I907.J 



Variations in Milk. 



207 



already referred to, and while much valuable evidence was 

 brought forward, it was also quite evident that there was 

 great need of systematic work on the limits of variation in 

 different parts of the country. 



The investigations which are described in this article were 

 undertaken with the view of obtaining information as to 

 the variation in composition of milk in the East of Scotland, 

 where not only the climatic conditions differ markedly from 

 those obtaining in the West, but where, in addition, a different 

 breed of dairy cattle is employed. It was also hoped that the 

 results of the investigation would serve to stimulate interest 

 in the subject of milk testing on the part of the dairy farmer, 

 and would provide an additional object lesson on the value, 

 from a commercial point of view, of the information to be 

 obtained in this way. 



Through the courtesy of the Farm Committees of the 

 Mid-Lothian and Peebles County Asylum, and the Fife and 

 Kinross County Asylum, respectively, the dairy herds at 

 Rosslynlee, Mid-Lothian, and at Springfield, Cupar, Fife, were 

 placed at my disposal for the purpose. 



A systematic examination of the milk at Rosslynlee was 

 commenced in May, 1905, and is still in progress. At Spring- 

 field the work was carried on from June till October, 1905. 



As the whole of the milk produced both at Rosslynlee and 

 Springfield is consumed in the asylums, the calving of the 

 cows is arranged, as far as practicable, so as to provide as 

 regular a supply of milk as possible all the year round. It was 

 therefore not possible to get a sufficient number of cows calving 

 about the same time to make it worth while trying any extended 

 experiment in feeding, even if this had been desirable. Indeed, 

 bearing in mind the objects of the investigation, it was thought 

 better that the management of the herds should be interfered 

 with as little as possible, in order to get a better idea of the 

 variation in quality and quantity in the milk of herds 

 kept under first-class commercial conditions. It is sufficient 

 to say that the feeding was ample and varied, and that the 

 ordinary practice of the farms in this respect was not departed 

 from. 



The herd at Rosslynlee consisted, on the average, of 22 cows 

 of the ordinary dairy shorthorn type, varying in age between 



