fect health, from high moral considerations, as well as from motives of interest; they may be scattering the seeds of disease by a vitiated product, as well as injuring the financial value of their goods.

Dr. Wescott, of Onondaga county, N. Y., stated that he had made many experiments with milk, chiefly with the view of producing the best quality of butter from it; but as the same general rules would probably hold good in reference to cheese, he proceeded to offer some of the results of his observations He said:

It seems to be a foregone conclusion on the part of dairymen, perhaps universally, that milk, during hot weather at least, should be cooled as soon as possible after being drawn from the cow, from its natural temperature, about 98 degrees, to that of 60 degrees, or not more than 65 degrees, and I will simply state that this conclusion fully accords with that which my own experiments dictated in reference to butter-making. So much for the fact or necessity of thus treating milk before hoping to secure the best results in either butter or cheese-making. But what changes in the milk are thus produced, or why it is thus better fitted to produce a perfect article of cheese, there seems to be some difference of opinion even among those best informed upon the general subject."

On the best means of cooling milk on the farm before it is transported to the factory, Dr. W. said:

Every arrangement for this purpose should have, as cardinal points, cheapness and simplicity, combined with efficiency, going upon the supposition, moreover, that, generally speaking, water will, in the great majority of cases, be employed as the cooling agent, in order to secure the greatest cooling effect of water in the least time and with the least amount. To secure to the fullest extent such a result, the cooling medium must be applied to the upper surface of the milk to be cooled. It is a well-established principle or law of heat, that fluids cannot be heated from the top. Any amount of heat, applied to the top surface of a vessel of water, would not affect its temperature

to any perceptible depth. It is equally true that fluids cannot be cooled by applying the cooling medium wholly to the bottom surface. The cooling medium may be applied, as above indicated, in a very simple and easy way, by passing a stream of cold water through a buoy which rests upon the surface of the milk in the can in which it is to be transported, and which will rise as the milk is from time to time poured into this can. This stream of water need not be constant, but the water from time to time poured in, will serve to effect the object in a sufficiently short space of time.

Any one who has not tried this experiment will be astonished to see how small an amount of water, comparatively, and how short a time, will be required to bring the temperature to the required standard,—say from 98 to 60 degrees of heat. In an experiment which I carefully performed to test this question, I found that a can of milk which was changed from 95 to 60 degrees in 35 minutes, required more than three hours to effect the same change when left to stand in the same room which was kept at the same temperature, about 60 degrees. The amount of water employed could not have exceeded the amount of milk thus cooled. This float should not cover the entire surface of the milk, as free access should be given to the air during the process. I give this as a reason for leaving such space, instead of saying that such space is left for the escape of noxious vapor, which I do not believe to exist in the milk, unless putrefactive fermentation has commenced. If an explanation of this contact of air is demanded, I may be obliged, with only my present knowledge and observation upon this subject, to deal rather in generalities than to give a specific explanation. One thing is well settled, which bears strongly upon this solution. It is well known that, if milk have the air fully exhausted from it, and it is thus kept, treated as in fruit in the process of canning, it will remain unchanged for almost any length of time, in its normal condition. The only reason why milk does not sour in the bag of the cow after it is fully finished and

evolved by the secreting vessels is, that it does not contain air within its structure, and is kept wholly protected from the external atmosphere. I shall attempt no more specific explanation on this occasion, to show the good offices of the air during the process described for cooling milk. After the milk is cooled, it is still to be transported to the cheese factory,-it may be a half-dozen miles. To retain the temperature which we have thus gained, some provision is required. This may be easily accomplished by surrounding the can with a thick covering of cloth, and thoroughly wetting it. This serves a double purpose: it is a non-conductor of heat from without, and by the constant evaporation from the surface, cold is produced. This covering, hence, of itself, becomes an important cooling medium.

The milk cooler exhibited to this association by L. T. Haw ley, of Onondaga, and to which he has recently added and patented important improvements, seems to me to meet fully all of these indications.

Joseph B. Lyman, of New York city, gave an account of various experiments he had aided in conducting, from which the following conclusions were deduced:

1. Two months in the year, on an average, this climate is too hot and sultry for dairy business, unless special pains in cooling the milk are taken.

2. Reducing the milk to between 50 and 60 degrees, as soon as the milk comes from the cows, purges it of the objectionable odor and flavor, and that odor and flavor does not return, although the milk may stand for many hours in a temperature above 80 degrees.

3. The contact with air, obtained by letting a stream of cooled milk fall a few inches from a spigot into a can, is enough.

4. After the milk is thus cooled, the cream rises well, and will, when churned, make excellent butter in dog days.

5. There are many ways in getting the milk in contact with a cold surface. The best milk-cooler need not be costly. Any

farmer with good mechanical gumption, can fix some contrivance by which he can reduce his milk down to 60 degrees, or thereabout, in the hottest weather.

The conclusion to which I am led, is that in our climate, especially as we supply an English market and must suit it in order to get good prices, the dairy farmer should have one of three things in order to make good cheese all summer. 1st, a spring of cold water with some contrivance for cooling milk by contact with a cool surface made so by the water; or 2d, a well-stored ice-house; or 3d, a deep cellar so cool and yet so dry and sweet-smelling that he can keep his milk there at a temperature of about 60 degrees. Moreover, our climate requires cooler cheese rooms than we have. The walls should be of stone and they should be shaded so that the make of July and August may not ripen so fast, and take on that "twang" which many consumers in this country do not object to, but which spoils it for the English mouth.

THE CHEESE MARKET OF 1868.

At the meeting of the Association before mentioned, John M. Webb, of New York, gave an address reviewing the cheese market of 1868, and making various suggestions in regard to the manufacture and curing of cheese in reference to its sale in England at remunerative prices. He had lately returned from that country. After some remarks in reference to the relative positions of the shipper and the manufacturer, Mr. W. said:

The season just closing has been unprecedented in character, and in marked contrast to the ones immediately preceding it. Last year, at this time, we had to report to you a dull and declining market, with full stocks of cheese on both sides of the Atlantic; this year, stocks are everywhere light, and the market wears a firm and healthy aspect. Last year one of your most prominent speakers expressed his fears that you were on the high road to over-production, and consequently ruinously low prices; to-day, in looking back on the closing

season, you must confess that prices have at least been fairly sustained, and you know better than I can tell you whether your cheese-houses are encumbered to any extent with surplus or unsaleable stock. A brief review of the current season will enable us to account for this changed position of affairs. Last season wound up badly, with heavy stocks left over, both of American and English cheese. Holders of the latter, with a keen recollection of their disastrous experience of the previous year, were determined to clear out before the hot weather should set in. Dealers in American had no option but to drop their prices in correspondence to the decline in English cheese, and hence it was that some rather heavy purchases made in New York during the months of February and March resulted in a smart loss to the over-sanguine shippers. The trade in England, occupied in the disposal of these heavy stocks of old cheese, were much less eager than usual for early shipments of the make from this side of the Atlantic. In a certain sense this was well, for your fodder cheese last Spring was not only short in quantity, but for the most part very poor in quality. It was not till we were fairly working on the grass cheese that we had any active English demand. From that time out we had a flowing trade, which continued until the English dealer and English consumer alike began to get a surfeit of that strong-flavored, loosely-made, bad-keeping quality, which was the universal characteristic of your July make of cheese. This inferior quality was doubtless largely owing to the intensely hot weather then prevailing; but whatever the cause, your very serious attention should be directed to the discovery of a remedy, for not one single dairy, as far as my personal experience and pretty full inquiries extended-not one single dairy stood the test of that most trying month. Even those dairies of which I spoke last year-dairies that for a series of years have been always and uniformly excellent-did not hold their own last July, but proved, in the matter of flavor and keepingqualities, to be no better than the great majority of your State factories. Thus, about the beginning of September, the mark