September 1, 1909 
Milk Testing Without 
Apparatus. 
Professor Gustave Michaud, Costa 
‘Rica State College, writes to the 
“* Scientific American” of 24th April, as 
‘follows :— , i 
The following process for the detection 
‘of added water or of skimmed milk in 
ordinary milk is more accurate than the 
simple use of the lactodensimeter without 
the creamometer check. The whole test 
‘can be made in five minutes. The result 
does not show whether the adulteration 
consisted in the addition of water or in 
the subtraction of cream, but, as a rule, 
this matters little to the consumer. What 
he wants to know is whether or nct he 
had what he paid for. 
The suspected milk is stirred with a 
Spoon, in order to disseminate into the 
whole liquid the cream which may come 
‘to the surface, Then, one volume of milk 
is turned into fifty volumes of water (1 
‘fluid ounce of milk to 23 pints of water). 
A candle is lighted ina dark room. The 
experimenter takes an ordinary drinking 
glass with a tolerably flat and even 
bottom, and holds it right ahove the 
‘candle, at a distance of about 1 foot from 
it, so as to be able to see the flame of the 
candle through the bottom of the glass. 
The flame becomes less and less bright, as 
the level of the liquid rises in the glass: 
The flame is soon reduced to a dull white 
Spot. A little more liquid slowly added 
80 as to avoid pouring in an excess, and 
the flume becomes absolutely invisible. 
All that remains to be done is to measure 
the height of the liquid in the glass, this 
being most conveniently ascertained by 
dipping into it a piece of cardboard, and 
then measuring the wet part. It should 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
measure not over 1 inch if the milk is 
pure. With good quality milk, diluted 
and tested as stated, the depth will be 
about in. before the flame is lost to 
view. A mixture of one volume of 
milk and a half a volume of water 
should show a depth of 1} in, A 
depth of 2 in. indicates either 
skimmed milk or a mixture of one 
volume of good milk with one of 
water, and so on. 
The reader hag already understood that 
the process is based upon the close 
relation between the opacity of milk and 
the number of fatty corpuscles contained 
in it. Both skimming and the adding of 
water work in the same direction— 
namely, to decrease the opacity of milk, 
The same cannot be said of the density 
Skimming increases it, adding water 
decreases it ; and the common test, which 
consists in the mere introduction of the 
lactodensimeter into milk, is worthless, as 
skimmed milk may have a normal density 
if care has been taken to pour into it a 
certain amount of water, ‘Density should 
be taken before and after skimming, and 
the percentage of cream should be deter- 
mined with the creamometer. Thus 
applied, the density quest requires a 
lactodensimeter, a thermometer, and a 
creamometer, and the test requires 
twenty-four hours; while the result is not 
much more accurate than the opacity test 
just described, which only takes five 
minutes. 
Here we have a simple means by which 
the housewife can ascertain for herself 
whether she is paying for pure milk, 
skimmed milk, or milk and water. 
Dairy Farming in Denmark. 
On the farm of Denmark the cows are 
tethered in lines on the aftermath of first 
year’s seeds and the whole of the second 
and third years’ grass, but they are 
rarely put on permanent pasture, and 
then only on the aftermath. When 
tethered out thus, they generally wear 
a coat of some coarse material, which 
covers them from behind the shoulders 
to the hips, and hangs more than half- 
way down the flanks, Two hundred 
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31 
SSNS 
cows or more may be seen tethered in 
long lines across the fields. Water is 
carted out to them twice a day, and they 
are milked twice a day in the fields 
where they stand. In the winter they 
are kept entirely in the cow-house, and 
fed on chopped hay and straw, corn in 
the form of meal, bran, and cake. Lin- 
seed cake is not held in much repute by 
the Danish farmers, and those who use it 
at all use it very sparingly, as the ten7 
dency is to produce an oily consistency 
in the butter, which greatly prejudices its 
value in the market. — 
— Queensland ‘Agricultural Journal.’ 
News and Notes. 
Only a little cultivation is needed in 
connection with Australian dairying, but 
that little is of vital importance. 
The cow’s udder is of special impor- 
tance. It should be large and its skin, 
with loose, soft folds extending away 
back, capable of great distension when 
filled. 
The cew’s digestive organs should be 
strong and energetic, to make an 
abuudance of good blood, which, in turn, 
stimulates the action of the nervous 
system, and furnishes the milk glands 
with the means of large production. 
See eee cee cecvencecnce 
The best bacon pigs are those that are 
well fed and rapidly grown, but not fat. 
They have a well-proportioned amount of 
lean and tat meat, possess small bones, 
- and look nice and sleek, and have good 
quality. The best bacon pig is one that 
is nice and smooth. 
You cannot afford to keep a single cow 
that docs not make you a profit. Be 
practical and business-like and apply the 
only sure test, Keep a book in which to 
enter on one side all the milk, cream and 
butter, whether consumed by the family 
or sold, They are worth in your family 
exactly what you would have to pay for 
them if you had no cows. On the other 
side enter the feed consumed, whether 
purchased or raised on your farm. The 
hay or corn fed is worth, on your farm, 
the market price, less cost of delivering to 
market. This test, even if conducted for 
a short time, will show you facts and not 
what you guess about it. 
i a ee Bt ee tg 
Se ae ae 
