Impure Milk. 



317 



was of first-class character. Milk is so very- 

 sensitive to foul odours, whether as above, or 

 from badly-laid milk house floors, rendering 

 the air sour or impure, or from whatever 

 cause, it is imperative and indispensable to 

 prevent the milk from being in any way ex- 



posed to injurious influences. This is an 

 important matter, but one which has had too 

 little attention paid to it ; and if the contents 

 of this letter should secure, where it is 

 wanted, the much needed reform, I shall feel 

 I have occupied your space to good purpose. 



THE COMPARATIVE PROFITS OF BUTTER AND CHEESE. 



IN a paper read before the Coldwater 

 (Michigan) Farmers' Club recently, by 

 Mr A. J. Aldrich, the following passages 

 occur : — 



In speaking of the profits of cheese com- 

 pared with butter, I have only one compari- 

 son to make, that is, with the average price 

 of cheese and butter as received by farmers 

 generally. The care of stock, and of milk, 

 so far as cooling and cleaning are concerned, 

 is the same whether we make cheese or 

 butter. But there are many other things in 

 making butter which take extra time and 

 labour in doing them that can be dispensed 

 with in making cheese. There is no setting 

 of milk, there is no skimming, there is no 

 care of the cream, and no working of the 

 butter. After it leaves the milk-can the care 

 of it may be at an end, so far as the farmer 

 and his wife are concerned. Indeed, the ex- 

 pense of making butter is double that of 

 making cheese. The price for manufacturing 

 cheese at our factories is i^d. per lb., while 

 the price for making butter is 2^d. per lb. 



The question now is, how much milk 

 will it take to make i lb. of cheese as com- 

 pared with the quantity to make i lb. of 

 butter ? Of course it will vary with different 

 seasons and even with different days. The 

 amount of milk used in making i lb. of 

 cheese varies from 9 lb. to 11 lb. ; to make 

 I lb. of butter from 25 lb. to 30 lb. of 

 milk. The result will prove that we can make 

 from 2^ to 3 lb. of cheese where we can 

 make i lb. of butter. 



During all the past year butter has varied 

 from 5d, to iid., while the price of cheese 



has varied from 4^d. to 8d. per lb. 

 During the months of July and August it 

 will take from 30 lb. upward of milk for 

 I lb. of butter. Indeed, I imagine that not 

 many farmers will make i lb. of butter 

 from less than 35 lb. to 40 lb. of milk dur- 

 ing the summer. I do not make this state- 

 ment rashly, but on the authority of Hon. 

 Zadock Pratt, who began the dairy business 

 in 1857. He made butter, and for eight 

 months it averaged over 39 lb. of milk 

 for I lb. of butter. He was supplied 

 with all the conveniences necessary to good 

 butter-making. If it took that amount with 

 all his facilities, what would it take with the 

 ordinary facilities of the average farmer? 

 I think I would be perfectly safe in saying 

 that the average farmer will not come up to 

 the average of Mr Pratt in that respect. If 

 that is the case, the milk that will make i 

 lb. of butter will make nearly or quite 4 

 lb. of cheese. But for the sake of plac- 

 ing the matter in as favourable a light as pos- 

 sible for the average farmer, I will take 

 3 lb. of cheese to i lb. of butter, with the 

 proportion and the average price of butter at 

 8d. and that of cheese at 6Kd., we shall 

 have IS. 73^d. for cheese where we should re- 

 ceive 8d. for butter. In one case 30 lb. of 

 milk brings 8d.,in the other it brings is. 7)^d., 

 difference in favour of cheese of io/4d. It 

 we discount the price of cheese-making, we 

 have 5/2d. in favour of cheese. But we will 

 take cheese at the lowest price and butter at 

 the lowest price, and see where the balance 

 rests. We said that 4^d. was the lowest 

 price for cheese. 3 lb. of cheese would yield 



