1 May, 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 345 
that if these three cows give so rich a milk, though in his own opinion their 
milk is not much richer than that of many other cows in his herd, he should 
be getting a better test at the factory. He looks up his test and finds it to be 
3°6 for the previous week. He naturally feels dissatisfied, and gets Mr. Potts 
to test all his cows. his is done with the result that there is a discrepancy 
as between Mr. Potts-and the factory. The whole of these results are most 
unsatisfactory from every one’s point of view, and we have been waiting for 
some time to learn the result of the further investigations which Mr. Potts 
undertook to make to solve or explain the great discrepancies involved. So far 
we have been able to gather nothing on the matter. We trust that the delay 
is only due to the exhaustive nature of the investigations, and that before long 
important results may be placed before the public. 
If matters are allowed to stand as at present there is great danger of the 
present system of testing and payment for milk by results falling into 
disrepute.—dustralasian Pastoratists’ Review. 
THE MILK TRADE. 
PAYMENT FOR MILK ACCORDING TO QUALITY. 
Tuts subject is of ever-increasing interest, and, indeed, where farmers supply 
their milk to factories, be they co-operative or otherwise, it is essential to all 
concerned that such a system be adopted. 
In the first instance, it has the advantage of fairness, inasmuch as those 
who go to the trouble of greater care and attention in the feeding and 
management of the herd are paid for their trouble on account of the better- 
quality milk sent by them to the factory, which, as we have said, pay for 
quality, not quantity, so that the injudicious feeding of roots and watery foods 
to produce a large quantity of milk is of little avail, but rather to the detri- 
ment of the producer. 
| Secondly, for the factory to be worked on a sound basis it is essential for 
the manager to be shrewd and observing to make the necessary profit for its 
working, and to do this money must not be thrown away in paying all the 
suppliers an equal sum per gallon for their milk, which in some instances 
might be from Jersey cows (notably rich) and in others from Ayrshires, which 
latter milk, although so valuable to the cheese-maker, takes a large number of 
pounds to produce 1 1b. of butter as compared with Jerseys. 
All factories, therefore, co-operative or other, require some definite 
system of paying for the milk supplied. Sooner or later, no doubt, all will 
come to this system of payment for quality, and the sooner it be the better, as 
nowadays the margin for profit is pretty narrow, and is not to be squandered 
with nonsensical ideas that anpthing new is not good, and_ that what has done 
before will do now; we must keep up-to-date, however hard it may at first 
appear. A. goodly number of factories existent at the present time have 
adopted this system with the greatest success, and no doubt wonder how on 
earth they could have got on as they did under the old system of management. 
THE DIFFERENT SYSTEMS. 
; Our readers may be interested to know the older systems, which were, and 
_are in a few cases used at the present, in valuing milk for butter-making. An 
American plan was to pour the milk received into a plan of regulation pattern 
and pay according to the inches of cream risen in a given time. Now, as will 
easily be seen, this system is, at its best, most unsatisfactory, due to the con- 
ditions which affect it; for instance, the volume of cream varies with the 
temperature and time taken in rising, and, again, the cream is no indication of 
the butter fat contained, as will be known to readers who have followed these 
notes and read remarks regarding the creamometer. : 
