232  Milk  and  Butter  Tests  at  the  Gloucester  Show,  1909. 
A cliurn  was  specially  labelled  for  the  milk  of  a particular 
breed  of  cattle.  As  these  milks  were  brought  into  the  dairy 
they  were  poured  into  the  churn,  the  time  occupied  in  filling 
the  churn  being  about  thirty  minutes. 
For  the  special  purpose  of  taking  correct  samples  of  milk, 
a glass  tube  3 ft.  8 in.  long,  | in.  diameter,  with  one  end 
tapered  to  J in.,  and  graded  to  take  up  to  8 oz.  of  milk,  was 
sent  to  me  from  Mr.  Cooper’s  laboratory  at  Watford.  This 
tube  was  let  down  so  slowly  into  the  churn  of  milk  that  the 
milk  inside  the  tube  was  kept  level  with  the  milk  in  the 
churn  until  the  bottom  of  the  churn  was  reached,  when  by 
closing  the  top  of  the  tube  with  the  thumb,  a column  of  milk 
representing  exactly  the  milk  in  the  churn  was  abstracted. 
This  was  emptied  into  a bottle  specially  labelled,  and  put  on 
one  side  for  analysis. 
To  take  samples  of  milk  at  different  depths  in  the  churn 
the  top  of  the  tube  was  closed  with  the  thumb  until  the 
particular  depth  was  reached,  when  by  admitting  the  air  a 
sample  of  the  milk  at  the  depth  selected  was  obtained. 
In  this  way  the  following  three  samples  were  taken  from 
the  milk  (a)  at  the  top  ; (b)  the  middle  ; and  (c)  the  bottom 
of  the  churn. 
Each  sample  was  put  in  a special  bottle  and  labelled.  The 
four  lots  of  milk  were  next  heated  up  to  101'^  F.,  and  were 
tested  for  fat  by  the  Gerber  process. 
The  fat  readings  being  as  follows  : — 
The  whole  of  the  milk  in  the  churn  . 
Milk  from  top  of  churn  . 
Milk  from  the  middle 
Milk  from  the  bottom 
Per  cent. 
3-5  fat 
;-85 
5 
The  average  of  the  last  sample  comes  out  at  3'483,  or 
*017  below  the  sample  of  the  whole  of  the  milk,  showing 
that  the  analyses  were  fairly  correct. 
The  milk  from  which  these  samples  were  taken  was  very 
good  in  quality,  had  it  only  averaged  3 per  cent,  fat  the  sample 
from  the  bottom  of  the  churn  would  probably  have  only 
shown  2'6  or  2'7  per  cent.  fat. 
From  this  experiment  it  will  be  seen  that  a retailer  of  milk 
is  placed  in  a very  difficult  position  when  selling  milk  from 
a churn,  whether  he  draws  the  milk  from  the  bottom  of  the 
churn  by  a tap,  or  ladles  it  out  from  the  top,  as  in  the  one  case 
the  last  customer  will  have  the  best  milk,  and  in  the  other  the 
first  will  get  the  advantage. 
In  both  cases,  however,  some  customers  will  get  milk  of 
poor  quality  if  the  milk  averages  only  3 per  cent.  fat. 
By  dipping  from  the  top  or  using  a plunger  the  milk  can 
undoubtedly  be  mixed  better,  and  the  chances  of  a prosecution 
