106 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



them the same care. Isn't there a little hitch somewhere in 

 the Babcock test ? 



Professor Dean. You have mixed two things; you have 

 mixed the test of the cow and the test of the cream. Cows 

 vary in their milk. I may test a cow this morning and find 

 her milk tests 4 per cent fat. I may test it to-night and find 

 it 3.6 or 4.5. Why it is so I could not tell you; it is a fact. 

 And it is not the fault of the Babcock tester ; it is the fault of 

 the cow. If you will weigh the milk you will find that cows 

 very seldom give the same amount of milk ; they vary in the 

 weight and in the tests, but why they should do so I do not 

 know, no more than I know why the color of my hair is what 

 it is. 



About this other question, the test of the creameries, there 

 is where the man comes in. It is not so much the cow as the 

 man. Suppose you have a separator, and you try to turn it 

 just as evenly as possible. Every time you try the separator 

 there will be a variation. Why ? It depends upon the amount 

 of fat in the milk, upon the weight of the milk in the supply 

 can, upon the variation of the speed ; and that affects the per- 

 centage of fat in the cream. It depends upon whether the 

 cream outlets are open or clogged. The Babcock test will tell 

 you the percentage of fat there is in that milk or cream, but 

 the cow causes the variation, and the man doing the separating 

 will cause a variation. Therefore you will never have the 

 same percentage of fat in the milk from day to day or month 

 to month. 



Question. Professor Dean says they have many cow- 

 testing associations in Canada. Will he tell us how they are 

 started, how they are operated ; what the expense is, etc. 



Professor Dean. We have cow-testing associations in sev- 

 eral provinces in Canada which are under the supervision of 

 the government, — a very paternal government. It is doing 

 things for our farmers which, in some cases, it would be just 

 as well the farmers did themselves, because they have to pay 

 in the long run. The association may consist of three men, 

 or as many as fifty or sixty men living in a locality. The 

 farmer supplies a pair of spring balances, with a dial scale; 



