NEEDS OF THE DAIRY. 



247 



cream-gauge, to decide upon some standard of ascertaining the 

 value of milk that will be just and more satisfactory than the one 

 now generally in use. 



Importance of Systematic and Scientific Experiments. This brings 

 us to the question of the importance of thorough scientific and 

 practical experiments in connection with the dairy. There are 

 very few points positively determined. We need a series of 

 experiments to determine the value of different grades of milk for 

 butter-making and for cheese-making. By such experiments I 

 think we shall discover that there is a marked difference between 

 a good butter dairy and a good cheese dairy, and that we should 

 select our cows with reference to which branch of the dairy we 

 wish to eng'age in. I think a good butter cow may be indifferent 

 for cheese, and that a cow good for cheese may not be very valu- 

 able for butter. Hence the value of the milk of a cow will depend 

 much on the use you wish to make of it. Two cows may be of 

 equal pecuniary value, the one for butter and the other for cheese ; 

 but if we put them both to butter-making or both to cheese-making 

 we shall find a marked difference in their value. If you are 

 making butter-, it is the cow which yields the most cream, no 

 matter how small or how large a mess of milk, that is the most 

 valuable. If you are making cheese, a large yield of caseine is 

 what you desire. But if you are carrying your milk to a factory, 

 the cow that gives the greatest number of pounds of liquid is the 

 one that brings you the most money. It is for your interest that 

 all your neighbors should send to the factory milk rich in cheese, 

 with cream enough to keep up the quality; but you are desirous 

 of having the largest number of pounds in your own milk-can, 

 whatever its quality may be — and we of central New York some- 

 times find men dishonest enough to increase the yield of their 

 dairy by resorting to the pump. It might not be so here, but, 

 although there may be a moral difference, I see none when we 

 view it in the light of equity, whether we carry milk watered so 

 that it will take twelve pounds to make a pound of cheese, or 

 draw it from the cow so poor and thin that it will give no better 

 yield of cheese. But if we can hit upon a just method of giving 

 credit according to actual value, it will be an object for even the 

 dishonest patron to carry good milk to the factory, and to select 

 his cows, and to keep them well, for that purpose. 



Aside from determining the value of milk, and whether it is 

 better for butter or for cheese, we need a thorough system of 



