16 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



taken up and carried into the general circulation as fast as it 

 is secreted. 



But the absorbents which line the milk-ducts do not take 

 up all parts of the milk equally. The fatty portions disap- 

 pear the most rapidly ; the sugar and albuminoids go after- 

 wards, and lastly the mineral matter. 



From the rapid absorption of the butter globules, the 

 ofteuer a cow is milked the richer in fat will her milk be, if 

 all other circumstances are equal. 



The chano-es which occur in milk while in the udder are as 



o 



great as those which occur after it is drawn, but they are of a 

 different character. Souring and putrefaction do not take 

 place as readily in the udder as out of it, but the absorption 

 of cream is steady and large. I know it is said that milking 

 at long intervals makes the yield less, but the milk richer. 

 Prof. Johnston, of England, says this, and that milking once 

 a day makes the milk richer by one-seventh than milking 

 twice a day. But trials of milk thus drawn have proved the 

 statement incorrect, and the contrary true. In trials of milk- 

 ing once in twelve hours, once in six, and once in three hours, 

 each shortening of the time increased the per cent, of cream. 

 When the comparison was made between twelve hours and 

 three hours, the latter time gave forty per cent, the most 

 cream, and it had the highest color and the highest flavor, 

 showing that the longer the milk stayed in the bag, the less 

 butter it will make and the poorer the quality. 



The absorption of the cream accounts for the difference in 

 quality between the first and last part of the milking. I 

 know that in making this statement I am running counter to 

 the generally received opinion that the last part of a milking 

 is the richest in cream, because the cream rises to the top of the 

 udder, and, therefore, comes out last. But this opinion, how- 

 ever common, cannot be true. There is no chance for, nor evi- 

 dence of, motion backwards or towards the ramifications of 

 the milk-tubes. The tubes, it is true, have a continuous con- 

 nection, from one end to the other, with an opening at the 

 bottom of the teat. But there are contractions in these tubes 

 which serve as valves, and which prevent a continuous flow 

 in either direction. Beginning at the bottom of the tube, or 

 lower end of the teat, its open mouth is stopped, and the 



