SUPPLEMENT. 719 



nte book as to the legality of certain well-defined weights and measures, nevertheless 

 the old barn gallon of 17 pints is luscd as a measure oi' capacity to the mystification and, 

 not ^infrequently, the loss of the average countryman. SILICA the use of cream .separa- 

 tors has become more general, the use of new milk amongst the working classes has heen 

 gradually falling off. The retail price in London of perfectly sweet and wholesome skim 

 milk is 2jrf. per quart. This cannot fail to prove an inestimable boon to the poorer 

 classes. 



THE ADVANTAGES OF THE CO-OPERATIVE FACTORY SYSTEM. 



The isolated position and the general circumstances and surroundings of the ordinary 

 dairy farmer seldom lead him into the keen commercial current of modern life, hence he 

 comes more frequently into contact with the middle-man than he does with the con- 

 sumer. The co-operative principle is specially applicable to modern dairy management, 

 and on ail estates of any magnitude factories should be erected and fitted up with the 

 necessary plant for cheese and butter making and milk selling, the tenants paying a 

 moderate rent for the buildings and use of the plant. 



On a large scale, it is necessary to have a skillful manager who would act tinder a 

 general committee of the milk contributors. The association would be hampered 

 by no contracts, and be able at all times to dispose of their produce in the best market. 

 The sale of new milk, cheese-making, or butter-making, and the sale of skim milk, would 

 each be resorted to in order to meet the turn of the markets, so that larger profits might 

 be earned. A constant supervision would insure a more uniform and higher quality than 

 is possible where an equal quantity is made up in separate dairies, with all the disadvan- 

 tages of inferior plant. Butter factories are on the increase, and the quality of the produce 

 is uniform and vastly superior to the general run of private dairies. To my mind, the 

 chief objection is, they are not conducted on co-operative principles. The milk is pur- 

 chased at a fixed price, and the farmer has no further interest in the concern. 



My employer, the Earl of Harrington, is willing to erect and equip a cheese and but- 

 ter dairy in the center of a large dairy parish by way of experiment, charging only a 

 nominal rent for the first year or two. There is, however, great diffidence on the part 

 of the tenants to embark in the venture. In order to take fall advantage of every fluctua- 

 tion of the market, one or two condensing pans should be erected in every factory. This 

 insures a complete control over the skim milk, which can either be condensed as plain 

 milk, when it will keep perfectly sweet for six or eight days, and sent to the distant 

 towns and returned to its original state of skim milk by the addition of 85 per cent, ot 

 water. This is a palatable and wholesome addition of the food supply of the working 

 classes. The retail price in London is 2$d. per quart. The skim milk is likewise 

 sweetened by the addition of sugar, condensed and packed in hermetically sealed tins. 

 This will keep for an almost indefinite period. When wanted for use, the tin is opened, 

 and 85 to 87 per cent, of pure water added. The mixture, when well agitated, lias the 

 appearance and taste of sweet skim milk. To my mind, the great practical advantages 

 of the cream separator and condensing pan is that the condensed milk, either plain jor 

 sweet, is in a portable form, easily conveyed long distances at a cheap rate, and will 

 prove an inestimable boon to the farmer by enabling him to rear his stock at a cheap 

 rate, so that rearing may be successfully practiced on farms which, under ordinary cir- 

 cumstances, would be impracticable. A condensing factory has been started in South 

 Derbyshire. At present the produce is principally sent to the London markets, and as 

 its properties become better known the demand will largely increase. 



The yield of butter varies considerably, even from clay to clay, irrespective of food. 

 The quality and temperature of the drinking water has a marked effect on the health 

 and secretions of the cow. The simple cream-test tubes now in every-day use long puzzled 

 observant managers as to the direct cause of the varying quantities of cream. Close ob- 

 servations and experience have strengthened the conviction that temperature is the great 

 disturbing cause. The same quantity of milk which under a mean atmospheric tempera- 

 ture of 60 degrees will produce 4 pounds 5 ounces of butter, at a temperature of 70 the 

 quantity ot butter is reduced to 4 pounds 13 ounces, and at 80 degrees of temperature 

 there is a further falling off in the quantity to 4 pounds 3 ounces; at 50 degrees the butter 

 is increased to 5 pounds 14 ounces. With regard to added water the analysts are fre- 

 quently at fault. As soon as the milk is drawn from the cow, chemical changes begin 

 to take place, by which new combinations are formed. The solids in their original state 

 vary slightly; the chemical forces, which are constantly at work, are continually building 

 up new structures from the ruins of the old. By this we imply that even where the cows 

 are fairly well kept the milk at certain times may fall far short of the cream standard 

 without a particle of water being added. All milk now senfc by rail is passed over a 

 refrigerator and the temperature reduced from 95 degrees (the normal heat when drawn 

 from the cow) to 60 degrees, at which it is usually sent off. This change of temperature 



