HOW MILK IS SPOILED. 
T. D. CURTIS. 
By poor condition of the cows; unfit , badly 
balanced, or malodorous foods; unclean 
milking and milking in unclean places; 
cows breathing impure air or drinking 
foul water. 
There are so many ways by which milk 
can be and is spoiled in the production and 
handling that it is almost a marvel that the 
consumer gets any really wholesome milk or 
sound products manufactured from it; while 
much that is consumed is not either fine-flav¬ 
ored and rich in quality, or even wholesome 
and nutritious. 
In the first place, the condition of the cows 
is an important factor affecting the quality of 
the milk. * If they are in good condition and 
thriving, the milk will be of the best quality 
—provided the food is nil right. If they are 
in poor condition and failing, the milk will be 
correspondingly deteriorated and poor; and 
if they are in very poor condition the milk 
will he positively unwholesome, besides being 
deficient in the important elements of nutri¬ 
tion. Too much of this kind of milk is pro¬ 
duced, especially in winter and spring when a 
good share of the cows of the country get run 
down for want of proper food and care, and 
are what has been popularly termed “spring- 
poor.” Such cows do not get in condition to 
produce really first-class milk before the 
droughts of summer strike the pastures and 
they begin to lose flesh, to go again into win¬ 
ter-quarters in a declining condition, on scant 
food, and amid uncomfortable surroundings. 
A large amount of poor milk is the result. But 
cows kept in this condition are far from being 
as profitable as they should lie, if they are not 
kept at a loss, which they surely would be if 
the milk were disposed of at its real, intrinsic 
value. 
Improper food is another source of poor 
milk and small yield. If the food contains an 
excess of some elements aud a deficiency of 
othors, it is fed at a loss of the excessive nu¬ 
tritive elements, wdiile the milk will be defi¬ 
cient, in the elements that are lacking in the 
food—for the milk is made of the food the 
cow eats and the water she drinks, and she has 
no alchemy by which she can, save to a very 
limited extent, supply in her milk the articles 
missing in her food. The food must be prop¬ 
erly balanced—especially the carbonaceous 
anti nitrogenous materials. 
But even when feed is properly balanced as 
regards the chemical elements, if it contains 
any iugredients of rank flavor, they will spoil 
the flavor of the milk. Every one who has 
had experience with leeks, cabbage, turnips 
and other rnalflavored and malodorous foods 
will confess this fact. Even coarse, rank 
grasses, especially those grown on swampy 
soil, seriously affect the flavor of milk, when 
eaten by cows. Sweet, nutritious food is an 
absolute necessity in the production of 
sweet, nutritious milk. .Sloppy food 
makes sloppy milk. All dry food is apt, 
to make rather tasteless, though perhaps rich 
milk, producing cream of Imrd-churiling qual¬ 
ity. Hence the importance in winter of some 
sort of succulent food along with the dry; 
and it may with the same force be said that, 
in summer, a little dry food with so much 
that is juicy is of decided advantage. But, 
although by feeding the relative amount, of 
solids to water, the milk may be increased or 
diminished, the relative proportion of solids 
can bo but very slightly changed; that, is to say, 
there will continue to be the same proportion 
of cheese and the same proportion of butter, 
although both may be increased or dimin¬ 
ished by the kind of food fed to the cows. 
All this pertains to the production of milk. 
There are many things in handling milk 
which may injure or spoil it in a greater or 
less length of time. Unclean milk things will 
introduce the germs of ferment and cause 
milk to prematurely decay. Hence, all milk 
things should be thoroughly washed in tepid 
water, then scalded in boiling water, and 
afterward aired in sweet, pure air, and sunned 
if possible. Milking in a foul stable, where 
theelHuvia from souring and decaying mut¬ 
ter are floatiug in the air, is a source of taiut 
and early decay. The germs fall into the 
milk aud there find a eongeuiul soil in which 
to germinate and flourish, to the injury and 
finally the destruction of the milk. For this 
reason, all stables where milking is done can¬ 
not be kept too clean or too well aired. A 
case is related by Dr. E. L. Bturbevant, of the 
New York Agricultural Experiment Station, 
where the milk of the Jersey cows owned by 
the Station all at once showed the presence of 
ferment germs. Nothing of a fermentive 
character could be discovered but some glu¬ 
cose meal in a far distant part of the barn. 
On the removal of this small amount of fer¬ 
menting meal the trouble ceased. The infer¬ 
ence naturally was that the germs from this 
meal got into the milk by being inhaled by 
the cows and, entering into the general circu¬ 
lation, finally appeared in the milk, or direct¬ 
ly fell into the milk pails. Perhaps they got 
into the milk in both ways. 
The same may be said of barn-yards or any 
other place where cows are milked. No mat¬ 
ter where the milking is done, if these germs 
from decaying and fermenting matter are 
floating in the air, the milk drawn or stand¬ 
ing in that air will contain more, or less of 
them. These will surely propagate their kind 
to the injury of the milk. So the cows breath¬ 
ing these microbes will impart them to the 
milk, as has been repeatedly shown. Profes¬ 
sor L. B. Arnold says that it has beeu shown 
that the air of afoul stable breathed by cows 
for fifteen minutes before milking, will give 
milk that “taste of the barn-yard.” 
Further, it has been demonstrated that when 
cows are compelled to drink from stagnant 
pools containing algSB, the germsof these alga* 
enter into the circulation of the cows aud are 
fouud in the milk. Some years ago, a ease of 
this kind occurred at Cornell University, 
where the spores of the alga? contained in the 
water which the cows drank were found both 
in the blood and the milk of the cows. Their 
presence in the blood caused a feverish condi¬ 
tion of the animals, aud produced an unnatu¬ 
ral appearance of the milk. By inference 
they also rendered the milk unwholesome. It 
is, therefore, self-evidently Important that 
cows should have only pure water to drink 
and pure ait* to breathe. 
The intelligent and progressive dairyman 
will be on his guard at every point to avoid 
the numerous causes of taint in milk; and he 
will not fail to see that his cows have plenty 
of good, sweet food to eat, pure water to drink, 
pure air to breathe, and clean aud sweet sur¬ 
roundings generally. 
SMALL CHEESE FOR FAMILY CON¬ 
SUMPTION. 
HENRY STEWART. • 
Cream cheese; sour skim-milk cheese; im¬ 
itation Neufchdtel cheese; artificially fla¬ 
vored cheeses; blue veined cheeses. 
There are several kinds of cheese that, can 
be made where but two or three cows are 
kept, and several of them are delicacies as 
well as nutritious food. First may he men¬ 
tioned the cream cheese, as rich as butter but 
with a pronounced cheese flavor that makes 
it quite acceptable as a dish for dessert. This 
is made as follows: The milk is set iu shallow 
pans in the usual way, aud at the end of Pd 
hours the pans are set on a stove only moder¬ 
ately hot so that the milk will warm through 
gradually until the film of cream shrinks and 
becomes wrinkled. The milk must not boil,and 
when wanned sufficiently,it is removed from 
the stove and set back on the shel ves. A fter 1 2 
hours it is ready 1.0 be skimmed and the cream 
is taken off in a thick, semi-solid mass. This is 
called Clouted cream and is often eaten by itself 
asa delicacy,which it really is, If it is churned 
it makes a rat her llat-flavorod butter,but it will 
keep sweet a very long time—for months, or 
a year, or more. This thick cream is dipped 
off from the milk and put. iu small wooden 
molds, about five inches long, three wide ami 
two deep. These are laid upon a folded linen 
or cotton cloth which absorbs the whey which 
drains from the cream. The cream soon be¬ 
come? solid and of the consistence of new- 
made butter; then the molds are lifted off 
from the cheeses aud these are left to drain 
for a j^ay longer. A little salt is sprinkled 
upon the cheeses when the molds are re* 
moved, and they are tit for use at any time 
after draining for 34 hours. These cheeses 
sell iu the European and English markets for 
50 cent each and weigh about one pound. 
Another small cheese is made from the curd 
of sour skimmed milk or buttermilk, aud is a 
very pleasant relish for a supper or a lunch. 
The sour milk is set upon the stove ill the pans 
and warmed uutil the curd sets. This is 
dipped out into a thin muslin cloth and hang 
up to drain. Wheu the whey is drained off 
the curd, slightly salted, is molded with the 
hands into small, round cakes flattened some¬ 
what, and these are packed into a stoneware 
jar and sot iu a warm closet for a few days to 
“ripen,” when they acquire u pronounced 
cheese flavor. By longer ripening the curd 
changes to a rather pasty consistency,and the 
cheeses may become sticky and covered with 
blue mold. When this happens, the ripeness 
is complete; the cheeses are scraped l'rcc from 
mold and set away in a cool, airy place for 
consumption. In the ripening process the 
cheese acquires a buttery texture and becomes 
soft. By longer keeping and exposure to a 
warm temperature, a very good “Limberger” 
may bo made in this way. 
An exquisite small cheese may bo made in 
imitation of the Neufch&tel, which is exceed¬ 
ing popular in the large cities, both in Ameri¬ 
ca and Eurcpo.This is made of sweet,fresh milk, 
to which is added the sweet cream of the previ¬ 
ous milking. Thu fresh milk of a good butter- 
yielding Jersey cow would made these cheeses 
without the addition of cream. The mixture 
of milk and cream is warmed to 80 degrees 
aud sufficient reutiet is added and stirred into 
it to make the curd in an hour and a half or 
two hours. The curd is dipped out very care¬ 
fully with a strainer, ns soon as it is firm 
enough not to break, and is put in¬ 
to cylindrical molds about six inches 
in hight aud two or three inches 
in diameter. These molds are made of tin; 
a small fruit or oyster can, having the top 
and bottom melted off on a hot stove, would 
make an excellent mold for this kind of cheese. 
The molds should be pierced with holes to let 
the whey drain off, and are placed on a clean 
folded cloth to be filled. As soon as the cord 
becomes firm enough it is turned out of the 
molds and set on a table covered with a straw 
mat, to permit the stili exuding moisture to 
drain off. These cheeses are eaten fresh when 
10 or 13 hours old, or they are lightly salted, 
wrapped in paraffine paper and kept iu a cool 
place, neither dry nor damp, where they will 
keep a long time in good condition. 
This same process is used for making small, 
fiat, round cheeses and others square or formed 
iu molds of various shapes as tarts are made. 
Cheeses of this kind are often flavored in var¬ 
ious ways by the addition of powdered Sage, 
anise seed, dried sweet herbs powdered, etc., 
and for the production of a very rich cheese 
like the English Stilton, or the French Roque¬ 
fort, some blue mold is sown among the curd 
by adding small fragments of an old cheese. 
It is a curious fact in cheese-making, that the 
growth of these peculiar fungi iu the curd de¬ 
velops a reinakable change of character, pro. 
during a soft, rich, buttery texture, and a very 
pleasing, sharp flavor, without any of the 
strong ammouiaeal odor acquired by some of 
those ripened in a warm temperature and 
without the mold. These blue-veined cheeses 
are highly esteemed and exceedingly popular 
in European countries and especially in Eng¬ 
land, where the very fine Stilton cheese sells 
for 50 cents u pound, and requires one or two 
years to ripen before it is thought lit to he 
eaten. The fungi doubtless grow in the cheese 
at the expense of the nitrogenous portion, and 
thus prevent the formation of ammonia 
which accompanies a certain stage of putrid¬ 
ity, while they keep the cheese sound and de¬ 
velop a more highly carbonaceous character— 
u buttery character iu fact—by the exhaustion 
of some of the nitrogenous elements. Such 
cheese is highly digestible and nutritious, and 
while it is a matter Of tastu, it is certain that 
the mould is not at all injurious, and, to some 
extent may he considered useful. 
DAIRY PRICES IN THE NEW YORK 
MARKET. 
In view of the mauy conflicting statements 
regarding the prices for butter and cheese in 
this market, we have prepared the following 
table, giving quoted prices for these products 
for the past 10 years. The dates taken are 
the first, dnys of Januury, March, June, Au¬ 
gust aud November. The highest und lowest 
quoted prices are given for both butter and 
cheese. The upper figures for each year give 
the prices for butter and the lower figures 
those for cheese. The lowest prices are, of 
course, for poor und often damaged stuff. 
Jim. 
March. 
June. 
AUg. 
Nov. 
1887 
32 -14 
29 -13 
13 -10 
n -ilk 
1886 
38 -11 
34 -10 
18 - 
9 
21 - 9 
28 -10 
io - Mi lou- r.»i 
8 - 
5 
8 - 6 
11-8 
18S5 
HI - 9 
36 10 
19 
«i 
20 - 7 
29 -7 
123K- 3 
12k- 3 
734- 
3 
834- 5 
10k- « 
1HS-1 
88 9hi 
86 10 
20 - 
8 
22k 10 
32 - 9 
n.k- r. 
ilk s 
11 
4 
•At- fk 
12k- 0 
1883 
44 -Ifi 
42 13 
23 
12 
23 11 
29 -13 
1394 - 5 
m- 5 
m- 
5 
10k- 5 
12-K- 8 
1882 
•13 13 
•IK 14 
2S - 
10 
20 15 
33 -15 
13 - r. 
1231 fiiW Ilk 
1 
Ilk 5k 
13)4- 8 
1SS1 
3314-18 
34 -14 
27 
14 
21)5-12 
36 -14 
13)4- 7 
13k 10 
10 - 
4 
11 - 6 
13 - 1 
1880 
37 -11 
37 16 
22 
10 
27 11 
32 -15 
I3'4- 6 
113, 6 
1294 
H 
10k- «k 
13 - 7 
1879 
20 -10 
25 -10 
IK - 
9 
111 - 7 
28 -14 
y - 5 
y.k- s 
8 - 
3k 
« - 4 
18k- 5 
1878 
33 - U 
42 - 7 
22 
<» 
22 f-k 
24 -10 
13-5 
13)6- 7 
8 - 
4 
7K- 4 
9k- 5k 
It will be seen that. 1883 was the best dairy 
year. Prices for butter have steadily declined 
since then. They are lower now than last 
year. This was not expected. It .was thought 
that the warfare against oleomargarine would 
help the dairy business at once. Various 
pluusiblu theories are advanced as to the rea¬ 
sons for this failure to create a boom iu dairy 
goods. One thing is certain, more butter 
than ever is bought direct from the producer. 
The oleomargarine crusade helped the dairy¬ 
man who kept up with the times and made a 
superior article. People who can afford to 
pay a good price for good hutter are moro 
anxious than ever to buy directly from the 
producer. Such butter is not quoted in ordi¬ 
nary market reports. It brings from five to 
10 cents per pound more than common butter. 
The prices for cheese have steadily improved 
for the past few years. With a single excep¬ 
tion (1884) the average is higher than at any 
time for the past 10 years. People are eating 
more cheese than over before. They believe 
it to bo comparatively pure and are not afraid 
of it. The fear of “bogus butter” has cutdown 
the butter hill one-half iu many families. 
NEW TERMS IN DAIRYING. 
It seems to he the purpose of some writers 
on dairy subjects to make out that the whole 
system and method of making butter are 
changed, and that, old thiugs have passed 
away and all things have become new. It 
may be that, the newly risen stars in the dairy 
world cannot go back in memory very far 
and really do not know the history of the art 
for 40 years past, or even 10 or 20. Thus we 
have now a set of new terms which are sup¬ 
posed to represent new things or processes. 
We have a good deal of aeration; Of oxida¬ 
tion; of viscosity; of ripening; of granulated 
butter; of brine washing, brine salting, etc., 
etc., all of which are really old things and ef¬ 
fects under new names, these being more sci¬ 
entific to match the scientific propensities of 
the day. 
It is 30 years ago that 1 saw a lot of firkins 
of butter made not far from Cleveland, Ohio, 
by a dairyman named Wetmore, who may 
now be living and recall the fact. There were 
10 of them, all clcau, new* packages, and the 
butter in them was the best I had ever tasted 
then, and l don’t think I have tasted as good 
since. I believe these were “June butter” as 
it was called or fresh grass butter, aud I 
sampled the firkins iu the following winter. 
There was good butter made in those days 
long before the present scientific fussiness was 
dreamt of. 1 have beeu making blitter for 
more than 35 years, and have sold my product 
up to 75 cents a pound,and my recollection of 
the sweet, aromatic, nutty flavor of that Ohio 
butter has always been present to my mind 
as 1 have sampled my own make to know if it 
came up to that lot. 1 also remember iu my 
college days the “college butter,” as it was 
ealled, which came in long, thin rolls sewn up 
in muslin bags aud packed in barrels of brine 
aud from which the steward cut small—how 
very small aud thin!—slices aud stamped 
them in a lit lie press for each student's ration. 
That was good butter, too. The best of ull was 
French, and made, as I afterwards found, at 
a dairy not fur from Paris, which I after¬ 
wards visited, and saw there the milk set in 
deep [tails and the cream churned in a revolv¬ 
ing barrel churn, while the butter was taken 
out in a granular condition after having been 
washed clear of the buttermilk in the churn. 
Then it w as packed iu barrels for shipment to 
the West Indies and other distant parts of the 
world. The process there followed had been 
the same for many years back, aud the same 
dairy is still at work iu the same way and 
shipping the butter to the same markets as l 
learned recently from a late French dairy 
journal. 
The new-fangled •‘ripening’’ of cream is 
nothing more than the old-fashioned souring 
by exposure to the air, and our grandmothers 
would have told the modern professors that a 
daily stirring, when fresh cream was added, 
was necessary to procure the proper degree of 
sourness, or, us the fashion now is to say, 
ripening; and acidity is caused by oxidation, 
aud this means nothing but the result of ex¬ 
posure to air. 
1 don’t know that anything has been learned 
in dairying recently. We have got rid of 
some erroneous notions which have come of 
being too scientific—that is all. The butter 
globule envelop was really a French idea and 
is not at nil new; but the idea was imported 
hither and too readily takeu up. 1 am per¬ 
fectly ready to acknowledge the priority 
claimed in a late Rural for l)r. T. H. Hoskins, 
evidently a clear, level-headed, judicious and 
most intelligent gentleman, for his objection 
to this French idea of ail inclosing pellicle of 
the fat globule in butter. Any physician who 
had made an emulsion of oil would quickly 
recognize the similarity between it aud cream; 
but 1 lliiuk no one actually experimented upon 
t to prove that milk and cream were emul¬ 
sions of oil iu a viscid liquid aud that the in¬ 
closing “caseous skin” was an illusion, until I 
spent some months iu the investigation. How¬ 
ever, now that “all writers of any reputation,” 
us Mr. Moseley says, agree that this pellicle 
or sac, never existed, anil does not now exist, 
and it is dead und buried, let us all rejoice and 
refrain from quarreling over precedence In 
giving it its quietus. There is more work to 
be done und lots of it; not among the fine but¬ 
ter makers who know all about their business,' 
but among the millions who make butter 
which sells for 10 to 12 cents a pound, and 
which is preferred after oleomargarine (with 
a hard G). Here is missionary work wherej 
scientific terms and fussy explanations of sim¬ 
ple matters are out of place, aud where real, 
