56 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[February,, 
this country. Rev. Henry F. Bond, of Northboro’, 
Mass., has the merit of applying the principle of 
centrifugal force to the separation of milk and 
eream as an original inventor. It does not detract 
from this merit, but only from the profits likely to 
be derived from it, that the invention had been an¬ 
ticipated in Europe by a few months, nor that an 
American inventor and maker of centrifegal mar 
chines had patented a process ten years before for 
separating oils and pigments of differing specific 
gravity, which is applicable to this same purpose. 
[Our correspondent has been misinformed as to 
dates. We have a French work, printed in 1872, 
which describes a centrifugal churn, and we give in 
another article, engravings from another French 
work, without date, but which describes the ma¬ 
chine of Maj. Sterjnsvard, of Sweden, to which was 
awarded a prize at the Paris Exposition, 1855 ! Ed.] 
Mr. Bond was kind enough to narrate to me in 
detail the steps by which be arrived at his interest¬ 
ing results, and I think they are worth recording. 
The idea occurred to him, one day, that this force, 
which causes all things, made to revolve rapidly in 
a circle, to tend to fly off away from the center of 
that circle, acting as it does upon all bodies in pro¬ 
portion to their weight, and ineremable indefinitely, 
might be applied to “ raising ” cream. After some 
consideration he called upon a friend and neighbor, 
Mr. G. F. Windsor, the proprietor of a creamery, 
and who had machinery which could be used for a 
test. The first experiment consisted in attaching 
strong wire bails to two glass fruit jars, holding 
two quarts each, and suspending them, nearly filled 
with fresh milk, upon opposite sides of a band 
wheel revolving upon a perpendicular shaft. Mo¬ 
tion, with increasing speed, was gradually given to 
the wheel and the jars as gradually assumed the 
horizontal position. After two hours they were 
examined and the cream found to be entirely sepa¬ 
rated, and in a firm, solid mass, quite free from 
milk, 6o that it could be taken out by the hand as a 
lump. As to time, it was found that the results at 
the end of one hour’s whirling were quite as good, 
and that fifteen minutes even served to effect a 
complete separation. 
Large vessels holding 16 to 18 quarts, made of 
tin, but very much strengthened, were tried, but 
the force was found to be far too great. The 
vessels collapsed, and one flying off, caused the 
other also to be wrecked almost instantly. Fortu¬ 
nately, the gentlemen had taken the precaution to 
L_J 
P 
Fig. 1.— MR. bond’s first experiment. 
go to the floor above to watch and regulate pro¬ 
ceedings. As a direct result of these experi¬ 
ments we have Mr. Bond’s machines. An idea 
may be had of their general form, by placing 
one tea saucer inverted upon another one. They 
were small affairs of copper, which Mr. Bond ex¬ 
hibited, one adapted to taking a charge of, say a 
gallon of milk, and in fifteen minutes completely 
separating the cream, but it was not provided with 
any means for drawing off the cream and the 
6kimmed milk, while in motion. The other was 
arranged either to maintain a constant flow of the 
two separated products while the milk was flowing 
in, or to draw off the milk at intervals, while the 
accumulation of fluid in the revolving vessel caused 
an overflow of cream. 
at first, a little difficult to get the idea of the 
Fig. 2. — two saucers. 
Fig. 3. 
action which takes place in these machines, and 
yet it is just as simple as the raising of cream in a 
pan or other vessel. Take, for instance, the simplest 
form alluded to—a vessel shaped as in fig. 3, filled to 
the line, m, with milk, and made to whirl by a band 
upon the pulley, p. 
The first obvious effect 
will be a depression of 
the milk in ihe center, 
as shown by the dot¬ 
ted ljne; then this 
will increase with the 
speed, until the milk has a position as far from the 
center as it can get, as 6hown by figure 4: m, 
m, being the surface of the milk, now forming 
the walls of a perpendicular (hole) cylinder, the 
shaded part being the milk. It is clear that if the 
heaviest fluid goes farthest from the center, then 
the milk will, after a while, settle at the outside, 
while the inner wall will eonsist of cream. 
The next problem for the inventors was, how to 
secure the products thus separated, as they would 
mingle again, were the motion to cease and gravity 
again act and bring 
them to a level within 
the vessel. This has 
been solved in one way 
by the Swedish inven¬ 
tors, in another by the 
Danish mechanic, who 
has brought out one of 
his machines, in still 
another by Mr. Weston, 
and in two or three 
different ways by Mr. 
Bond. A difficulty 
which has to be en¬ 
countered, and which 
has probably not yet 
been successfully met, is this: that the cream driven 
off at such a high rate of speed as 1,200 or 2,000 revo¬ 
lutions to the minute receives damage, in that the 
butter globules are broken, more or less, so that, as 
Mr. Burnett intimated at the meeting, the cream 
was half churned. It is, however, perfectly good 
for use as cream; but it may be a questiou whether 
the butter made from it will be of such high quality 
as if it were raised in the usual way. This is then 
the problem, in the solution of which the interest 
now centers. Mr. Burnett stated also that a green 
sediment, heavier than the milk, was found to ad¬ 
here to the walls of the Centrifugal, and this, on 
examination, proves to be minute organisms inher¬ 
ent in the milk, and a probable chief cause for 
souring and the setting in of that series of decom¬ 
positions which milk so rapidly undergoes at a 
high temperature. The separation of this mat¬ 
ter is highly important and advantageous. 
Other Dairy Appliances. 
There was a good deal of improved dairy appara¬ 
tus exhibited, including several new arrangements 
for setting milk. Improvements in the “ Cooley ” 
system, the Furguson “ Bureau ” system, Moseley 
<fc Stoddard’s “ Cabinet ” system, etc. The Dairy 
Supply Co. showed their “ Perfect Milk Pail,” the 
Nesbit & Rapp Butter Presses, which were new to 
most of the people, and a number of butter pack¬ 
ages. Several new churns were shown, among 
them, and the newest 
of all, is one made by 
Mr. Bullard, whose os¬ 
cillating churn has been 
highly approved. This 
consists of a tub bal¬ 
anced upon an upright 
rod, and made to swing 
round and round, guided by an iron ring, of a 
little less diameter than the tub. Two breakers 
within the tub cause the cream to dash from side 
to side. It is a novel affair. 
The Butter. 
There were 119 entries of butter placed in compe¬ 
tition for the liberal prizes offered. It was gener¬ 
ally presented in ten-pound boxes. The committee 
seemed to have no difficulty in deciding which 
sample was unequivocally the best, but a good deal 
of trouble in adjusting the awards, depending upon 
Fig. 4. 
the mode of setting, kind of salt used, etc. The 
award of the first prize and sweepstakes, altogether- 
amounting to some $125, or $130 as I am informed, 
developed the fact, that the recipient, Mr. Chas. E. 
Fisk, uses the “ Perfect Milk Pail,” and so far as I 
could learn, he was the only one who uses it of 
the whole 119. If any of the other competitors 
use a pail which excludes the atmosphere of the 
stable, it would be interesting to know it. 
The Addresses and Discussions 
were of a valuable character, developing a good 
deal that was new to me. Prof. Goessmann, of 
Amherst, stated the results of some recent analyses 
and investigations of corn-cobs, showing that they 
have a far greater nutritive value than have usually 
been attributed to them. In Mr. Grinnell’s sketch 
of the agriculture of Franklin Co., he showed that 
the lack of railroad facilities had caused a diminu¬ 
tion of population of from 15 to 50 per cent in 
some towns, while the general population of the 
county had increased largely. The disuse of fences 
seems to be greatly on the increase in Massachu¬ 
setts. Mr. Grinnell pointed out to me the farm, 
where the road forks at the head of Greenfield 
Street, on which he was bom, and still in posses¬ 
sion of the family, and worked by himself, where¬ 
on there were no fences .at all, not even along 
the highways, except surrounding and perhaps di¬ 
viding one large pasture lot at a distance. 
Milk and Cows.—What Chemists Say. 
The last Report of the Secretary of the State 
Board of Agriculture, of Michigan, contains a paper- 
on “ The Analysis of Milk from Different Breeds of 
Cows,” by R. F. Kedzie, Assistant in Chemistry at 
the State Agricultural College, from which we con¬ 
dense some of the most interesting features. To 
test the influence of temperature on the rising of 
cream, three pans of milk in every way alike, were 
kept at the temperature of 32° F. 55° to 60° and 75® 
to 80° respectively, for 24 hours. The cream was 
then removed from each pan, and the amount of fat 
remaining in the milk determined. 
Kept 24 Hours. 
| Fat—Per Cent. 
At 32° 
1.25 
At 55° to 60° 
.59 
At 75° to 80° 
.79 
Fresh milk. 
i 3.26 
Professor Kedzie’s conclusion is, that 50* is the 
best temperature at which milk should be kept. 
With the cooperation of the Professor of Agri¬ 
culture, a series of experiments was carried on to 
determine the influence of food upon the quantity 
and quality of milk. While upon poor food the 
cows received 5 pounds cut cornstalks, 2 pounds 
cut oat straw, and 2 qts. of a mixture of two parts 
Indian corn meal and one part shorts, twice a day. 
During the period of high feeding the same cows, 
grade Ayrshiresaud grade Jerseys, received the cut 
feed as before, to which were added, 40 pounds of 
sliced turnips, and 6 qts. of mixed ground feed per 
day. The amount of milk was much increased, 
while the percentage of milk elements remained 
much the same. “ If a large amount of rich food 
is given, a part of it goes to increase the number of 
quarts of milk, and the rest to the increase of fat 
in the animal.” 
The following table of averages of the different 
breeds, deduced from a large number of milk 
analyses we reproduce in full: 
Name of 
Breed. 
Sugar. 
% 
Casein. 
% 
Fat. 
% 
Water. 
% 
Ash. 
% 
Shorthorn.... 
3.76 
4.41 
5.10 
86.04 
.68 
Ayrshire. 
3.90 
5.08 
3.75 
86.57 
.70 
Jersey . 
3.76 
4.37 
6.87 
81.28 
.71 
Holstein. 
4.35 
4.21 
6.84 
83.97 
.61 
Galloway .... 
3.80 
5.36 
3.40 
87.43 
.67 
Devon. 
4.23 
5.29 
3.96 
&5.71 
.81 
Grade. 
4.29 
4.99 
4.01 
85.92 
.79 
Native. 
4.08 
5.21 
3.36 
86.64 
.71 
From this table we see that the Holsteins stand 
at the head for fat, or butter, and the Jerseys next, 
while for the production of casein—cheese—the 
Ayrshires lead, followed next by the Natives. It 
is to be remembered that this is looking at the sub¬ 
ject from a purely chemical standpoint, and it is for 
the practical dairyman to determine how much it 
