DAIRY PRODUCTS. 305 



DAIRY PRODUCTS. 



HAMPSHIRE. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



Milk. — The milk of cows is considered, by general consent, 

 the most congenial food for man. Investigations in regard to 

 its proximate constituents and their chemical composition, have 

 taught us, probably more than anything else, what are the 

 requisites of a really good diet. The relative nutritive value of 

 the long list of substances which make up our choice of arti- 

 cles of food, has frequenty been decided by a comparison of their 

 chemical composition and their physical condition with that of 

 milk. A liberal use of milk promises to benefit both the dealer 

 and the consumer, and deserves hearty encouragement. It is 

 of the utmost importance to obtain it in a pure, normal condi- 

 tion. The main components of milk are partly of an organic 

 and partly of an inorganic character. They consist of butter, 

 casein (or cheese stuff), sugar of milk, the phosphates of lime, 

 magnesia and iron, the chlorides of potassium and sodium, be- 

 sides some soda in combination with casein. All these com- 

 pounds, with the exception of butter, are present in solution ; 

 the latter substance is merely suspended in the liquid in count- 

 less small globules, and causes the peculiar color and the opac- 

 ity of the milk. 



Each fat or butter globule is surrounded by a very thin 

 coating of a nitrogenous substance, which disappears soon after 

 exposure to air at a favorable temperature. A slight alkaline 

 reaction of the fresh, normal milk causes the solubility of the 

 casein ; and the low specific gravity of the suspended fat globules 

 favors their rising to the surface, where they form cream. The 

 milk from a healthy cow always contains all the previously enu- 

 merated constituents, yet in a somewhat varying proportion. 

 The quantity of milk which can be obtained from a cow, and 

 also the quality which each individual cow of any particular 

 breed furnishes, depends, as is well-known, on a number of cir- 

 cumstances, the most important of which are, the constitution, 

 the condition and the age of the animal, the amount and the 

 kind of food, and the time and manner of milking. I do not 

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