306 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



aid of the Babcock tester, of the quality of the milk he 

 produces, if it is not satisfactory on reacliing the city, he 

 has a clue on which to work in detecting possible dishon- 

 esty of carriers or others. 



The chemist will often be very conservative in stating 

 positively that a sample of low-grade milk owes its poverty 

 to "topping" and watering, because the variation in the 

 proportions of fat and solids not fat is less than when a 

 larger quantity of water has been added to milk. Still, 

 when we find milk with an amount of fat less than might be 

 expected from the solids not fat, particularly if the solids 

 not fat are slightly below the normal, we have grounds for 

 strong suspicions that the milk has l)een tampered with in 

 this way. In the case of sample No. 1, above, in which the 

 fat was 1.66 per cent and the solids not fat 8.66 per cent, 

 while there is a possibility that it might have been as the 

 producer testified under oath, there are also reasonable 

 gromids for strong suspicions that part of the fat had been 

 removed and a small quantity of water added. 



In this brief paper we have not attem})ted to discuss the 

 composition of milk exhaustively, but to present so much of 

 the subject of milk, and of the ways in which milk is adul- 

 terated, as to help farmers who are selling milk to conduct 

 their business more intelligently, by the help of the Bab- 

 cock tester. With this they can always be on the safe side 

 as to the quality of their product. Understanding the sig- 

 nificance of the fat test, they can keep posted as to the 

 quality of the product they are selling. 



