390 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



to the air, and when this AvlioUy ])asscs away the milk bofomcs an absolutely 

 litbless substance, subject to the ordinary conditions of dead matter. It is sup- 

 posed to be analogous to the case of the body of an animal, which, when life 

 departs, does not instantly assume the cadaveric state, but for awhile remains 

 flexible and even sensible to the stimulus of galvanism. 



Some of the variations to which milk is subject arc evidently the provisions 

 of nature for special purposes. The first milk or biestings, as it is sometimes 

 CJillcd, is very unlike that secreted at a later period, both in its chemical com- 

 position and in its effects, being purgative. It is especially adapted to the 

 wants of the calf immediately after birth, and should never be withheld from 

 it. The milk secreted by cows during the season of sexual heat is quite unlike 

 that of other times. Persons in robust health may sometimes partake of it 

 without injury, but it should never be given to infants. I3y a wise provision 

 cows arc not subject to this condition while suckling their offspi ing, and what 

 is dangerous to a calf should be cautiously withheld from a delicate infant or a 

 person in feeble health. Such milk is unfit for dairy purposes .as well as for 

 direct use as food. Mr. Willard, in reply to an inquiry on this point, writes 

 ad follows : 



"The milk of cows iu heat does sometimes play queer pranks with cheese. You will re- 

 member I suggested this to be the cause of the trouble ia the throe cheeses which we saw at 

 Frazer's i'aetovy, made from one vat of milk which Mr. F. said could uot be properly cooked. 

 I have had it occur in my own dairy when several cows were in heat at the same time, when 

 the weather was hot, and the animals were more than usually excited. In the worst cases I 

 liave attributed it not only to the milk of the animals in heat, but aggravated by that of those 

 which became sympathetically excited, and exercised, and feverish iu consequence of the 

 cows which were in heat. Milk at such times is feverish and akin to a mass of putridity, 

 and uot unfrequently a fetid or veiy offensive odor is emitted from the whey and curd if used 

 for cheese making Such milk will no more produce solid ciud than it would give healtli and 

 nourishment to a calf when taken into its stomach. When made into cheese there is a ten- 

 dency to undue fermentation and rapid decomposition, and its character is precisely similar 

 to cheese made with putrid reanct. But such extreme cases are only occ;isioual." 



Serious trouble in cheese making has been occasionally experienced by most 

 dairymen from the same cause. 



It is well known that milk will often suddenly develop into a state of acidity 

 during thunder-storms, but why it should thus become sour has long been 

 shrouded in mystery. Some have confounded this with the effect of jarriugs 

 or joltings, or that produced by vibrating motion of the air, as by beating of 

 drums. It is now well understood to be due to the presence of ozone, which 

 is generated iu the air by electrical action. Ozone is simply oxygen gas in a 

 changed or, as it is called, allotropic condition. It possesses some very curi 

 ous and wonderful properties, and among them intense oxydizing or acidifying 

 powers. The remedy for the trouble just mentioned is to have the ventilation 

 of the milk room so perfectly under control that the outer air at such times 

 may be wholly excluded. 



Until within a comparatively brief period the manufacture of cheese has 

 everywhere been almost entirely an empirical process, the mere following of 

 forms which have been handed do^vn from past generations without an under- 

 Blanding of or any reference to those guiding ])rinciples which should direct the 

 process. Science has at length stepped in, and in several particulars has ren- 

 dered valuable aid. 



It is a noteworthy fjict that systematic attempts to improve the manufacture 

 of cheese began to be made both in Somersetshire, England, and in Herkimer 

 county, New York, about the same time ; and also, that with no knowledge on the 

 part of either of the progress made by the other, after lengthened experiments, 

 both should have adopted substantially the same method ; for it is a fact that 

 the Cheddar and Herkimer methods so closely resemble each other that thfe 

 only differences of any consequence are such as necessarily grow out of the 

 difference of climate. Their process differs from most methods mainly in two 



