524 
result from improper feeding with sucii herbs as lupines, wormwood, 
etc., or with raw Swedish turnips, cabbages, etc. Bitter milk may 
also be observed during the late stage of lactation and has followed 
the infection of teat ducts with bacteria which act on the proteids as 
an enzyme, converting them into peptones and other products to 
which the bitter taste is probably due. 
COLORED MILK. 
Bed milk may be produced by the effects of bacteria, but is usually 
the result of mixture of blood with the milk, due to an abrasion 
of the udder or teats or to some other traumatism of the udder. It 
may also be due to the cow eating material containing a large amount 
of silica, as sedges, rushes, etc., or to plants containing red pigment, 
as madder root. Other plants which are said to impart color to 
milk are alkanet, field horsetail, meadow saffron, and knot grass. 
Bacillus cyanogenes^ the cause of blue milk, at times gets into the 
udder through the milk ducts and leads to a bluish discoloration of 
the secretion. 
TASTE AXD ODOR. i 
The fiavor of milk is very readily affected by the character of the 
feed, as, for instance, by turnips, garlic, wild onions, moldy hay and 
grain, damaged ensilage, and distillery grain. The latter is said to 
cause hyperacidity of the urine and consequent eczema. With proper 
precautions, however, these substances can be fed to dairy cattle with- 
out producing ill effects in the milk. The deleterious substances ex- 
creted with the milk are usually volatile oils contained in the food. 
They are found in the milk as well as in the body, generally in the i 
largest quantity during the digestion of the food containing them, ' 
being eliminated rapidly through the various excretory channels. 
Thus, if these substances are fed eight or ten hours before milking, 
or if cattle in the spring are removed from the pastures containing i 
garlic this length of time before milking, there will be little or no 
danger of contaminating the milk. Overkept, fermented, and soured 
feeds tend to produce acidity and other changes in the milk. Swill, 
spoiled gluten meal, and ensilage put up too green are all more or i 
less injurious to milk. Distillery swill, in addition to the bad flavor 
which it gives the milk, may cause the secretion of small quantities 
of alcohol in the fluid. That such alcoholic milk is deleterious to 
children as well as to the calves and lambs fed on it is a well-known i 
and accepted fact. 
Milk is also modified very sensibly by the use of certain medicines, 
and the list of drugs which are excreted in the milk and give it an 
abnormal odor or flavor or render it deleterious to the consumer is 
