lo May. 191:;.] General Xotcs. 287 



cent. The chief imports of butter (4.302.956 cwts.) were from Denmark 

 40 per cent., Australia 20 per cent., Russia 15 per cent., Sweden 8 per 

 cent., New Zealand 6 per cent., France 4 per cent., Holland 2 per cent. 

 Of cheese (2,348,322 cwts.) supplies w^ere draw^n chiefly from Canada, 63 

 p>er cent., and New Zealand. Russia was a large exporter of eggs. Turn- 

 ing to wool imports (795,091,310 lbs.), Australia sent 41 per cent., Xew 

 Zealand 22 per cent., .South Africa 13 per cent., and India 7 per cent. 

 From the above it is apparent that Australia as exporter to the United 

 Kingdom stands first in the matter of wool and rabbits, second in butter, 

 and in mutton third, while for wheat it has the fifth place. 



HOURS FOR MILKING 



It is the common practice to milk cows twice a day. l)Ut in the evening 

 the milk will usually be richer in butter-fat than it is in the morning. 

 Milk has a tendency to lose fat Avhen it remains long in the cow's udder, 

 and as there is usuallv a longer interval before the morning milking this 

 causes the morning milk to be poorer in fat. Did twelve hours elapse be- 

 tween each milking this result would not be found ; indeed, the morning 

 milk might be slightly richer owing to the greater restfulness of the animals 

 t)ver-night. Regarding the influence of times of milking upon the per- 

 centage of fat some useful facts are published by Professor S. H. Collins, 

 of Durham University, England. When the intervals between milking 

 were twelve hours, e.g., cows milked at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., the morning 

 milk contained 0.18 per cent, more fat than the evening milk on the 

 a\erage of 22 tests. When, however, the intervals were thirteen and eleven 

 hours by milking at 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. the results were the other way, and 

 the evening milk was then richer in fat than the morning milk by 0.33 per 

 cent, on the average of 192 tests. With intervals of about fourteen and 

 ten hours (6 a.m. and 4 p.m.) the excess in the evening milk was 0.70 per 

 cent, on the average of 18 tests. With greater irregularity in the intervals 

 the differences became still greater, and when the cows were milked at 

 6 a.m. and 3.30 p.m. the evening milk contained more fat than the morn- 

 ing bv 1.09 per cent, on the average of 391 tests. As milk usually con- 

 tains about 4 per cent, of fat (Official Standard — 3.5) a difference of 

 1.09 per cent, represents about one-quarter of the total fat in the milk. 

 The other milk-solids are not affected by irregular milking, just the fat. 

 From two milkings therefore the best results are obtained by milking as 

 nearly as practicable at equal intervals of twelve hours. 



PIG-FEEDING— 



Pig-feeding experiments with sweet and sour skim milk were conducted 

 at the Dairy Institute, at Proskau, by J. Klein (Milekzc. Zenthl., 6 (1910), 

 No. 5, pp. 215-222). — Twelve pigs, three months of age. were divided 

 into two groups and fed for twelve weeks a basal ration of ground barley 

 and potato flakes to which fish meal was also added during the latter half 

 of the period. Group i received an average of 5.5 kg. of sweet milk 

 per head as a supplementary ration and made an average daily gain per 

 head of 0.661 kg. and dressed 81 per cent, of the live weight. Group 

 2, which received 5.5 kg. of sour milk per head per day, made a corres- 

 ponding gain of 0.655 kg. and dressed 80.65 per cent. This result 

 agreed with that of previous experiments. 



There seemed to be no advantage in souring the milk as there was 

 a slight loss of sugar, though it was thought that sour milk had a slight 

 dietetic effect which offsets the loss of sugar. There was no noticeable 

 difference in the chemical composition of the flesh. — Experiment Station 

 Record . 



