176 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



THE FUTUKE OF CONDENSED MILK. 



By C. L. PECK, Coudersport, Pa. 



Of the agricultural products of Pennsylvania, that of the dairy is 

 the most important; in fact it overtops all others. Upon its encour- 

 agement and development haug more of the future prospects of 

 wealth than upon any other of its important industries. The direct 

 return from the milk product of the dairy is secondary to the steady 

 increase of fertility and consequent increased productive capacity of 

 tiie soil, resulting from the utilizing of the products of the barn and 

 stable. 



There is no iudustry connected with the State Department of 

 Agriculture that requires more care and skill in the profitable hand- 

 ling of its products than that of the dairy. Pennsylvania is a great 

 dairy State. Nature has endowed it with all the requirements nec- 

 essary to make it one of the great dairy districts of the world. With 

 a profitable market for its products the dairy industry of the State 

 would at once take a prominent place in its wealth producing indus- 

 tries. Under our present sjTS'tem, the territory from whence our 

 great cities, mining and manufacturing centres can obtain milk is 

 limited by the perishable nature of the product. Even then the sup- 

 ply is attended with great dilficulties, risk and loss. 



Butter production requires a high degree of skill. The demand 

 for perfectly fresh butter render® the market at some seasons of the 

 year fitful and uncertain. The difficulty in preserving a satisfactory 

 flavor and quality when trawspori^ed long distances in varying 

 climate renders the market unsatisfactory. Transportation to for- 

 eign countries adds greatly to this risk and correspondingly influ- 

 ences the cash returns of the dairy. A form of dairy product which 

 can be safely shipped to any locality or climate will always have an 

 assured market. A comj>aratively certain and regular price will be 

 assured, and the business assume as fixed a status as any other in- 

 dustry in which loss of product does not occur. 



The only output of the dairy which has, to this time, given any 

 promise of such results is condensed milk. Some years since, Gail 

 Borden, after a series of experiments, developed a process of mixing 

 pure sugar wilh pure milk and condensing the whole in a vacuum. 



