Vol. XVI. No. 397. 



THE AQRICULTTmAL NEWS. 



215 



As it is impossible to determine the vitamine content of 

 cereal products by isolation of these substances from the 

 natural foods, the use of the total phosphorus content as 

 a fairly accurate index of the relative amounts of vitamines 

 present is suggested. 



.Attention is called to the use of baking soda in the 

 preparation of bread involved in the reduction of the vitamine 

 content of bread, especially corn bread. If, however, sour 

 milk or tartaric acid is combined with the baking soda to 

 neutralize its alkalinity, the use of baking soda is deemed 

 harmlesss. It is also stated that, while the use of baking 

 soda without sour milk will not always prove injurious, bread 

 so made is undoubtedly deficient in vitamines, and, when 

 the other dietary components are also deficient in vitamines 

 the composition of bread made with baking soda without the 

 use of sour milk accentuates this deficiency and may lead to 

 impairment of health. 



Summarized, the factor.s stated as playing a part in the 

 reduction of the vitamine content of the people in South 

 Carolina are — the decrease in the consumption of the more 

 expensive foods such as meat, ejgs and milk which are rich 

 in vitamines and efficient in the prevention and treatment of 

 pellagra; the increase in the consumption of highly milled 

 corn meal and wheat flour; and the use of baking soda in the 

 preparation of bread and its addition to beans and other foods 

 to soften them and shorten the time of cooking. 



A study of the dietary conditions of certain communities 

 showed that a large proportion of the people, especially in 

 mill villages, live on a diet which is deficient in vitamine 

 content, wheat biscuits made from highly milled wheat flour 

 and corn bread made with baking soda without the addition 

 of butter-milk, are the staple articles of diet among the people, 

 and families are to be found in which these foods represented 

 about three-fourths of the entire diet. The fact that the 

 above-mentioned influences, which have undoubtedly reduced 

 the vitamine content of the diet, made themselves felt a 

 relatively short time before the rapid increase in the pellagra 

 incidence in these districts, furnishes considerable evidence in 

 favour of the vitamine deficiency theory of pellagra. 



GOAT'S MILK. 



In view of the increased attention to the advantages of 

 keeping goats in the West Indies and of the importation of 

 difi"erent breeds for milk, an article which appears in the 

 Ve(etinar)/ Record of May 19, 1917, will be of considerable 

 interest to those who have to do with goats. In Barbados, 

 especially, there has been marked improvement owing to 

 the importation of thoroughbred stock of the Toggenburg and 

 other superior strains, and it may be remembered that owing 

 to the high infant mortality of the peasants, five male goats, 

 presented to the Department of Agriculture in Barbados were 

 in 1916 stationed about the island for the purpose of 

 improving the breed of the common goats. 



Less than twenty-five years ago, Professor Nocard, it is 

 stated in the article mentioned, in speaking of the 1 30,000 

 goats and kids which at that time were brought into Paris 

 every spring for slaughter in the shambles at La Vilette, said 

 that amongst all these animals the meat inspectors had never 

 found a single case of tuberculosis. In that statement lies the 

 essence of the argument in favour of goat's milk as a substitute 

 for cow's milk. Despite all the efi'orcs of legislators, the danger 

 of infection through the milk of diseased cows still exists, but 

 goats, if not actually immune, are very refractory to the 

 attacks of the tubercle bacillus. In spite of its manifold 

 advantages, goat's milk has never become popular in these 

 islands, although in many other countries it is a common 



article of diet, and in some parts of France and Switzerland 

 the goat often takes the place of the wet nurse, to the satis- 

 faction of all concerned. In the memoirs of Madama 

 Heritte-Viardot, niece of Manuel Garcia, the inventor of tha 

 laryngoscope, we find the author recording her indebtedness 

 to a couple of goats which furnished milk for her little son 

 during a voyage from England to the Cape, which in those 

 days (1 863^ was no light undertaking, pariiculirly for an 

 infant. 



At least two societies— the National Goat Club and the 

 British Goat Society — have been formed for the purpose of 

 making the milk of 'the poor man's cow' better known 

 throughout the British Isles. Goat's milk is not only superior 

 to cows, but is an excellent substitute for human milk, and 

 there is no reason why the average labourer should not possess 

 a goat which would supply his family with pure whole milk, 

 such as it might be impossible for him to buy in many country 

 place?, even if he had the money. Once the initial expense 

 of purchases has been met, a goat, when circumstances are 

 favourable, may cost very little to keep, as a considerable 

 part of its food may consist of garden waste or of what 

 the animal itself may find in its browsings along the road- 

 side and hedges. Many goats thrive well when stall-fed, 

 and the animal can be kept in health if it has a clean, dry, 

 and well ventilated shed to serve as a stable, and a small yard 

 or enclosure in which it can take occasional exercise. The 

 milk is believed to be more easily digested than cow's milk, 

 the curd being more soluble and the fat in finer emulsion. 

 The goat will not touch dirty food and is far cleaner in its 

 person and habits than a cow: its milk need not be boiled 

 or pasteurized unless it has to be kept in hot weather. The 

 late Dr. Vivian Poore took a great interest in the use of 

 goat's milk, and for some years before his death most of 

 the milk consumed in his house at Andover was obtained 

 from a few goats. To the objection that the milk often had 

 a disagreable flavour, he replied that this could be completely 

 obviated if the he goat was not allowed to run with the 

 nannies during the time they were in milk. 



In some varieties of wild goats the percentage of fat 

 maybe as high as 48 on the average, with an extreme up- 

 ward limit of 87. The normal is given in recent tables as 

 43 in the German breed and 3'1 in the Alpine. Crepin is 

 of opinion— and Lesage, from his experience in Paris, appears 

 to agree with him — that the objection which has been raised 

 to goat's milk that it is too rich, does not apply to stall-fed 

 goats. 



Lesage concludes that the advantages of goat's milk are — 

 (1) that the goat eats about one-sixth of the quantity of 

 food required by a milch cow; (2) that for nine or ten months 

 it yields 3 to 5 litres of milk, which can be taken uncooked; 

 (3) that goats are very seldom affected by tuberculosis, since 

 of 3,000 killed at the Lyons slaughterhouse only five were 

 tuberculous; and (4) that the fat being in very fine emulsion 

 is easily digested. There is a further advantage — if the 

 animal is kept by the consumer himself, the necessity for 

 manipulating the milk in various ways, for storing it and 

 sending it long distances by train, as happens commonly 

 with cow'« milk is obviated. On the other side of the 

 account must be put the liability of the goat to carry the 

 infection of undulant fever (Mediterranean fever). In Great 

 Britain this risk is small and, save in very exceptional circum- 

 stances, may be neglected. 



The period of gestation in the goat is said to be about 

 five months (1-50 days), and the average period in milk about 

 nine months. In Europe the daily yield may be expected 

 to be about 3 pints; 5 pints is considered to be a high yield. 

 The small yield of British goats is attributed to degeneration 

 of the stock due to excessive inbreeding. 



