CHAP. i. MILK REGISTERS. 245 



ever rich the food may be, whereas the effect of a plentiful supply 

 of good food on a cow naturally inclined to milk is, as a rule, very 

 considerable. 



The need of greater exactitude in the dairy has led to the introduc- 

 tion, within recent years, of the Milk Register. By a milk register is 

 simply meant a record of the quantity of milk yielded by a cow. In 

 other words, it is a quantitative estimation of the milk the cow gives. 

 It affords no information as to the quality of the milk, or as to 

 its butter-yielding or cheese-yielding capacity. Nevertheless, by its 

 means, the milk-producing capacity of a cow can be ascertained exactly, 

 and her character in this respect can be expressed by means of 

 figures about which there can be, or should be, no equivocation. A 

 greater or less degree of exactness can be secured, according to the 

 greater or less frequency with which the register is taken. A register 

 based upon observations made only once or twice a week would be less 

 instructive, and, in a sense, less valuable than a register based upon 

 observations made once or twice a day, though it is by no means 

 implied that even a weekly register would not prove extremely useful. 



In the taking of the register two methods suggest themselves, and the 

 question arises, which is the better, that by volume or that by weight ? 

 Against the volumetric estimation in, say, gallons, quarts, or pints, there 

 are several objections, amongst which are the trouble of pouring the 

 milk into the measures and the difficulty of allowing for the froth. 

 Chemists, who have brought the art of estimating quantities to great 

 perfection, invariably employ gravimetric methods, even their so- 

 called volumetric processes being based ultimately 011 proportions by 

 weight. Hence, it seems desirable to estimate the quantity of milk 

 by weight rather than by measure. Moreover, the transition from 

 weight in pounds to the equivalent measure in gallons is easily effected 

 in the case of milk. Thus, the specific gravity of milk being 1*03, it 

 follows that 103 Ib. of milk will occupy the same space as 100 Ib. 

 of water, but for practical purposes these numbers may be taken as 

 identical. Then, since one gallon of water weighs 10 Ib., no appreciable 

 error is involved in considering that one gallon of milk also weighs 10 Ib. 

 Consequently, if the quantity of milk given by a cow at one milking be 

 expressed in Ib., it is only necessary tq place the decimal point on the 

 left of the unit figure to get the equivalent in gallons. Thus 24 Ib. of 

 milk represent 2'4 gallons, 15 Ib. of milk represent 1*5 or 1| gallons, 

 and so on. 



The practice of taking the milk register, as followed in a dairy well 

 known to us, may be described. The cows are always milked in the 

 stalls, and during summer they are brought in twice a day for this 

 purpose. After each cow is milked, the pail containing the whole of 

 her milk is hung on a spring balance suspended in a convenient 

 position, and from the gross weight indicated there is deducted the 

 already known weight of the pail. The difference, which represents the 

 weight of milk, is recorded in a book suitably ruled. This book when 

 open presents a view of one week's records. In the left hand column 

 are the names of the cows ; on the right of this are fourteen columns, 



