New YorK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 183 
(4) Of all practicable methods suggested, the use of milk-fat as 
a basis in paying for milk for cheese-making gives the nearest ap- 
proach to real fairness. | 
(5) All proposed modifications of the milk-fat method have been 
in the interest of the producer of poor milk as against the interest 
of the producer of richer milk. 
(6) One modification of the milk-fat method proposes to add 2 to 
the percentage of fat in milk, aiming to take into consideration 
casein as well as fat. The fairness of such a method is based upon 
two false assumptions. First, it assumes that cheese made from 
poor milk has the same composition and that the constituents yield 
the same value as cheese made from richer milk. Second, it as- 
sumes that all milk, rich and poor alike, contains just 2 per ct. 
of casein, no more and no less. It ignores the general rule that 
casein increases when the fat increases, even though the increase 
may not be proportional to the increase of fat. It provides payment 
for all the casein in poor milk but only for a part of the casein in 
richer milk. The proposal to introduce this modification has caused 
great confusion in the mind of the average dairyman, giving the 
general impression that the Babcock test itself is wrong. The result 
has been in many cases a check to progress and a reversion to the 
old method of paying for milk by weight alone. 
We will conclude this brief discussion by giving the practical 
reasons for substituting the fat basis for the weight basis in paying 
for milk at cheese factories. 
\ 
REASONS FOR DISCARDING THE METHOD BASED ON WEIGHT ALONE OF 
MILK. 
1st. Because tt 1s based upon the false assumption, that all kinds 
of milk have the same cheese-producing value. It fails to recognize 
the fundamental fact that milks differ in regard to the amount of 
cheese they can produce. 
2d. Because the mcthod, being founded upon a false basis, ts un- 
just and 1s, therefore, not business-like. By this system, money 
which belongs solely to the producer of the better milk is taken 
from his pocket and transferred to that of his neighbor, who pro- 
duces poorer milk. 
3d. Because the old system discourages the production of better 
milk and 1s a positive barrier to wnprovement. When milk is paid 
for by weight alone, then more money can be gained by increasing 
the amount of milk produced, without regard to its composition. 
