SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART X. 615 



There are a number of kinds of scales and balances used. A popular 

 kind has a small platform on which to set the bucket of milk, and 

 the weight is indicated on a dial. An ordinary platform scales of small 

 size, and balanced to the weight of the bucket, so that the weight of the 

 milk can be determined directly, may be used for this purpose, though 

 it has disadvantages in the fact that it would take some time to determine- 

 the weight, while a balance with a dial points directly to the weight. 

 A kind that has been advertised extensively has an ordinary coil spring, 

 such as is found in the common spring balances. A sheet of paper 

 containing the numbers of the cows each in a separate column is placed 

 in a holder attached to the sca,les. The bucket containing the milk is 

 placed on a hook, and this pulls down a row of buttons and points 

 corresponding to the numbers of the cows. The ibutton is pressed, and 

 this perforates the paper at the weight of the milk in the bucket. The 

 writer has seen a number of these in use, but has never yet seen one 

 that did Siatisfactory work. 



The balance in use at this Station is a regular spring balance, with a 

 dial graduated to tenth pounds. The hand in the dial can be adjusted so 

 that the weight of the bucket will point the hand to the zero mark. This 

 allows a direct reading of the weight of the milk. As all buckets used 

 weigh the same the work involved in weighing is very small; in fact, 

 is simply a question of seconds. The balance hangs on a hook which 

 projects far enough from the wall to allow the bucket to swing freely, 

 and is placed handy for the milker. The milk sheet is on the wall by the 

 side of the balance. A man accustomed to this work, and with a fair 

 amount of intelligence, will do the entire operation in a few seconds. 

 The requisites of good scales are that, it weigh accurately, and be sen- 

 sitive to tenth pounds, that it be simple to handle, and that it require 

 as little time as possible for the weighing. The platform scales, with 

 a dial and adjustable hands and the balance used at this Station fills 

 these requirements, and are to be recommended. Some scales used are 

 graduated to ounces, hut this causes a great amount of extra and useless. 

 work in adding records without any compensating advantages. 



The method for keeping an exact record of the amount of milk 

 produced by a cow is to weigh the milk at each milking for the entire 

 lactation period, and enter the amount on a monthly milk sheet. Such 

 a milk sheet will require a separate column for each cow, and will 

 require a blank space in the column for each milking for a month. 



