214 ELEMENTS OF FARM PRACTICE 



Questions: 



1. A pound of milk is said to possess practically as much nourish- 

 ment as a pound of beefsteak. Which is cheaper? 



2. How many pounds or gallons of milk are your cows or others 

 in your community giving per day? Per year? Is it more or less than 

 the average? 



3. When all things are considered, does it cost more to keep a 

 good cow than a poor one? 



4. Why is it that milk is so perfect a food? 



5. Why is it important to be so particular in the care of milk? 

 Arithmetic: 



1. If butter-fat is worth 28c. per pound, what was the value of 

 the butter-fat produced in one year by the World's Champion Cow? 



2. If the cow that gives 362 gallons of milk a year produced 

 4.14% of butter-fat, what is the value of her butter-fat compared with 

 the champion? 



3. If patrons will pay Ic. a quart extra for good clean milk, how 

 much extra might be received from the champion's 3,644 gallons? 



TESTING MILK 



Babcock Test. — The Babcock Test is one of the great 

 inventions of the age, and has done a great deal for the 

 dairy industry. Before this invention there was no way 

 to tell the different grades of milk. It was known that 

 some cows gave richer milk than others, but the only way 

 to tell the amount of butter-fat in a given sample was to 

 raise the cream and make it into butter. When all the 

 butter was made on the home farms, it was not so necessary 

 to know the quality of milk; but when creameries became 

 common, and milk was sold, it became important to know 

 how much butter-fat each sample contained, so that it could 

 be paid for in proportion to its value. 



Dr. Babcock realized this need, and, after years of effort, 

 invented a test by which any sample of milk may be tested 

 in a very short time and its per cent of butter-fat determined. 

 Thus it is possible for every farmer, who hauls milk to a 

 creamery, to be paid for it in exact proportion to the amount 

 of butter-fat it contains. 



Principle of the Test. — This test is very simple, and 

 makes use of a few facts that everyone knew before the 

 test was invented. It was known that, if milk were set 

 away for several hours, cream would rise to the top. This 

 fact indicated that cream is lighter than the other parts 

 of the milk. Every boy who has ever turned a grindstone 



