142 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



Planner of Selection. 



In small dairies the churn should determine individual 

 merit. Not by one or two trials, but by a series of trials ex- 

 tending through a good portion of the year. Please remem- 

 ber that it is the " 1 asters " in the herd, and not the spas- 

 modic milkers, that must be relied upon for large annual 

 yields. Many cows will do well for the first three or four 

 months, when their flow will diminish, and at the end of 

 eight or nine months they will dry up, even with the best of 

 food and care. Such cows must be dismissed from the herd, 

 however pleasing to the eye in external appearance. 



In large dairies some less laborious means may be adopted, 

 which will give nearly as satisfactory results as the churn 

 test. With a thorough knowledge of the structure and 

 characteristics of milk, and with proper appliances, we may 

 learn to judge of its quality by the phenomena which it pre- 

 sents when submitted to certain conditions. 



My own Method. 



I hold in my hand a very simple device, which I had con- 

 structed in 1867, with three others, of difle rent depths, for 

 the purpose of determining the practicability of the deep 

 setting of milk for cream-raising purposes. 



In one, the milk was set three inches in depth ; in an- 

 other, six inches ; in this, twelve inches ; and in still an- 

 other, eighteen inches. I had, as you sec, a glass placed in 

 the side, Avitli a per cent scale attached, that I might note 

 the changes which took place within. I soon found that 

 I had in this device an excellent means for determining the 

 comparative value of the milk of diflerent cows for butter- 

 making purposes ; and I had two dozen of them constructed 

 for that purpose. This was the origin of testing tubes. I 

 make this assertion, not only from my own personal knowl- 

 edge of the matter, Init also upon the testimony of the late 

 X. A. Willard, who was a standard authority in such matters. 



By the use of this simple device, and the microscope, 

 I learned more of milk and its peculiarities, in a few months, 

 than I could in a life-time of experience and observation, 

 without it. I fixed upon thirteen inches for the depth of my 



