MILK, 



MILK. 



Caseous matter, containing some butter - - 2-600 



Sugar of milk .-.---- 3-500 



Alcoholic extract, lactic acid, and lactates - 0'600 

 Salts ; muriate ami phosphate of potash, and 



isplmteoflime 0-420 



rater 92'875 



phns 

 Water 



Cream consists of Butter separated by churn- 

 ing 



Caseous matter precipitated by the coagulation 



of thu milk of the butler - 

 Buttermilk * 



4-5 



35 

 920 



100-0 



When milk contained in wire-corked bottles 

 is heated to the boiling point in a water-bath, 

 the oxygen of the included small portion of air 

 under the cork seems to be carbonated, and the 

 milk will afterwards keep fresh, it is said, for 

 a year or two ; as green gooseberries and peas 

 do by the same treatment. 



The number of cows kept in London and its 

 environs for the supply of milk is estimated 

 by Mr. Macculloch to amount to 9000, and their 

 annual produce of milk to be equal to 78,800,000 

 .quarts. For this purpose the Yorkshire cow 

 is preferred to all others. The daily average 

 of milk yielded by one of this breed is es- 

 timated, according to Mr. Youatt, at 22 or 24 

 quarts. 



The quantity and quality of the milk pro- 

 duced by a cow is materially influenced by 

 the food and distance from calving. Some 

 interesting experiments to determine this were 

 made by MM. Boussingault and Le Bel. They 

 observe, "In the observations, of which the 

 following table presents the abstract, it will 

 be seen that the quantity of milk given by 

 the cows progressively diminished. This di- 

 minution cannot be attributed to the regimen 

 to which the cows were subjected, since, in 



again putting them on the food on which they 

 had previously fed, the same quantity of milk 

 was not obtained as at first ; the diminution 

 continued. The distance from the period at 

 which the cow has calved seems to be the 

 principal cause of the decrease of the milk. 

 This cause is so strongly marked, that it may 

 even prevent the influence that the nature ofthe 



food exercises over it from being seen 



Indeed, this result permits us to state, that the 

 nature of the food consumed does not exert so 

 very sensible an influence on the quantity and 

 chemical composition of milk (we do not say 

 on its quality), if the cows receive equal nu- 

 trition from the different kinds of food. It is 

 very evident, that if the weight of the feeds 

 were not calculated according to that of the 

 equivalents, great variations would be observed 

 in the products of milk ; but then those varia- 

 tions would be principally caused by the aug- 

 mentation or diminution of the nutritive matter. 

 We know, for example, that cows which, dur- 

 ing winter, are reduced to simple feeding on 

 chopped straw, cease almost entirely to pro- 

 duce milk, and with difficulty recover their 

 ordinary rate of production ; in cognisance of 

 such a fact, we are led to ascribe the return 

 and abundance of milk exclusively to the pro- 

 perties of the green food in spring, whilst that 

 effect is in a great part produced by a real in- 

 crease in the feeds. 



" In establishments where a regular rotation 

 is followed, healthy and abundant nourishment 

 to cattle in winter is in a manner assured, the 

 difference, if any exist, betwixt the feeding in 

 winter and summer, being in all cases much 

 less considerable. These are the results of 

 experiments made during a year on eight cows 

 constantly fed together on a great variety of 

 food." 



There is a paper on the adulteration of milk, 

 by M. Barruel (Quar. Jour, ofdgr. vol. ii. p. 304). 

 in which he states that the substances used 

 to adulterate milk in London and Paris are 

 usually flour, sugar-candy, potash, and some- 

 times iodine, to give it its bluish colour. 



In Stephens's "Book of the Farm t n we find the 

 following interesting details, relative to the sub- 

 ject of milk, milch-cows, and their treatment 

 in Scotland, and more especially in the city of 

 Edinburgh. 



Cows are kept on every species of farm, 



815 



