994 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



cheeses (Chester, Swiss, Holland, Roquefort, etc.) have a more uniform 

 composition. The water content does not exceed 30 per cent, the salt 

 content -I to 5 per cent, and the fat and proteids are often equal. The 

 nutritive value of such cheese is very great, 100 gm. of Swiss cheese 

 containing as much fat and proteids as 1 liter of milk and more than 

 250 gm. of meat, with 75 per cent of water. It is suggested that cheese 

 with bread would make a good food for army uses. 



Trial of milking machines, J. Drysdale ( Trans. Highland and Agr. 

 tioc. Scotland, 5. scr., 10 (1898), pp. 166-181, Jigs. 5). — A report of a com- 

 mittee of the Highland and Agricultural Society appointed to conduct 

 a trial of milking machines for a premium of £50. The manufacturers 

 of the Murchland and Thistle machines entered the competition. The 

 committee selected 7 farms on which these machines were in daily opera- 

 tion, 3 usiug the Murchland and 4 the Thistle. These farms were visited, 

 the operation of the machines observed, and samples of the milk taken 

 for testing their keeping qualities in comparison with hand-drawn milk. 



The committee awarded the premium to the Murchland machine, " it 

 having in every respect the most effectually fulfilled the conditions 

 which they originally agreed should guide them in making their awards.''' 



"In every instance the samples of milk drawn by this machine -were found to 

 keep satisfactorily. After a lapse of 48 hours they were found in no respect infe- 

 rior to the samples of milk drawn by hand; in fact, if anything, rather superior in 

 point of flavor. The committee regard the Murchland machine as a practical suc- 

 cess, and are of opinion that in large dairies where there may be difficulty in obtain- 

 ing milkers it may be introduced with advantage. . . . The chief defect in [the 

 Thistle] machine is the effect it has on the keeping qualities of the milk. The com- 

 mittee found that in every case the milk drawn by it kept unsatisfactorily, most of 

 the samples developing sourness and bad flavor in from 12 to 14 hours and marked 

 or great acidity in 24 hours, while samples drawn by hand from the same cows at 

 the same time, and kept under precisely the same conditions, remained perfectly 

 sweet for from 36 to 50 hours." 



In conclusion an illustrated description is given of the Murchland 

 machine and its mode of working. 



The persistence of bacteria in the milk ducts of the cow's 

 udder, A. R. Ward (Jour. Appl. Micros., 1 (1898), JS r o. 12, pp. 205-209, 

 fig. 1). — In studies of the foremilk of a cow 4 or 5 species of bacteria 

 were found, only one of which was common to the 4 teats, but "the 

 same species were found to persist in the same teat from day to day.'* 

 The milk of another cow examined on 5 occasions covering a period of 

 8 months showed 3 species, streptococcus predominating in all of the 

 teats at first, and persisting throughout the trial, although it dimin- 

 ished in proportion. No streptococci were found in the milk of 8 other 

 cows in the same stable. 



An experiment was made in colonizing the milk cistern of a cow with 

 Bacillus prodigiosus, introduced with a hypodermic syringe lengthened 

 with a milking tube. The bacillus was found in the milk for 5 days 

 after its introduction, although the number of colonies decreased from 

 day to day, and the bacillus disappeared on the sixth day. 



