June 1895.] 



GENERAL AGRICULTURAL NOTES. 



55 



Composition of Genuine Milk. 



The Twenty- third Annual Report of the Local Government 

 Board contains a reference to the results of a systematic investi- 

 gation, which was mentioned in a former Report, into the 

 composition of genuine milk, made under the direction of 

 Professor Bell, formerly Principal of the Laboratory of the 

 Commissioners of Inland Revenue. The milk of 240 cows was 

 examined, and it was found that the " total solids in the 

 milk of individual cows ranged from 10*3 to 17'J' per cent. 

 Under ]3r. Bell's superintendence another systematic investiga- 

 tion has since been made. In this later inquiry, the milk of 273 

 individual cows and the mixed milk of 55 dairies was examined, 

 Dr. Bell states that, in each case, the cows were thoroughly 

 milked in the presence of one of the assistant analysts of the 

 Government liaboratory, and the genuineness of each sample 

 can be substantiated. The samples, which embrace the milk of 

 country farms as well as of town dairies, were collected over a 

 wide area; and the breed of the cows, as well as the kind of 

 food on which they were being fed, was duly noted. 



The results showed that while there had been a sensible 

 improvement in the quality of milk since the previous investi- 

 gation 10 years ago, as regards the proportion of fat, the non- 

 fatty solids were in substantial agreement with the results 

 obtained from the samples previously anatysed. It is pointed 

 out that 17 per cent, of the samples from individual cows fell 

 below 8*5 per cent, in non-fatty solids, though in very few cases 

 did the per-centage fall jnuch below this figure, and that the 

 proportion under 8'8 per cent, amounted to over one-third of 

 the total number, while in the case of the mixed milk of dairies 

 more than one half of the samples fell below 9 0 per cent. 



The average composition of the milk of the 273 cows was as 

 follows :— Total solids, 12-90; solids not fat, 8-91; fat, 3-99. 

 The average composition of the mixed dairy milk was:-- Total 

 solids, 12-96 ; solids not fat, 8-96 ; fat, 4-00. ' The total solids in 

 the milk of individual cows was, however, found to range from 

 10 33 to 15-83 per cent., and it is observed, therefore, that if 

 between these limits a high standard were fixed, the result 

 would be to condemn much genuine milk, while, if a low stan^ 

 dard were adopted, pure milk would be watered down to it. 



Mr. Carter Bell, the public analyst for Cheshire, in referring 

 to the undesirability of fixing a very low standard for milk, 

 states that he has visited many farms in Cheshire and Lanca- 

 shire, and has had hundreds of cows milked in his presence, and 

 has rarely found an abnormal sample of milk. He is of the 

 opinion that the farmers of Cheshire may feel perfectly safe 

 that no prosecution could ever take place in the county for 

 naturally poor milk, as it has been his custom for nearly 20 

 years to follow up poor cases of milk to their source, and only 

 in one instance does he remember a case which did not come up 

 to a very low standard. In this particular instance, the inspector 



