Il8 AGRICUI^TURE OP MAINE. 



While in a few isolated cases the standards seem to be rather 

 high and therefore subject to well deserved criticism, in other 

 places they are so low as to admit of skillful adulteration of 

 normal milk, which even then can meet every requirement of 

 the local low standard. From the abundant evidence available 

 I believe the consumer of milk can reasonably demand a milk 

 that will contain not less than 3.25 per cent fat, or 8.5 per cent 

 solids not fat, and a milk in which fats and solids not fat com- 

 bined shall equal at least 12 per cent total milk solids. 

 • To be sure, individual cows have been bred to produce an 

 enormous flow of milk that will not normally contain so much 

 as 12 per cent solids. These same selected cows can also be so 

 bred that their progeny will in turn give even a greater amount 

 of still thinner milk. It thus becomes possible by following a 

 certain line of breeding to accomplish in that way precisely what 

 has sometimes been accomplished by using the pump. Either 

 practice, however, leads to the same result and an arbitrary 

 standard for fats and solids not fat in market milk, long has 

 been, and doubtless long will continue to be the surest safeguard 

 not only to the consumer of milk but for the honest producer 

 and distributor of milk as well. 



The percentage of fats in milk and cream is determined by 

 the well known Babcock method. Knowing the percentage of 

 fat the solids not fat may be most conveniently estimated by ( i ) 

 determining the specific gravity of the milk, (2) by the use of 

 a short rule, viz : To find the per cent of solids not fat in milk, 

 add two-tenths of the per cent of fat to one-fourth of the 

 lactometer reading. 



BACTERIA. 

 (Twenty out of one hundred points). 



While certain forms of bacteria may be useful in the manu- 

 facture of butter and cheese, we may safely conclude that so 

 far as market milk and cream are concerned the fewer germs of 

 any kind contained in these products the better for all con- 

 cerned. 



While milk in the udder of a healthy cow may contain bac- 

 teria, practically all contamination takes place after the milk 

 leaves the cow's udder. The extent of the contamination 

 depends almost entirely upon the conditions under which the 



