Milk

MILK. This wonderfully constituted, nat ural product of the females of mammalia, pro duced in the precise proportions as to constitu ents, for the most perfect assimilation by the systems of young animals is now acknowledged by scientists as being not only a perfect food for infants, but also as being capable of sus taining life perfectly in mature age. In old age it is well known to be one of the most valuable in the whole category of foods. Co.w's milk is composed of water, eighty-seven to eighty-eight parts, the twelve to thirteen parts remaining in 100, being fat, (butter,) caseine, (cheese). milk sugar, a substance analagous to glucose, and earthy (mineral) matter. Milk is not only capa ble of supplying—theoretically—every tissue of the animal body, keeping the whole system in vigor and health, but then there is no waste. The constituents necessary to form bone, mus cle, fat, hair, in fact the whole economy of the system, is contained, and in the proper propor tions for all growing animals, and again mixed with the proper proportion of water, for perfect digestion and assimilation. Hence, milk warm from the cow, but preferably from the mare or goat has always been regarded as one of the best foods for consumptives, or dyspeptics, that could he given. In wild breeds of animals, the specific gravity of milk, as well as its composi tion, is pretty constant since each and every ani mal is constant to a given type. Animals improved by careful crossing, feeding and selec tion, however, differ very ir aterially in their milk, some breeds, as the Jersey, being espec ially rich in butter, and others again, as the Ayrshire, and Dutch cows, being rich in cheese. When the lactometer was brought into use—an instrument for testing the specific gravity of milk—it was thought by many that a perfect check had been discovered to the watering of milk, and the courts of New York are said to have come near convicting a man of adultera tion on this test. Yet a particular cow may give milk lighter or heavier than the average standard. In fact, as between individual cows, ' the variation may he ten per cent. So, as we have said before, some breeds will give milk rich in butter, and consequently lighter, while others will give milk rich in cheese, and conse quently heavier. So cows fed on watery food will be largely increased in quantity, and from naturally containing an abnormal quantity of water will be heavier than the standard. Nev ertheless, the milk of a mixed herd, taken as a whole, will always be uniform. Again, rich food, with a proper quantity of water, will increase the flow of milk up to the point of assimilation by the animal. Poor food will diminish the yield to a minimum. Yet, poor food does not necessarily produce poor milk, only a reduced flow, nor rich food richer milk, but an increased flow. Thus the improved lac tometer is the most valuable, as showing the specific gravity of milk. Knowing the gravity of a particular herd, if it vary much, it is pretty conclusive evidence that the milk has been tampered with, and should become a fit subject for analysis. Nevertheless, the lactometer should not be used to convict a man of crime, for there are plenty of means, known to scoun drels, of keeping adulterated milk up to its standard, so far as specific gravity is concerned, and the test by gravity is not a sure test of purity. As to the average quantity of milk given by cows and the cream as between the herd Ayrshires and natives with which he has carefully experimented, Dr. Sturtevant of Massachusetts gives the follow ing data: With reference to the average yield of milk in 1VIassachusetts, (because we wish to get a basis by which we can ascertain the comparative yield of milk,) I find, on looking over the Agricul ture of Massachusetts, a record of seventy-six different experiments, carried on by nineteen different people, in Worcester county, during a series of years, by which it appears that it took, on tbe average, 20.9 pounds of milk to make a pound of butter. In 1864, the statistics of 425 cheese factories in the State of New York gave the proportion of milk to the pound of c,heese as 9.11. In the statements, I make, I reduce butter and cheese to the milk valuation by allow ing twenty-five pounds of milk for a pound of butter, and nine and one-half pounds of milk for a pound of cheese, which will certainly be fair. I find, then, that according to tbe census of Massachusetts, in 1865, the amount of milk sold from each cow was 691 quarts. In nine towns in the Hoosac Valley, with 7,480 cows, the aver age yield, in 1865, was 1,179 quarts per cow. The average premium dairy of seven cows in Essex county, is reported, in 1865, to have given abou t 1,750 quarts. Another dairy of nine cows, in Danvers, in 1856, is reported to, have given about 2,000 quarts per cow. Another gentle man, who feeds daily five quarts of a mixture of rye, corn, and cotton-seed meal to his herd, reports a sale of 2, 274 quarts per cow for one year. Another premium herd of six grade Dur hams reports 2,460 quarts per year. The only returns of yearly yields of single cows that I find in the Massachusetts Reports are four native cows, four owners, 3,189 Quarts per cow, and forty-four native cows, in four herds, 2,160 quarts per cow ;—tbat is the average of the herd, counting all as in milk. These are the records of premium cows and competing herds, with hut one exception, and must manifestly be far above the average. I now go outside of the State of Massachusetts, having exhausted all the definite facts that I can find in our Reports, to the State of New York. I will not give the particulars from which I draw my conclusions; I will state it as probable, and have you take it upon trust, that the average yield of dairy cows in the State of New York, is not far from 1,300 quarts. The average of the best dairies in the State, 1,800 quarts. The possible average wbich can be attained by the best farmers, with their best herds, 2,300 quarts. Here, you will notice, there is a common difference of 500 quarts, between common, best and superior dairies. I speak not of the yield of individual cows, but of the average of a herd of cows. Dr. Sturtevant also relates that, of the purchase of Waushakum Farm by himself and brother, they procured the very best native cows they could find, continually disposing of poor cows and replacing them by better, and breeding in stock. The outcome was as follows: In 1866, with an average of 35.7 cows, we produced 2,160 quarts per cow, on an average. In 1867, with an aver age of 36.3 cows, the average yield per cow, wag 2,229 quarts. In 1868, with an average of 27.4 cows, the average yield per cow was 1,850 quarts. The average yield for the three years, frorn tbirty-three cows, was 2,079 quarts per cow. We then imported some Ayr shire cows, and these with other Ayrshires pur chased in this country, comprised our herd for the next three years. As we were now breeding, we had to -change our system of feed. A sys tem which would allow us to send a cow to the butcher when injured, would never answer with a breeding herd of valuable animals. In 1870, average number of cows, 19.8; average yield per cow, 2,616 quarts; 1871 average number of cows 18.7; average yield per cow 2,300 quarts. 1VIr. Miles, of Fitchburg, who makes a very candid and apparently fair record of his herd of 9.3 cows for three years, gives his average as 2,587 quarts per cow per year. In order to bring the matter into the most simple showing, he represents the facts reduced in another form, as given in the table below: Dr. Sturtevant continues as follows: Here is a common difference of 700 quarts in each class; and if my figures arc correct (and I have taken every fact I could obtain, and excluded none), this sum, 700 quarts, may well represent the breed difference of the Ayrshire and native cattle. Consequently, any farmer who exchanges his natives for Ayrshires of the same rank among Ayrshires as his natives are among natives, increases, by this change, the average a,nnual yield of his dairy, per cow, 700 quarts. The milk farmer who is selling his milk at four cents a quart, can increase his annual yield by at least twenty-eight dollars per cow, by replacing natives by Ayrshires of equal grade. It is prob able that these same results vvill apply in a deter minable ratio betvveen grade Ayrshires and natives; but I have not yet collected sufficient facts to vvarrant a definite statement of my own ideas of the value of grade animals. When, through the exertions of the friends of agriculture, and the workers, sufficient facts are published, I shall reserve the right to change these figures. The breed difference is there, and is great. Thus much our present knowledge enahles us to state; and according to my present figures, which include every fact I have been able to collect, 700 quarts is this breed difference. I should not lay so much stress upon the records of Waushakum Farm, did I not know that they are perfectly accurate. Similar judgment was exercised in selecting both natives and Ayr shires; similar care, similar ideas of feed, modi fied only by circumstances, and similar record ing of facts; we have here the conditions of a true comparison of breeds. The milk has been weighed daily from each cow on this farm; and I have the recorded weights, with the food each day or month, and other notes of interest, pre served for future reference. As a curious fact, let me add, that of all the cows whose yield for the year I can find given in ray Massachusetts Report (I have not the Reports from 1858 and 1862), the average of the four prernium native cows is 3,189 quarts; the average of the three Ayrshire crosses per year is 4,673 quarts; the extremes among the native cows are 2,692 quarts, and 3,826 quarts; among the Ayrshire grades, 3,700 quarts, and 6,048 quarts; the average of the beg nativ.e or grade, six cows, from twenty, for one year, was 2,462 quarts; the average of Waushakum herd of Ayrshires, six selected ani mals, for one year, was 3,123 quarts. Here, also, we have about 700 quarts, representing the breed difference between Ayrshires and natives. Our practice has been, in selecting any cows, to select the hest we can find among a great many individuals, and in selecting our native cows we had our choice among tens of thousands; we had the whole country to choose from; and we selected the very best, in our judgment, that we could find, and paid the largest prices for them • and at the time when good mileh cows were selling for from fifty to sixty dollars, we had a standing offer, well known to all the farmers in the region, of $125 for any cow that would milk twenty-six quarts a day. We purchased cowa under that plan, and we claim, therefore, that while our comparison of the best cows in each breed is certainly fair, it is yet not quite fair, because in selecting the natives, we bad tens of thousands to select from; and in selecting the Ayrshires, we had only a few thousands in Ayr shire, and a thousand or so in this country to, select from. So it is a fair comparison, because

it takes the best Ayrshire cows and the best native cows and compares them together. We could very easily compare the average Ayrshire cow and the average native cow,provided we had the statistics which would give us the average in each case; but it is fair to presume that in the cases presented to our agricultural fairs, by farmers, each farmer presented the best cow he had, and thought she was a very superior cow, Condensed or desiccated milk is produced in large quantities at Elgin, Ill., the only factory, I believe, in the West. It is condensed by evaporating in a vacuum pan, as it is called, precisely as in the modern mode of finishing the juice of the sugar cane. Dr. Voelcker, of Eng land, has given the following: When milk is evaporated at a low temperature, and a little. sugar is added, when the process of evaporation is nearly completed, the residue which is left on final evaporation, on being reduced to powder, constitutes a white powder with a yellow tinge, which dissolves for the greater part in boiling water. The solution resembles in appearance and taste milk, and answers pretty well as a sub stitute for milk for ships' use, or when fresh milk can not be obtained. Desiccated milk, if well prepared and perfectly dried, may he kept in closed bottles for many months without under. going any change, but it does not dissolve per. fectly in water, and is deficient in the agreeable taste which characterizes good fresh milk. Usually a portion of the cream is reinoved before the evaporation of the milk, for if the whole milk be condensed by slow evaporation, the desiccated milk is very apt to assume after a short time a bad taste resembling rancid butter. The following are analyses which I made some time ago of two samples of desiccated milk: The second sample, it will be seen, contains nearly twice as much fat (pure butter) as the first, which was evidently produced from skim-milk. The sample No. 1 had a nice taste, and, not withstanding the deficiency of butter, was a superior preparation in comparison with the second sample, which had a disagreeable taste of rancid butter. A much better description of concentrated milk has been prepared for a good many years past in America under Borden's patent, and a few years since an American Com pany — the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Com pany—had established a factory at Cham, near Zug, in Switzerland, for the production of pure Swiss preserved milk. This company, with a capital of £12,000, employs about sixty opera tives in their factory. The number of cows hired for the year is 1,440, and the average amount of condensed milk prepared daily during each of the 365 days of the year is 110 cases, of four dozen each of one pound cans; these equal 1,927,200 cans as the product of the year. The price of the crude milk is about two pence per quart; and the daily cost of the tins or cans made at this establishment amounts to £16 10s. About one-half of the product is sent direct to London, where one-half is consumed, while the remainder goes for ships' stores, is exported to the colonies, and sent to the provincial towns of England. One-half of the produce not sent to London is distributed over Germany, and there is some demand from France and Russia. The success of the condensing factory depends entirely upon the ability to put a fine flavored, perfect article into the market. The milk Must be uniformly good, and a fastidious neat ness and cleanliness must be observed in the establishment. The milk is evaporated down in vacuo at a uniform temperature of 160° Fahr., with the addition of the best refilled white sugar, until it reaches the consistency of thick syrup or honey. It takes about seven hours to condense the milk, seventy-five per cent. of its original bulk in water being driven off. The condensed milk thus prepared has been preserved in good condition for years. Mixed with three to four pints of water it readily dissolves, yielding a somewhat sweet but agreeably tasting fluid, having .a flavor of boiled milk. It consists of nothing but cows' milk and the best white sugar, and is well adapted for use during long voyages and in all other situations where good cows' milk is not readily procurable. A. sample of preserved milk prepared by the Anglo-Swiss Company, on analysis, yielded the following results: 100.00 About one-half of the solid substances of the condensed milk consists of sugar added in the process of condensation. The remainder con sists of hutter, caseine. milk-sugar, and ash con stituents. It is but right to state that the analyses of other samples of preserved milk, prepared by the Anglo-Swiss Company, show about ten per cent. of butter, and somewhat less water than was found in the sample analyzed In buying condensed milk, however, one should know that it is pure. It is chemical test alone which will solve this. The only other recourse is to buy only of respectable companies who have a reputation to lose. It should be labeled so as to show that it is whole milk, honestly condensed. In fact all commodities of sustenance should be branded just what they are, and, if found adulterated or subtracted from, heavy penalties should be attached. The following tables will show some interesting information in relation to condensed milk taken from the -United States Department of Agriculture Report for 1872: In the latter case there remained not more than one-eighth of the butter contained in the original milk, seven-eighths having been skimmed off and sold for cream. It is a notorious fact that most of the condensed milk companies regularly send cream to the New York market. It is added that analyses of samples of the plain condensed milk of several companies, presented by Dr. Chandler in May 1872, are as follows: Of the average adulteration of milk and its effect on prices, Dr. Chandler calculates, from long continued investigation, that the milk supply of New York and Brooklyn receives, on an average, one quart of water to every three quarts of pure milk before the commodity reaches consumers. As the result of a large number of experiments with milk from different breeds, Dr. Sturtevant presents the following conclusions: The butter globules of the milk show a certain and_definite relation between the quality of the milk and the breed. The breed determines, to a large extent, the composition of the butter. The breed deter mines, to a large extent, the most economical and advantageous manufacture of cheese. In the Ayrshire and Jersey breeds he considered his experiments fairly complete; in the Dutch or Holstein breed, more limited. As to the charac teristics of the milk of these different breeds, as indicated by his experiments, Dr. Sturtevant says: The milk-globule of tbe Jersey breed is larger than is the corresponding globule of the other breeds mentioned, and there are fewer globules under a certain size, one twenty-seven thousandth of an inch, and such, for convenience, I shall call granules. The milk-globule of the Ayrshire breed is smaller than that of the Jersey, and intermediate in size between those of the Jer sey and Holstein, and the milk from individual cows of the Ayrshire breed can be grouped into two classes or grades, according to the size and distribution of the globules. This milk abounds in granules. The milk-globule, of the Holstein is the smallest of the three. The globules are more uniform in their size than in the Ayrshire milk, and there are fewer granules. The globules determine some of the physical characteristics of the milk. If samples of the Jersey, Ayrshire and Dutch milk are placed in a percentage-glass, under like conditions, it will be noticed that the cream will rise in each sample with a different rapidity ; the larger globules, on account of their less specific gravity, reaching the surface first. As a matter of experiment, sonae Jersey milk threw up its cream in four hours, leaving a blue skim-milk; some Ayrshire samples, in about ten hours, leaving a white skim-milk scarcely recog nizable as such ; some Dutch milk, in about five hours, leaving a blue skim-milk. The larger milk-globules, and few granules being in part the explanation of the first, the evenness of size of milk-globules and few granules the interpretation of the reaction of the third, and the numerous granules and unevenness of size of globule offer ing a solution for the appearance and action of the second sample. The milk of these breeds acts differently in the churn. The larger the globule, the quicker is the butter produced from the milk; and the more uniform the size of the globule, the larger the yield of butter from a given quantity of cream of equal richness by analysis. The globules of similar size appear to be evenly affected by the process of churning, and break at ahout the same time. This was well illustrated by an experiment made of churn ing a portion of milk from two cows separately, and weighing the produce. The amount of but ter was largely in excess of that gained hy churn ing the same quantity of the same milk mixed, and the microscope revealed the cause. A curi ous feature brought out by these experiments is, that the mixed milk from two breeds will not pro duce as much butter as will the same milk churned separately. The explanation is in the variation in the sizes of the globules. When a large-globuled milk and a small-globuled milk are churned together, the larger globules sepa rate first into butter, and the breaking of the smaller globules appears to be retarded. When, therefore, a Jersey cow is kept in an Ayrshire or Dutch herd for the purpose of influencing the color of the butter, the large globules of the Jer sey milk are broken first in the churn; and while the smaller globules are being broken, the butter which first came is being overchurned, and theoretically, at least, the quality of the result is impaired, if not the quantity lessened. When a few Ayrshire or Dutch cows are kept in a herd of Jerseys, and the milk churned together, both theoretically and practically a large portion of the butter of the small-globuled milk is left in the buttermilk in the state of globules. Dr. Sturte vant arranges the breeds in the order of the aver age size of the milk-globules, as follows: Jersey, Ayrshire, (butter family); Ayrshire, Holstein, or Dutch (cheese family). Likewise we can arrange the breeds in accordance with certain properties of the milk: the rapidity with which the cream rises--Jersey, Ayrshire, Dutch; the rapidity with which the cream churns—Jersey, Ayrshire, Dutch; the completeness with which the cream rises—Jersey, Dutch, Ayrshire; the value of the milk for cheese—Ayrshire, Dutch, Jersey ; quali ties desirable for the milk-retailer—Ayrshire, first; Dutch or Holsteir, second; Jersey, third.