SECRETARY'S REPORT. 39 



was substituted for them on one farm, and butter made from 

 the whole milk, under the direction of an experienced Ayrshire 

 dairy-maid ; and after three years' experience it was found that 

 these animals produced more butter from the same land than 

 their predecessors ; but, when an attempt was made to convert 

 their milk into cheese, the weight of the produce ivas lamentably 

 short of that obtained from the Ayrshire.'^ 



We know that certain breeds of cows produce a milk eminently 

 adapted to the manufacture of cheese. The Ayrshire is one of 

 them, the Dutch another, and certain Swiss breeds might be 

 named in this class. Other breeds are as eminently adapted to 

 the butter dairy ; of these, the Jerseys a.nd the Guernseys, and 

 the little Bretons, or the Brittany cows, might be named. Can 

 there be any doubt as to which quality of milk would be 

 best and most economical to consume as milk? If, as I have 

 sufficiently shown, the nutritive elements reside chiefly in the 

 caseine, would not that — independent of the question of quan- 

 tity — would not that which is richest in that constituent, be 

 most desirable ? 



Some people have an idea that the milk of Ayrshires is poor 

 in quality, because they do not get so much cream on top, after 

 setting a certain length of time, as on that of the Jerseys. I do 

 not admit this poverty. I admit that the milk of Jerseys sends 

 up more rich cream, in the same length of time, than that of 

 the Ayrshires ; but that docs not prove that it is intrinsically 

 richer. It proves that the cream rises more readily, and there- 

 fore that we get more of it, in a given time. But it does not 

 prove that the milk of Jerseys is better, more nutritive, or .more 

 wholesome to drink as milk, or to use in cooking, than that of 

 the Ayrshires. Nor does it prove that the milk of the former 

 is, of itself, richer in buttery constituents than that of the 

 latter. 



What, then, constitutes the difference between the two classes 

 of milk, or the milk of the two classes of cows, the cheese and 

 the butter cows, of which the Ayrshires and the Jerseys may be 

 taken as types ? I have stated that the milk of the Ayrshire 

 cow is richer in caseine. This is a glutinous substance. The 

 oily particles in the milk are entangled in this glutinous caseine. 

 Through which substance would these oily particles rise more 

 readily and in largest quantity to the surface, through this 



