No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 83 



sale, as such of skimmed milk. The older act, however, omitted the 

 expression of a fixed standard for this important food product, in 

 this respect at least, that it did not include any statement of the 

 least quantities of milk solids and of milk fat that avouUI be regarded 

 as necessary to make milk legally salable for general consumption. 



In this respect, the former Pennsylvania milk act differed from 

 that of most states in the Union, and was far more difficult of en- 

 forcement. 



In fixing limits of composition for milk, the Legislature has, in 

 reality, recognized a principle not recognized in the preceding State 

 milk acts, namely, the principle that milk sold without qualification, 

 under the name "milk," must not only be free from adulteration by 

 skimming or watering, but must, also, not be abnormally inferior in 

 its composition, from causes other than direct manipulation by dairy- 

 men or milk vendors. It is true That milk produced by different cows 

 differs very much in composition, and also that there are marked 

 variations in the composition of milk produced by the same cow, 

 under different conditions of feeding and management, and at differ- 

 ent times during the period of lactation. Where, however, good 

 management, including proper feeding, is maintained, these varia- 

 tions are less than where poorer methods of management prevail. 

 There are, it is true, certain rather constant differences in the char- 

 acter of milk produced by cows of different breeds, or, at least, by 

 certain strains, or classes of animals in the different breeds; and 

 among these strains, certain families of the Holstein and other Low- 

 land breeds of cattle quite frequently produce milk low in both solids 

 and fat. It is also true that animals of these breeds ire heavy 

 milkers, as a class, and that in many regions of the United States 

 these breeds have been preferred by dairymen supplying milk for 

 direct consumption, because of certain advantages they give them 

 for milk production, and in spite of the inferior richness of the milk 

 they produce. 



Certain other facts, however, need to be considered, in determining 

 public policy with respect to the standardization of this highly 

 important human food. In the first place, the milk sold at the 

 present day for direct consumption, is very rarely the unmixed pro- 

 duct from a single cow, but is usually the mixed product from a herd 

 of cows. The variations in herds' milk are, therefore, those which 

 need, chiefly, to be considered in determining the minimum limits 

 of composition in normal milk, and the variations in herds' milk are 

 very much narrower than those observed in the case of milk from 

 single cows. It is true that some act of mismanagement of the herd, 

 may affect all the animals in it at the same time, but the conse- 

 quences of such mismanagement show themselves much more in the 

 alteration of the yield of milk, than they do in its composition. 

 Again, in herds maintained for the purpose of supplying milk for 

 direct consumption, the cows do not usually become fresh at the same 

 time, but, rather, are so managed in this particular that the milk 

 supply shall be maintained as uniform as possible throughout the 

 year. Consequently, those differences in composition appearing in 

 the milk of a single cow, as its period of lactation progresses, are, 

 hy no means, so marked in the case of milk from dairy hei'ds kept 

 for the purpose just mentioned. It must, however, be frankly ad- 



