334 



AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



were afterward subjected to chemical tests. In all tbese cases the milk 

 had been skimmed before receiving liberal additions of water, and in 

 seven or eight of the samples was found "a large amount of salts, 

 showing adulteration by foreign substances." The reporter who visited 

 the dei)ot in Forty-eighth street, New York, the point of next largest 

 receipt, having disguised himself as a milk-dealer's assistant, witnessed 

 the pouring of milk into large receivers containing water, and obtained 

 samples irom sixty-eight named venders. Tiie milk in all these cases 

 had been much skimmed before watering, some of the samples showing 

 scarce a trace of the buttery substance of the original milk. In Brook- 

 lyn and vicinitj', twelve swill-milk stables were visited, containing at 

 the time over one hundred and fifty cows, the number per stable rang- 

 ing from three to thirty-six, excepting in two, which had been emptied 

 by distemper. Bad ventilation and the grossest filth w^ere the general 

 rule. Milk odorous with the smell of distillery-slops, and draAvn into 

 dirty vessels from unclean animals, was being made ready for convey- 

 ance in wagons which stood bv, bearing in large letters the labels of 

 "Pure Country Milk," "Pure Long Island Milk," &c. 



In Kew York itself, where the feeding of distillery-swill for milk was 

 formerly carried on to a most alarming extent, this nuisance is now 

 mostly abated. The report of the board of health for 1870 says that, so 

 far as is known to the board, there are no milch cows in that city fed on 

 distillery-swill or other deleterious substance. 



SUBSTITUTION OF CONDENSED MILK. 



In view of the prevalence of depreciated milk in our large cities, 

 recourse has been recommended to the use of condensed milk, particu- 

 larly the "plain condensed," or milk condensed without addition of sugar. 

 A late report of Dr. C. F. Chandler, chemist to the New York board 

 of health, showed that large amounts of an excellent article of this de- 

 scription were used by various hospitals and charitable institutions of 

 that city. [Keport of this department for 1871, page 183.] But the 

 necessity of exercising care in selecting an ajjproved brand is illustrated 

 by his statement in the report of the board for 1870, giving the follow- 

 ing analyses of good milk of average quality, the same article condensed 

 "plain," and plain condensedmilk sold by a certain New York company : 



Pure milk. 



t I'cr cent. 



Butter i 4.00 



Caseine ' 4.00 



Sugar I 5.00 



Salts ' 0.65 



Water i 86. 35 



i 100.00 



Pure luilk con- 

 densed. 



Per cent. 

 16.00 

 16.00 



. 20.00 



2.60 



45.40 



Condensed milk 

 sold by a New- 

 York company. 



Per cent. 



1.75 



15. 80 



18.90 



2.21 



61. 34 



100. 00 



100. 00 



In the latter case there remained not more than one-eighth of the 

 butter contained in the original milk, seven-eighths having been skimmed 

 off and sold for cream. He adds : " It is a notorious fact that most of 

 the condensed-milk companies regularly send cream to the Now York 

 market." 



