204 PERCENTAGE OF CREAM. 



though it varies greatly as it comes from different cows, 

 and even at different times from the same cow. A feed- 

 ing of salt given to the cow will, in a few hours, cause 

 the specific gravity of her milk to vary from one to 

 three per cent. 



Milk will ordinarily produce from ten to fifteen per 

 cent, of its own volume in cream ; or, on an average, not 

 far from twelve and a half per cent. Eight quarts of 

 milk will, therefore, make about one quart of cream. 

 But the milk of cows that are fed so as to produce the 

 richest milk and butter will often very far exceed this, 

 sometimes giving over twenty per cent, of cream, and 

 in very rare instances twenty-five or twenty-six per 

 cent. The product of milk in cream is more regular 

 than the product of cream in butter. A very rich milk 

 is lighter than milk of a poor quality, for the reason 

 that cream is lighter than skim-milk. 



Of the different constituents of milk, caseine is that 

 which most resembles animal matter, and hence the 

 intrinsic value of cheese as a nutritive article of food. 

 Hence, also, the nutritive qualities of skimmed milk, 

 or milk from which the cream only has been removed, 

 while the milk is still sweet. The oily or fatty parts 

 of milk furnish heat to the animal system ; but this is 

 easily supplied by other substances. 



From the peculiar nature of milk, and its extreme 

 sensitiveness to external influences, the importance of 

 the utmost care in its management must be apparent : 

 and this care must begin from the moment when it 

 leaves the udder, especially if it is to be made into 

 butter. In this case it would be better, if it were con- 

 venient, to keep the different kinds of milk of the same 

 milking by itself — that which comes first from the 

 udder, and that which is drawn last ; and if the first third 

 could be set by itself, and the second and the third parts 



