1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



65 



have failed to adduce reasons satisfactory to 

 tlie convention for the difference in the price 

 paid by the consumer and that received by the 

 producer, in many cases. 



After Mr. Brown had taken his seat, his 

 statements were reviewed at length by Mr. 

 Ramsdell, of Milford, N. H., and by W. S. 

 Pillsbury, of Londonderry, N. H., who thought 

 that he and the farmers of Concord must be 

 exceptions to the general rule. 



In reply to a direct question put to one of 

 the milk producers, whose name we did not 

 learn, the statement was made that nine quarts 

 per day for nine months of the year, — which 

 was his usual time for milking cows, — was a 

 fair average production of milk. 



The Executive Committee were directed to 

 have the constitution printed and forwarded 

 to the members of the Association, and to 

 milk producers who are not members, with a 

 request that they circulate it among those in- 

 terested, for their signatures. 



The committee were also directed to assign 

 topics for report and discussion at the annual 

 meetings of the Association. This we hope 

 will be done immediately. Talk is plenty 

 wherever men congregate in this country, 

 but facts and practical plans are sometimes 

 scarce. There are many questions connected 

 with the milk business which should be delib- 

 erately investigated. Topics calculated to 

 bring out important facts should be assigned a 

 year in advance, to afford time for thought, in- 

 quiry, and arrangement. Studied reports on 

 the cost of producing, of transporting, and of 

 peddling milk ; on the relative value of milk 

 for cheese and butter, manufactured at home 

 or in the factory, and many other subjects, 

 such as breeds of cows, variety of feed, &c., 

 would give great interest to the annual meet- 

 ings. 



That the Association embraces men capable 

 of doing justice to any of these topics must 

 have been evident to all who attended the late 

 meeting. We have great faith in the efficacy 

 of facts, and in the "sober, second thought of 

 the people," to correct the evils and injustice 

 which individuals and classes occasionally suffer 

 from wrong laws or practices. Within the 

 past twenty-five years there has been a pretty 

 thorough revolution in the modes of market- 

 ing our farm products, and it is not at all sur- 

 prising that some of the details of our present 



system should need a little adjusting, or be 

 susceptible of some improvement. And we 

 are quite hopeful that this Association will 

 be able to effect the needed adjustments and 

 improvements in the important business of 

 furnishing city and village families with a pure 

 article of milk at reasonable prices. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 CHEMICAL TERMS— No. VII. 



Fermentation. — Certain chemical combina- 

 tions take place in animals and vegetables 

 during life, by^ which are formed animal 

 and vegetable tissues, — albumen, mucus, fat, 

 starch, gum, sugar, &c. These are called 

 proximate elements, and sometimes organic 

 products. They readily undergo decomposi- 

 tion. They are made up from various com- 

 binations of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and 

 nitrogen. These are called ultimate elements, 

 and are the principal constituents of all living 

 organisms. To them are added in minute 

 quantity, a few other substances, as sulphur, 

 phosphorus, potassium, iron, silex, &c. 



As soon as life ceases in organic bodies, 

 nature commences a process of decomposition, 

 the object of which Is to resolve these proxi- 

 mate elements into the ultimate elements of 

 which they are constituted. In all the changes 

 that take place, the form only of the organic 

 body disappears. The elements which com- 

 pose them are unchangeable. We no longer 

 see them, because they are converted into in- 

 visible gases. This process of decomposition 

 is called fermentation, putrefaction, decay. 

 It is really but one simple, continuous process, 

 for If, under certain conditions, gluten, starch, 

 and sugar are left to act mutually upon each 

 other, they will be entirely changed, so that 

 their ultimate elements will be set at liberty 

 to enter into new combinations. Various 

 changes occur during this process of decom- 

 position, which we may modify or arrest for our 

 convenience or use, — thus subjecting the forces 

 of nature to our service. In examining the 

 process as it goes on, we may divide it into 

 several stages. These stages are marked by 

 the presence of certain new products, or chem- 

 ical combinations, which were not before ap- 

 parent, or at least not in the same forms which 

 they now present. Thus starch is changed 

 Into gum or dextrine. Gum is changed into 

 sugar ; sugar Into alcohol ; alcohol Into acetic 

 acid, &c. Chemists are in the habit of calling 

 these several changes so many kinds of fier- 

 mentation, as though they were distinct and 

 separate processes. Thus they speak of sac- 

 charine or sugar-forming fermentation, vinous 

 or alcoholic fermentation, and acetous and pu- 

 trefactive fermentations. 



Some have gone so far as to point out 

 twelve distinct fermentations, each marked by 

 some distinct product, — but I shall speak only 



