the cream, butter, and milk are tested, and I watch the tester busy with the Babcock test.

On returning to the butter-room later 1 found the engineer taking the temperature of tho cream in the vats. Apparently he is satisfied, for he straightway "works back" his refrigerators and shuts off the gas from the engine. The engine slows down, the exhaust gives its last few snort*. .Silence reigns. Tho day's work fa finished.