JAMAICA. 



BULLETIN 



OF THK 



BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT. 







Vol, VI. 



New Series,] 



APRIL, 1899. 



Part IV 



BACTERIA IN THE DAIRY. 



Minor industries in their total volume are of immense importance 

 to the welfare and happiness of every country. 



During the year 1897-98 the Collector General reports that of Butter 

 and its substitutes there were 884,624 lbs. imported into Jamaica valued 

 .at £26,325 ; of Condensed Milk 39,006 cases valued at £28,662 ; of 

 Cheese 253,58 L lbs. valued at £6,340 ; that is, the value of imported 

 Dairy products amounted to £61,327. 



In the days when cattle were bred principally as draught animals 

 for sugar estates, it did not pay the pen-keeper to attend to Dairy work, 

 but times have changed, and the Dairy business is assuming impor- 

 tance. These who take it up, will only be able to compete with the 

 imported articles by keeping themselves abreast with the scientific ad- 

 vances of the day. 



Attention has already been called in the Bulletin to the importance 

 of bacteria in the dairy, and the following pages taken from the Annual 

 Reports of the Agricultural Experiment Station, Storrs, Connecticut 

 for 1894, 1895, deal with the commercial importance of a particular 

 bacterium, which is now distributed from the station to dairies, and has 

 the effect of imparting a delicious aroma 9<±d flavour to butter, besides 

 preventing the growth of hurtful bacteria, and improving its keeping 

 qualities. 



1. By Prof. A water. 



Bacteria in Milk. 



Bacteria or microbes, as they are often called, abound in air, water* 

 and soil, in animal and vegetable substances, and in living plants and 

 animals. They are extremely minute and multiply with wonderful 

 rapidity wherever the circumstances are favourable. Cold hinders their 

 development. When heated long enough at the temperature of boiling 



