248 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pul). Doc. 



from a can which had been standing four hours, milk from 

 the top tested 5.40 per cent of fat and from the bottom 4.80. 

 The bottom of a can from which the top had been poured as 

 needed for domestic use tested only 1.60 per cent of fat. 

 Several specimens of strippings tested from 8.20 to 14 per 

 cent ; and samples from the first of several milkings went as 

 low as 1.20 per cent of fat. 



Sixty -four per cent of the samples of individual milk stood 

 between 3.40 and 5 per cent of fat, and 85 per cent of the 

 samples were unquestionably above the standard of 13 per 

 cent of total solids. 



In the case of herd milk the extremes of 2.80 and 5.80 

 lead us to point to them as object lessons of the tendency of 

 breeding for a definite purpose, to wit, in the one case 

 quantity and in the other quality. One represents the ten- 

 dency in producing sale milk for a city market, and the other 

 the result of producing milk for a butter or cream trade. 

 With such contradictory motives influencing the producer, 

 the importance of some standard for the protection of the 

 consumer is evident. 



The specimens of cream tested showed an amount of butter 

 fat ranging from 10. GO per cent to 42 per cent. With the 

 increasing demand for cream by the city trade, it is apparent 

 from the above range that the door is open for much dis- 

 honesty. A legal standard — as in the case of milk — may 

 become necessary. But much better would be the introduc- 

 tion of the system of selling on quality, the producer or 

 dealer guaranteeing on the label of the bottle or can a certain 

 per cent of richness. The extreme figures given above are 

 outside the ordinary limits ; the majority of the samples 

 tested between 15 and 20 per cent. Minnesota has a law 

 l)rohibiting the sale of any cream having less than 20 per 

 cent of fat. 



Samples of buttermilk tested ranged from 2.80 per cent of 

 fat to a mere trace, hardly measurable by the Babcock tester. 

 Over two-thirds of the samples had .20 per cent or under. 



Samples of skim-milk ranged from 2.60 per cent of fat to an 

 immeasurable trace. Over half were .10 per cent or below. 



In the above cases of skim-milk and buttermilk where too 

 great an amount of fat was going to waste, the educational 

 work of the Bureau was of sood service. 



