122 FOft MILK, BUTTER, AND CHEESE. 



cream in milk. On the other hand, the proportion of 

 caseine or cheesy matter in milk is increased by the use 

 of highly nitrogenized food. Those, therefore, who 

 desire much cream, or who produce milk for the manu- 

 facture of butter, select food likely to increase the pro- 

 portion of butter in the milk. On the contrary, where 

 the principal object is the production of milk rich in 

 curd, — that is, where cheese is the object of the farmer, 

 — clover, peas, and bean-meal, and other plants which 

 abound in legumine, — a nitrogenized organic com- 

 pound, almost identical in properties and composition 

 with caseine, or the substance which forms the curd of 

 milk, — will be selected." And so the quality, as well as 

 the quantity, of butter in the milk, depends on the kind 

 of food consumed, and on the general health of the 

 animal. Cows fed on turnips in the stall always pro- 

 duce butter inferior to that of cows living upon the 

 fresh and aromatic grasses of the pastures. 



Succulent food in which water abounds — the green 

 grass of irrigated meadows, green clover, brewers' 

 refuse, distillers' refuse, etc. — increases the quantity, 

 rather than the quality, of the milk ; and by feeding 

 these substances the milk-dairyman studies his own 

 interest, and makes thin milk, without diluting it with 

 water, though, in the opinion of some, this may be no 

 more legitimate than watering the milk. 



But, though the yield of milk may be increased by 

 succulent or watery food, it should be given so as not 

 to interfere with the health of the cow. 



Food rich in starch, gum, or sugar, which are the 

 respiratory elements, an excess of which goes to the 

 production of fatty matters, increases the butter in milk. 

 Quietness promotes the secretion of fat in animals and 

 increases the butter. Cheese will be increased by food 

 rich in albumen, such as the leguminous plants. 



