EXPERIMENT STATION WORK RELATING TO PURE MILK. 285 



proprietary preparation for applying to cows for the purpose of pro- 

 tecting them from Hies, the milk on several occasions had a peculiar 

 odor, \Yhich was attributed to the ointment used. 



FEEDING STTJFFS. 



The extended investigations of the experiment stations on the feed- 

 ing of cows have related mainly to economy in milk production. In 

 connection, however, with comparative tests of numerous feeding 

 stuffs and studies of various methods of feeding, observations have 

 been made on the effects of different materials on the flavor and other 

 properties of milk of more or less importance in connection with the 

 problems involved in the improvement of milk supplies. It has 

 long been known that certain feeds, such as young grass, produce 

 dairy products of excellent flavor, while other materials, such as 

 weeds, injure their quality, and observations of this kind, especially 

 as regards the quality of butter, have been reviewed briefly by AVoll." 

 While reference will be made here to some experience at the stations 

 with several feeding stuffs to which objections have been made from 

 time to time, it may be noted that the observations are concerned 

 more with qualities affecting the salability of the milk than wdth 

 conditions that might be injurious to health. 



Milk from cows fed corn silage has been reported by King ^ and 

 Knisely '^ and others as having a more pronounced odor than that 

 from cows not fed silage, although the odor was not considered dis- 

 agreeable. Fraser '^ has recently reported observations along the 

 same line. The dairy herd at the Illinois Station was divided into 

 two lots, one of which was fed 40 pounds of corn silage per cow 

 daily, while the other lot was fed only clover ha}' and grain. Dur- 

 ing the course of the experiments samples from each lot were sub- 

 mitted to 372 persons for an opinion as to any difference in the flavor 

 of the two samples, anything objectionable about either, and any 

 preference. The result showed that ^\0 jx'r cent preferred the milk 

 from cows fed silage, 29 per cent the milk from cows not fed silage, 

 and 11 per cent had no choice. Samples of each kind of milk 

 were sent to experts in different cities, three of whom preferred silage 

 milk, one nonsilage milk, and one had no choice. Silage milk was 

 delivered to a hotel for a period of one month and no complaint was 

 made as to the quality of the milk. These results indicate that most 

 people were able to distinguish between the two kinds of milk, but 

 foinid nothing ()bjecti()nal)l(' about either. The observations at i)oth 

 the Wisconsin and Tlliiiois stations showed that when the silajre was 

 fed after milking, the odor in the milk was less noticeable than when 

 the silage was fed a short time before milking. 



1 Wisfotisln St:i. r?nl. lie. p. <i1. <• OroRon Stn. Rpt. lOO.''., p. 44. 



&Wiscousiii Sta. I'.ul. ".!), p. li.".. d Illinois Sta. Bui. 101. 



