756 Summary of Agricultural Experiments, [dec, 



of the Sanitary Inspector, 1907). — This is a report by Mr. David 

 Dunbar, County and District Sanitary Inspector, on the examination of 

 the milk of six cows on a farm near Glasgow. The cows were selected 

 because they were all due to calve about the same date, and the 

 investigation was carried on for a whole year. Samples of both 

 morning and evening milk were taken and tested by the Gerber method 

 daily, so that in all 3,605 samples were dealt with. The investigation 

 did not appear to show any marked seasonal variation in the percentage 

 of butter- fat, nor any relation between the quantity and the quality of 

 the milk of any individual cow. Cows in prime condition did not 

 necessarily produce high quality milk, nor lean cows poor milk. 

 Practically the same variations occurred in the flow of mik when the 

 temperature of the byre and outside atmosphere was high or low. 

 For three or four weeks after the cows were put to grass, there was a 

 marked improvement in the quantity and quality of the milk. The 

 morning milk contained less than 3 per cent, of fat on only 14 occasions 

 during 333 days, while the evening milk was above the standard 

 throughout. Food containing a high percentage of carbohydrates 

 produced a flow of milk, but at the same time reduced the quality. 

 The value of the milk at Sd. per gallon averaged ^27 125. yd. per cow, 

 but if it had been sold according to quality at the rate of Sd. per gallon 

 containing 3 per cent, of fat, the value would have been ^32 is. 4^ 

 per cow. 



Milk Tests and Records. — (Lanes. C.C. Farmers' Bull. No. 14). — 

 The Lancashire Education Committee commenced in 1908 the work 

 of recording the milk yield of 14 herds in the county, containing 300 

 cows. The morning and evening milk of each cow was weighed and 

 tested every three weeks, and the yield was estimated from the weight 

 so obtained. 



Eleven cows gave milk containing on the average less than 

 n'5 per cent, of total solids. A comparison of the value of the milk, 

 judged by its quantity and composition, given by the two best and the 

 two worst cows of various ages, showed very great differences, there 

 being cows in milk that could not possibly be profitable as milk 

 producers. A table showing the cows of all the herds arranged in 

 order of age, with the yield and composition of their milk, bears out 

 the general opinion that young cows give richer milk than older ones, 

 while the great superiority of the older cows as producers of large 

 quantities of milk, which is revealed, is of interest in view of the system 

 often followed of selling out cows at a comparatively early age. 



Milk Records. — (Univ. Coll. of Wales, Aberystwyth, Rept. on Expts., 

 1907-8). — This report contains records of the yield and quality of the 

 milk of four Shorthorn and four Welsh cows at the College Farm 

 during the spring of 1908. 



Composition of Milk. — (Jour. Bath and West and Southern Counties 

 Soc, Vol. Hi., 1908-9). — The object of these investigations, which were 

 carried out by the Somerset C.C, was to discover the com- 

 position of the milk of a herd of ordinary cows kept under 

 the ordinary conditions prevailing in the dairying districts 

 of Somerset. Daily tests were made for various periods four 

 times in the year, and weekly tests were made almost throughout the 

 year. The milk was also weighed daily. The conclusions arrived at 



