826 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December 12 
WHAT IS GOOD MILK? 
HOW 18 IT MADE? 
A Little of Its Chemistry . 
Part I. 
Milk, as perhaps every one knows, 
is the nutritive fluid secreted by the 
females of all mammals for the nourish¬ 
ment of their young. The class mam¬ 
malia, or mammals, broadly constitute 
all milk-giving animals, and range from 
the whale to the smallest bat or mouse. 
In this country in any economic or com¬ 
mercial sense, we think only of the milk 
of the cow ; but in parts of Europe, the 
milk of the sheep and goat is quite 
largely used, while in Asia, the ass and 
camel must sometimes contribute to the 
support of the family. 
Milk is secreted in special, large glands 
situated along the front or ventral sur¬ 
face of the body, and known as mam¬ 
mary glands. Their external form and 
structure vary widely with different 
species of animals. The udder of the 
cow is a large, membranous sack, of 
pinkish, glandular appearance when cut 
open. It contains the special secretory 
apparatus, and is m ore abundantly sup¬ 
plied with blood vessels and nerves. It 
is quite distinctly divided by a firm 
septum into right and left halves, and is 
less markedly divided by a transverse 
partition into forward and hinder parts, 
thus making four “quarters.” The four 
teats that spring from these are fur¬ 
nished at the upper part with a “sphin¬ 
cter” muscle, that is, a circular muscle 
to open or close orifices — acting as 
does the shirr string of a purse. 
This sphincter opening communicates 
with a small milk cistern or reser¬ 
voir situated just above and having 
a usual capacity of perhaps one-half 
pint. From this, several large tubes 
proceed, which rapidly ramify or divide, 
these again sub-divide until they become 
very small and end in little three or five- 
lobed sacks—the “ultimate follicles”. 
The structure of the tubes of the udder 
may be compared to that of a much- 
branched tree, if each twig bore at the 
end a cluster of hollow bulbs. All 
these tubes and follicles are lined with 
a secreting membrane and intimately 
supplied with blood vessels, and it is 
here that the formation of milk takes 
place. From the small capacity of milk 
cisterns and ducts, it seems pretty cer¬ 
tain that the milk is, to some extent, 
made while the actual process of milk¬ 
ing is going on. At least, we know that 
there is no large “bag” of milk like a 
bladder. The large size of a distended 
udder must be, in great measure, due to 
the congested state of its tissue. 
The secretion of milk is not perfectly 
understood. The serum, by some won¬ 
derful alchemy, is taken from the blood 
and filtered through the lining mem¬ 
brane. The fat, not being in a state of 
solution, cannot come this way. It 
seems to be gotten into the milk by the 
formation of a fat globule within a cell 
of the lining of the follicles, and the 
breaking down or absorption of this 
cell, thus setting free the. fat globule 
within the udder membranes. This 
formation of fat is the part which is 
more especially supposed to take place 
while the milking is going on, and to be 
dependent, to some extent, upon the 
mental state of the cow. The sphincter 
muscle at the upper part of the teat is, 
to some extent, under the control of the 
cow, and notably so in some individuals. 
This explains why some cows refuse to 
“ give down ” their milk when excited 
or annoyed. 
In general, milk is a white, opaque 
liquid, composed of water, fat, nitrogen¬ 
ous substance, milk sugar, and ash. The 
weight of cows’ milk is generally about 
one-thirtieth more than an equal amount 
of water. Skim-milk is somewhat heavier 
than this, while cream containing more 
than 30 per cent of fat, is lighter than 
water. 
The sugar, nitrogenous matter and 
ash are dissolved in the water to form 
the “serum,” while the fat is in the form 
of exceedingly minute drops or glob¬ 
ules floating in the serum. Fat or oil 
in this minute state of sub-division in 
another liquid, is known as an “emul¬ 
sion ”. These drops of fat are always 
almost inconceivably small, but they 
vary greatly in size, being found to differ 
from one another in the same sample of 
milk and in the general average size in 
milk obtained from different breeds, or 
from different individuals of the same 
breed. When a thin film of milk is ex¬ 
amined under a powerful microscope, 
they appear like small shot of various 
sizes, crowded thickly together moving 
slowly across the field. It would take, 
perhaps, 10,000 of them laid side by side 
to make a line an inch long. As the 
most important constituent of milk, they 
attract the most attention, but we see 
what a very illusive thing a fat globule 
is. It is an interesting and suggestive 
fact, that, while the fat forms from one- 
quarter to one-third of the total solids 
of milk, it constitutes, at least, nine- 
tenths of its commercial value ; but it is 
estimated at only about two-fifths of its 
value for food. The same is true here 
that is true so often in agriculture, that 
the market or commercial value of a 
product may bear very little relation to 
its economic value. 
The fat of milk is very much like all 
vegetable and animal oils, except that 
butter fat contains several other fats in 
small quantities, and it is these special 
fats that give butter its characteristic 
flavor. Butter fat is composed of about 
93 per cent of the “ fixed ” fats, which 
are palmatine, stearine and oleine, and 
about eight per cent of the so-called 
“ volatile fats”, of which butyric is the 
most important one. Stearine and pal¬ 
matine are solid at ordinary tempera¬ 
tures, while oleine is a thin oil. The 
varying proportion of these three prob¬ 
ably cause the different solidity of dif¬ 
ferent samples of butter. While it is to 
the volatile fats that butter owes its 
desirable odor and taste, it is these same 
fats, when partially decomposed, that 
give it the characteristic flavor of rancid 
butter. JARED VAN WAGENEN JR. 
there is danger of a recurrence of the 
event. Should the heifer (or rather, the 
cow—the former rarely abort in this 
section), show signs of being a good 
milker and be a valuable animal, it may 
pay to try to save her ; but a full mess 
cannot be expected. Such animals are 
inclined to become fat, and care must 
be taken in the feeding. Succulent food 
and a careful working of the udder will 
aid in producing a flow of milk which 
will be limited according to the length 
of time which should have elapsed be¬ 
fore a normal birth occurred. I have 
never had but two cases and those were 
before I had learned to care for a cow as 
she should be ; therefore, my experience 
is limited. I should feed ensilage, buck¬ 
wheat middlings, wheat bran, apples 
and potatoes. The animal would have 
to be extra good to pay for the trouble. 
New York. c. e chapman. 
HEIFER LOSES HER FIRST CALF. 
WHAT IS TO BE DONE FOR HER? 
Which is the better treatment of cows that lose 
their first calves about the time they begin 
to spring bag—to let them go dry or to try to 
bring them to milk ? Have you ever been suc¬ 
cessful in bringing such cows to a full mess ? If 
so, how did you do it ? 
I am unable to answer this question 
as, during the last 19 years, although 
we have averaged 30 cows, we have not 
had to exceed a half dozen cases of 
abortion, and none of these was a heifer 
with first calf. Our few cases have not 
turned out well, and unless the animal 
be a valuable one, I would dry off and 
fatten her. It is a sober fact that one 
might as well knock an ordinary cow in 
the head as to keep her a year if she 
gives only one-half her normal product. 
New York, jared van wagenen jr. 
My experience has been that it is bet¬ 
ter to let a heifer that loses her first 
calf at the fifth or sixth month of gesta¬ 
tion, go dry, for the following reasons : 
First, the heifer will grow more rapidly 
and do much better with the next calf 
if not called upon for milk at this 
period; second, the milk will not be 
enough in quantity to pay for the extra 
food required to get it, or for the hin¬ 
drance to development that will occur if 
the heifer be milked. h. hayward. 
Pennsylvania Experiment Station. 
The profit on dairy cows is small at 
the best. If they go dry, the most 
profitable course is to fatten at once and 
purchase others. It will take several 
years to make enough profit to pay for 
the cost of keeping the heifer until the 
time for dropping the next calf, and 
“Bbown’s Bronchial Troches ’’ are of great 
service in subduing Hoarseness and Cougbs. 
Sold only in boxes. Avoid'Imitations.— Adv. 
“ The Weaker Parent.” —Alexander 
Graham Bell, the inventor of the tele¬ 
phone, and one of the cleverest scientists 
in this country, told me several years 
ago, that he believed sex to be deter¬ 
mined by the weaker parent in the 
human family ; that a robust man mar¬ 
ried to a delicate woman would generally 
result in female children and vice versa. 
Since that time, I have observed the 
accuracy of his opinion as demonstrated 
by the children of my acquaintances, 
and I have often predicted the sex of 
the coming babies with success, when 
there was a marked difference in the 
physical condition of their parents. The 
cause is apparent. Nature strikes a 
balance, as in the case of the rams of 
your New Hampshire correspondent. 
The parent ram was weak and died, but 
he left nine rams to take his place. 
s. p. o. 
Maple Sap 
Evaporators 
We have had 20 years exped¬ 
ience in the manufacture of Maple 
(Sap Evaporators. Thousands 
(have been sold. Our illustrated 
(Catalogue of sugar makers' sup¬ 
plies sent FRUli on application. 
Granite State 
FARM BOILER & COOKER 
SAVES MONEY, FEED AND FUEL, 
"Cooking food for stock” 
is the title of of an interesting and 
practical book on the food ques¬ 
tion for farm stock. Send for it. ( 
Granite State Evaporator Co.\ 
221 Main Street, Marlow, N. H. 
“ECONOMY” FEED COOKER. 
40 gallons.$10.00 
60 gallons. 12 00 
70 gallons.13.50 
Smooth. Cast-Iron Kettle; Strong, 
Cold-rolled Steel Furnace. We 
guarantee these Boilers to be 
equal to any on the market for 
double the price we ask. 
Send for Circular. 
ECONOMY MFG. COMPANY, 
HOMER. MICH. 
ROSS HROS., Worcester, Mass., Agents for the 
New England States. 
THOMPSON’S BANNER 
0(Hand & ,— 
KUUT Power.), 
CUTTER 
Outs all kinds of roots & 
1 vegetables for STOCK 
FEEDINC. The only 
i machine made with self 
feeder. Warranted to do 
Perfect work. Feed 
t left in shape to prevent all dan- 
’ ger of clicking. Used every- 
I where. Catalog FREE. Address 
< O. E. THOMPSON & 50NS, 
S 17 River Street, YPSILANTI- MICH. 
vw 
THE 
PUBLIC 
DEMAND FOR A MACHINE 
that would not only cut en¬ 
silage, hay, straw and dry 
■^fodder, but which would 
1 shred dry fodder perfectly, 
led us to supply the want 
with the 
OHIO] 
j Standard Dry Fodder Shredder which is 
I the latest, and we believe the best of its kind, j' 
| You will see by the cut itisthe same machine^ 
I with a shredder cylinder; it>s interchangeable} 
with the knife cylinder. Two machines in one 
I * Will tell all about it in our circulars _ 
and catalogue, mailed FREE. 
The Silver Mfg. Co. 
SALEM, OHIO. 
The “ 
SMALLEY 
99 
Outfit 
at Work. 
Our "family” comprises for'96, Ensilage and Fod¬ 
der Clutters, Corn Shredders, Feed Alills, 
Ear Corn Grinders, Root Cutters and Pow¬ 
ers lor operating. Our pamphlets should be 
read by every "up-to-date” stock-raiser and dairyman 
in U. S. No. 1. "The Model Round Silo and howto 
build it;” latest reports from practical stock-feeders 
on the silo. No. 2 tells about “Corn-Hay,” the new 
fodder product—its market and feeding value and 
how to make it. Free with catalogues if you 
name this paper. 
SMALLEY MFC. CO.. Manitowoc, WIs. 
SAVE THE TOLL 
by grinding your owu grain. 
All GBOUND GRAIN IS DIGESTED. 
No hogs need 
follow where the 
O L. 
tA to 
S cientific 
_used. The four sizes, for 
steam, grind all kinds of 
grnin shucked orunshucked 
Also horse power grinders. 
Catalog FREE. THE F00S MFG. CO., SPRINGFIELD. 0. 
ECONOMY 
of Ground Feed” Is a valuable work . 
on that subject by the eminent Dr.’ 
Manley Miles, which is sent’ 
to inquirers by the maker of \ 
KELLY DUPLEX! 
GRINDING MILL.: 
The mill thatgrinds all kinds of single or mixed! 
grains intoaconrse, medium or fine grist as desired. < 
Grinds cottonseed.com and cob, shucks on or offq 
_ fast, durable, economical, requires but litt le power.. 
C No experience required to operate. Write to-day. 
THE 0. S. KELLY i 
V-<WN 
HARRISON’S BURR-STONE 
GRINDING MILLS. 
On the market 50 years. They were grant* 
' the highest possible award atthcWorlds 
Columbian Exposition in 1893, for 
Extreme Simplicity, Ac¬ 
ceptable Work and Low 
Price. Reduced prices for 
season. Send 2c. stamp for 
our 48p. Illustrated Catalogue. 
LEONARD I>. HARRISON, 
•£> ioii llallock Ave., New llaven. Conn. 
GRINDING MILLS 
Before purchasing a mill for grind¬ 
ing FKEI) or MEAL, or anything 
that can oe ground on a mill, write 
us for catalogue and discounts. 
Address 
SPROUT, WALDRON 
& CO.. 
Muncy, Pa.. Manuf’rs 
of French Burr Mills, 
Crushers, and full line 
Flour Mill Machinery. 
No.3 “PRIZE” FEED MILL 
OVER 30,000 IN USE. 
All Iron and Steel. Automatic 
Shake Feed. Perfect Ad* 
justable Feed Slide. 
Grinds as fine or coarse ns 
desired. Will run by any 
power,one to five horse,sweep, 
tread, steam or wind. Will 
not choke down the smallest: 
power. Sold at a low price to - 
advertise the fact that we are the largest manufac¬ 
turers in the world of labor saving farm machinery. 
Send for special offer on this mill and large illus¬ 
trated catalogue of “Hero” and “American” Grin ding 
Mills, 26 sizes and styles. Feed Cutters, Peek’s 
Corn Threshers, Tread Powers, Sweep Power*, 
Goodhue Galvanized Steel and Wood WlndMIIlsfor 
power and pumping, Wood Saws, Corn Shelters, etc. < 
APPLETON M FG. CO., 21 Fareo St., BA 1 AV 1 A, 11 . 18 . 
EB.(?, R1NBSR S. 
GRIND 
CORN 
Ear or Shell 
Oats, Wheat, Eye 
and Barley Fine 
Enough tor any 
Purpose. 
Made only by 
Stevens Manu¬ 
facturing Co,, 
Joliet, Ills. 
FRENCH BUHR MILLS 
28 sizes and styles. Every mill warranted. 
For All Kinds of Grinding 
A boy can operate and keep In' 
order. “Book on Mills” 
and sample meal FREE. 
All kind* mill machinery. Flour 
mill, built, roller or buhr system. 
Reduced Prices for’96. 
N0RDYKE & NIARM0N CO., _ 
270 Day Street, Indianapolis, Ind. 
SMOKE YOUR MEAT WITH 
KRAMERS LIQUID EXTRACT of SMOKt 
.Circu lar,E.KKAU5ERABR0.M1IIQN.PA 
