348 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER, BOOK n. 



Jersey and Guernsey grades is B milk ; the product of herds of native 

 or mixed blood is D milk. The A milk must yield not less than 

 14"50 per cent, of total solids, B milk must give not less than 13*50, 

 arid D milk not less than 12'50 per cent, of solids. Mr. Abbott pays 

 cent above the market price of D milk for B milk, and 1 cents more 

 for A milk. The A and B grades are sold at a corresponding advance 

 in price. Sales of the D grade are confined to wholesale transactions. 

 In supplying milk to retail customers two or three grades in price are 

 as many as can be managed, and the dealer cannot well make more 

 grades in buying than in selling. Mr. Abbott takes milk from 

 upwards of fifty persons, and makes four or five analyses of the milk 

 of each dairy per month. Shippers are urged so to mix their entire 

 milkings that the contents of all their cans will be alike ; they use 

 mainly the 40-quart cans, and, as a rule, samples are taken from not 

 more than one can of a shipment. One competent person is constantly 

 engaged in making analyses not a general chemist, but one specially 

 trained for this work at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. The 

 highest total solids ever recorded from the milk of a herd for a single 

 day was 17*12 per cent, from registered Jerseys, and the lowest 11'32 

 per cent, from common cows. From herds of common or mixed breeds 

 the following yearly averages of total solids were obtained in 1886 

 12-60, 12-66, 13-19, and 13'25 per cent. Mr. Abbott believes this 

 system stimulates the production of better milk, and he would not 

 know how to manage his business without grading ; he adds that 

 amongst dealers the disposition is increasing to test and grade milk 

 and make a distinction in price according to merit. 



The only wa} T s of enlarging the margin of profit to producers of any 

 commodity are to lessen the cost of production and to increase the sell- 

 ing price; to the producer the former is more likely than the latter to 

 be available. The most direct method of reducing the cost of making 

 milk is improvement in the quality of daily cattle, and what many dis- 

 tricts need to produce is not more milk but better milk. In view of 

 the incontrovertible evidence of the influence of breed, much more than 

 feed, upon the quality of milk, producers are exhorted to aim at supply- 

 ing the top of the market. " Make the market, if need be. Grade 

 your milk. Separate your milk, and encourage the trade in cream." 



The making of cheese and butter ranks next in the scale of profit, 

 provided a good article of either is produced. A well-fed cow, of a 

 good breed, will produce, on an average, 200 to 300 Ib. of butter in the 

 season ; and this, where there is an immediate market for it, together 

 with the value of the skim-milk, either for feeding pigs or raising calves, 

 will pay better than cheese alone. The common calculation is 150 Ib. ; 

 but that has regard to mixed stock, which affords no certain data. 



Mr. Aiton's calculation is, 250 Ib. per annum, or 1 Ib. of butter from 

 every 10 quarts of milk ; but that is for the best milkers of a very 

 superior stock. Although it may be difficult to reach that quantity 

 in any other than a very select dairy, there can be little doubt that, 

 with proper attention to breed and feeding, the Epping average may 

 be maintained. 



