No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 641 



These figures show very clearly that, of our more common foods, 

 cheese is among the most highly concentrated. 



(2.) Cheese is One of Our Cheapest Foods. — Taking average market 

 prices and computing the price we pay for actual food materials, 

 excluding water and waste, we have the following figures, as repre- 

 senting the cost of one pouod of actual food material in the foods 

 given: 



Fresh fish, $1 30 



Oysters, 1 25 



Chicken, 82 



Eggs, 62 



Bibs of beef, 50 



Tenderloin beefsteak, 44 



Round beefsteak, 42 



Cheese, 22 



(3.) Cheese furnishes a larger amount of protein than any other 

 ordinary available food excepting canned and dried meats. Protein 

 is an extremely valuable food constituent, furnishing, as it does, 

 material for lean flesh, albuminoids, nitrogenous compounds of the 

 blood, nerve tissues, tendons, skin, hair, etc. No other food element 

 can take the place of protein. Cheese contains about one-fourth of 

 its own weight of protein. The cost of protein in cheese is probably 

 less than in any other food material, speaking of our American Ched- 

 dar cheese retailing at 15 to 20 cents a pound. 



CHAPTER XI. 



METHODS OF TESTING MILK AND ITS PRODUCTS. 



76. The Need of Tests. 



It is necessary to ascertain the amount of some of the constitu- 

 ents of milk and of its products in order that we may be in position 

 to judge the value of the materials in question for one purpose or 

 another. Thus, at creameries, cheese factories and milk stations, 

 it is necessary to determine the amount of fat io each patron's 

 milk, in order to pay for the milk on the basis of the fat content. It 

 is necessary for a dairyman who would be progressive to know the 

 amount of fat in the milk of each individual cow of the herd, in 

 order to know what the value of the cow is to him; because, only by 



41—6—1902 



