584 fROCEEDIlS'GS OF SECTION' G". 



has been added. In many cases, instead of stating that the milk 

 contains added water, the correct and educational thing to do would 

 be to inform the farmer or millv seller that liis milk is below the 

 standard in a certain way, and point out on said certificate the pro- 

 bable cause of the deficiency. This is a young country, and dairying 

 is practically a young industry here, and we must not assume that 

 farmers and members of the general community know all about milk 

 analytical standards and methods. 



Milk Compositiox. 



Hitherto we have been accustomed to accept, I am afraid, the old 

 theoiy handed down by workers (in countries where the seasons are 

 regular and where droughts ai^e unknown) that the fat is, practically 

 speaking, the only constituent of milk wliich varies to any extent, 

 especially in a herd of more than two ox three cattle ; whereas I have 

 reason to believe that investigation will show the solids other than fat 

 are materially affected by continued droughts, such as experienced 

 repeatedly in different parts of Australia. I am driven to this belief 

 by actual results obtained from milk produced in New South Wales, 

 and I fvm supported in this opinion by obseiwations in the United 

 States-, made during a drouglit — or Avliat they consider over there a 

 drought. 



About 10 years ago I made rather an exhaustive inquiry into the 

 milk produced in New South Wales from one point of view — namely, 

 its fat contents, and arrived at the conclusion that in New South 

 Wales milk was up to, if not above, the average milk produced in 

 other countries from this point of view. The actual figures worked 

 out at 3 '88 per cent. This represented the mixed milk of many 

 thousands of cows as supplied to butter factories in New South W ..ies 

 about 10 yeais ago. At that time I had no reason to believe our milks 

 were not equally representative in solids not fat. In latter years, 

 however, we have been experiencing rather persistent droughts 

 throughout the area which generally supplies Sydney with milk for 

 human consumption as milk; and a number of complaints have been 

 made regarding the milk supplied by fanners who appeared from all 

 ordinary standpoints to be above suspicion. One of these complaints 

 was sent to a well-kno^vn farmer, of some means, in the county of 

 Cumberland, and, as a consequence, he brought various samples of his 

 milk to my laboratory for analysis. These proved to be so low in 

 solids not fat, while above the ordinary standard for fat, that I 

 decided to make furiher investigations, and accordingly visited the 

 farm myself, when I found the cows to be crossbred, Avith a good deal 

 of the Jersey strain through the gi*eater number. The drought con- 

 ditions were severe, and no green food had been available for months, 

 but the animals were being hand-fed on chaff and bran, and appeared 

 in veiy fair condition. Samples were taken, and, to make assurance 

 doubly sure, I sent my chief field assistant to the dairy to take samples 

 there himself, and see that all miU^ was thoroughly mixed before 

 sampling. The results given below on the 4th and 5th September, 

 1906, show that even with those cases when s{)ecial samples were 

 taken the solids not fat of the milk were extremely low. In one case, 

 that of the night's milk, solids not fat fell below 8 per cent., whereas 



