No. 4.] MILK SUPPLY OF CITIES. 77 



cows are under uniform conditions there is practically no 

 change in the character of the milk. And again, "At- 

 tempts to increase the richness of milk by changes in kind 

 or quantity of feed have not as yet been successful." 



The "Hand-book of Experiment Station Work," which 

 gives a summary of experiment station results up to 1893, 

 in discussing the effect of food upon the quality of milk 

 mentions but one experiment out of a large number noted 

 where a direct and important change in the kind of milk 

 appeared to be due to the variations in the food; viz., an 

 experiment at the Iowa station, in which gluten meal was 

 substituted for corn meal. 



Most of the experiment station work relates to feeding 

 up, and has been done in connection with butter-making, 

 in studying how animals can be cared for and fed so as to 

 produce the greatest amount of butter fats, and how their 

 milk can be enriched. The vital question in connection 

 with sale milk is in producing a liberal quantity, which will 

 come up to 13 per cent ; but little has been done in an ex- 

 perimental way in relation to this phase of the question, 

 and little is known as to how far the quality of milk can be 

 depreciated by feeding slops or exceedingly watery food to 

 secure quantity. 



The Wisconsin experiment station in 1890 said that in a 

 majority of cases an increase in the quantity of water drank 

 was followed by a coincident increase in the water in the 

 milk. But the Vermont experiment station claims to have 

 proved emphatically that pasture feeding and watery food 

 do not make watery milk. 



Environment. — The cow is a nervous animal, and the 

 quality of her product is often influenced by her surround- 

 ings. Conditions that bring discomfort, whether heat, 

 drought, cold, harsh treatment, or boisterous, unpleasant 

 noises about the stable, will often cause deterioration in the 

 quality of milk. The effect of climatic conditions is not as 

 well known as it ought to be. The analyses of the Ayles- 

 bury dairy show that a winter of unusual severity and 

 length, long spells of cold and wet, as well as of heat and 

 drought, affect the quality of milk somewhat. 



