290 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD 



with 4 cows to compare the value of green sweet and dent corn for the 

 production of milk. Previous to the commencement of the experiment 

 the cows were on clover pasture and received in addition a pound of a 

 mixture of bran and oil meal, 1 : 1, per day. 



"During the first 10 days of the experiment the cows were fed green corn alone, 

 cows 1 and 2 receiving sweet corn and cows 3 and 1 dent corn. At the end of 10 

 days 4 lbs. of meal were fed to each cow per day and the meal ration continued 

 throughout the remainder of the experiment, or a period of 11 days. The meal 

 ration consisted of equal parts by weight of barley, shorts, and oil meal. The 

 variety of sweet corn used was Evergreen Sweet and the dent corn was Mammoth 

 Cuban. . . . The cows did not eat the dent corn so readily as the sweet, and for a 

 time wasted a considerable quantity of it, the waste becoming less as time went on." 



The amount of green corn fed, eaten, aud wasted, and the yield of 

 milk during each period and for the G days immediately preceding aud 

 following the test are tabulated. The author states that "when fed 

 corn alone the dent-corn group suffered a greater shrinkage in milk yield 

 than the sweet corn group;" that "when meal was added to the ration 

 both groups increased in milk yield, but the sweet-corn group increased 

 slightly more than the dent-corn group;" and that "when returned to 

 pasture both cows of the sweet corn group decreased in milk yield, 

 while both cows of the deut-corn group slightly increased in milk yield." 

 The superiority of the sweet corn is thought to be due to its greater 

 palatability, "since the cows on sweet corn consumed more corn per 

 hundred pounds of live weight than those on deut corn." 



"There is one more important consideration. The sweet corn yielded at the rate 

 of 29,280 lbs. of green fodder per acre, while the dent corn yielded at the rate of 

 36,376 lbs. per acre. . . . This greater yield of dent corn more than compensates 

 for what is lost when compared with sweet corn for milk production, and therefore 

 this experiment would indicate that the dent corn proved more economical than the 

 sweet." 



Machine drawn milk vs. hand-drawn milk — some bacterio- 

 logical considerations, F. C. Harrison (Ontario Agr. Col. and Expt. 

 Farm Kpt. 1897, pp. 128-132, Jigs. 2) — A bacteriological study was made 

 of the milk drawn with the Thistle milking machine and of that milked 

 by hand. The investigations were made each month from April to 

 August, inclusive. 



"The average number of germs per cubic centimeter in the morning's milk from the 

 machine for 16 weeks was 111,595, while the average in the hand milk for 11 weeks 

 was 10,619 — a result largely in favor of the hand milk. The average for the even- 

 ing's machine milk was 165,033, and for the hand milk, 12,890 — a result almost as 

 much in favor of the hand milk. . . . 



"A considerable variety was found in the machine milk, over 25 species being 

 separated by the usual bacteriological methods, and all grown in pure culture in 

 sterilized milk. . . . 



"The germs in the hand milk were, generally speaking, of the same kinds as 

 were found in the machine milk, but in the machine milk the putrefactive species 

 (those that liquefy gelatin) were very much more numerous and varied." 



The large number of bacteria found in the milk drawn with a machine 

 is attributed to the following causes: 



