I am certain from convictions gained from my own experiments that the Jersey milk should be skimmed certainly not later than when the milk commences to thicken or "lopper" at the bottom of the pan, while the other milks under consideration should pass considerably beyond this period, and develop somewhat more acidity, before the cream is removed. AYRSHIRE MILK. The Ayrshire cow having been bred for both butter and cheese product, shows corresponding changes in her milk. We can consider this breed, for convenience, as divided into three groups, the members belonging to the one group producing a milk better fitted for butter making; to the second, for cheese making; and to the third, for the production of either butter or cheese, or both. The milk of the Ayrshire cow, irrespective of the group to which I have assigned her, is noteworthy for the presence of granules in large number. The butter group of our division furnishes a milk but scarcely inferior in size of globule to that of the Jersey cow, but the sizes appear far less uniform. The cream does not separate so completely from the skim-milk, nor with the rapidity noticed in the Jersey milk. The skim-milk is more bluish in color than it is in the milk from the cow belonging to the other groups. The churning of this milk will occupy a somewhat longer time than will the corresponding milk of the Jersey cow, and produces a butter of a somewhat different texture. The characteristic of the milk of the cheese group is a small globule and innumerable granules. The cream does not therefore rise either with rapidity or completeness, and the skim-milk shows little, if any, blueness. Oftentimes a rich milk will show but a small per centage of cream. This milk, although it occupies a long time in churning, furnishes a sweet butter. with a fine “grain." A considerable portion of the fat is, however, retained in the skim-milk, as is indicated by the color; it is eminently fitted for the use of the milk retailer. The milk of the third grouping possesses characters in common with the other groups, but varying in their type, more or less toward the extremes already considered. It has globules of a good size, and also the innumerable granules. It is accordingly neither so good for butter as the milk first considered, nor for cheese, as the typal milk of the cheese group, but for the use of the ordinary dairy farmer is unexcelled, as it allows of either butter or cheese being made with a fair degree of economy, and is also well fitted by its structure for sale or transit. As but few breeders have turned their skill towards breeding for either butter or cheese specifically, and as the selection of the breeding animal has, perhaps, often been unconsciously performed rather than predetermined, it is not surprising that the majority of the milks examined belong to this last group. Perhaps it may seem hypercritical to divide the Ayrshire milk as I have, but it is certainly philosophical and the results of my experiments bear out, and indeed suggested, this classification. Although the border lines may be ill defined, the typal forms exist. The Ayrshire milk, in general, possesses an investment to its globule which seems to be tougher than the globule covering of the Jersey milk. It requires a longer time to be acted on by the acidity or other changes developed in milk upon standing. It is well, therefore, in practice, to allow this milk to pass somewhat beyond the "commencing to lopper" change before skimming, and the cream, theoretically, would produce a greater butter result if kept for a longer period still, in the cream jar. The granule present in such large quantity in the skim milk, gives in practice, a distribution of the fat throughout the milk, a circumstance which is very favorable to the manufacturer of cheese. The cream from this milk mixes again with the milk with a certain facility upon agitation. This circumstance, which is an important one for the cheese maker, is noteworthy in my experience from its almost non-existence in the Jersey milk, and the great readiness with which it took place in the milk from the Dutch cow. DUTCH MILK. In the samples of Dutch milk that I have examined the globules have been found quite small, of a certain uniformity, and comparatively few of the size which I designate granules. The properties given to this milk by its globule, and which has been verified by a few experiments, is a slow churning, and a fine "grain" to the butter. The absence of granules, or rather their non-occurrence in an appreciable number, gives a blue appearance to the skim-milk. The property this milk possesses of having the cream and skimmilk readily miscrable by agitation may offset in some degree the absence of the granules, so far as cheese-making is concerned. BUTTER. Butter made from different cows of the same breed, on similar feed and giving the same quantity of milk-made at the same time and in the same way-does not necessarily present the same color, as is shown by the following experiment made with three Jersey cows: * It is, then, not correct to claim depth of coloring as characteristic of the butter of any one breed. I have seen Ayrshire butter of a deeper color than Jersey butter, and vice versa. I am inclined to think, however, that there is a difference in the shades of color in the butter from the different breeds. The Jersey butter is usually, perhaps always, colored by an orange pigment, which is seemingly characteristic. Owing to this orange tinge to the fats, and the character of the substance investing the globule, the Jersey cream oftentimes appears high colored, especially after standing. This peculiarity of color to the cream is not confined to the Jersey breed, but seems more usually present or more prominent in this breed than in the others. The color of the Ayrshire butter is yellow, oftentimes a deep yellow, but appears to lack the particular orange * I am indebted to the kindly co-operation and personal assistance of Mr. E. P. Bowditch, of Framingham, for this experiment, made with cows selected from his valuable imported and thoroughbred herd. shade already described. The few samples of the Dutch butter I have examined were of a light yellow color, without trace of orange. The grain of the butter apparently depends on the state of mixture of the fats in the globule, the waxiness from the greater or less proportion of the solid fats. So far as I have examined, the grain seems to vary according to the sizes of the globule. In the Jersey butter the grain is well defined, in the Dutch butter, very fine, in the Ayrshire butter intermediate. When equal quantities of Jersey and Ayrshire butters were washed in boiling water, and the foreign matter which was removed was allowed to settle, it was found that this nitrogenous matter was not only more abundant in the Jersey butter than in the Ayrshire, but showed a slightly different character, perhaps defined by calling it more flocculent. Theoretically, we should, therefore, anticipate the difference in the keeping qualities of these butters, which we have found in our experiments. Some parts of Guernsey, Jersey, Ayrshire, and Dutch butters were placed in a warm cupboard, near a steam heater. The Guernsey pat moulded in spots in about a month; in seven weeks the seven Jersey pats were all raucid, one sample having lost its color in spots, the white spots resembling tallow in appearance; no butter flavor. The two Ayrshire pats had lost flavor, and were poor, but not rancid (one sample in the same cupboard, but on another shelf, retained its butter flavor and taste for three and a half months, from October fifteenth to January thirtieth, and, although not strictly firstclass at the last, yet was of fair quality. The Dutch pat not only retained its color and sweetness, but also its flavor, and this notwithstanding it was unsalted. Perhaps this "keeping power" is the direction of the usefulness of this breed. Holland has for centuries been famous for its shipping butter, and it is possible this keeping quality may be as much in the nature or endowment of the milk as in the care exercised in manufacture. My experiments with the milk of this cow have, however, been too few in number to allow of my dwelling more particularly upon my results. CHEESE. Prima facie, the milk most economical for the cheese manufacturer to use is the one which will allow the globules of fat to remain in the cheese, giving to it richness and flavor. That the distribution of the globules in the cheese is an important feature can be inferred from the remarks of Dr. Voelcker, who not only writes that the price of cheese is usually influenced by the quantity of butter contained therein, but also continues on another page: "The rich appearance of old cheese, however, is by no means attributable entirely to a very large proportion of butter, nor is the poor condition of new or badly made cheese referable solely to a deficiency of butter. One of the chief tests of the skill of the dairymaid is the production of a rich tasting and looking, fineflavored, mellow cheese from milk not particularly rich in cream. That this can be done is abundantly proved by the practice of good makers." To the influence of the milk must also be attributed, in part, the discrepancies in the opinions of skilled manufacturers. Some advocate the removal of a portion of cream from the cheese vat, for the purpose of butter making, and deny much injurious i fluence thereby on the cheese, whilst others deprecate this course. Its practice is, however, far more common in the late than in the early season, and it will also be remembered that this paper shows a decreased size of the globules as cows are distant from their calving. Mr. Gardner B. Weeks reports sales from his creamery of skim milk cheese in quantity, at a price within a cent and a half a pound of the highest quotations for whole milk cheese. All writers unite in testifying to a loss of butter in the whey, and many processes have been invented for its extraction. These discussions, although of much value, have heretofore left the differences in the milk out of consideration. Quality of milk does something for the maker; skill also does something; both combined bring great success. The mixed milk of numerous cows does not always indicate to chemical appliances, the actual or potential value to the dairyman, for he deals not alone with composition, but with structure also in the processes of either butter or cheese making. During the ripening of cheese, a portion of the casein or curd suffers a decomposition, and is partially changed into ammonia; the latter, however, does not escape, but being an alkali combines with fatty acids produced in course of time from the butter. The peculiar mellow appearance of good cheese. though due, to some extent, to the butter which it contains, depends, in a higher degree, upon a gradual transformation which the casein or curd undergoes in ripening. Such being the process, it is clear that an even distribution of the fatty matter (the globule containing the olein, margarin, etc., each compounds of their own fatty acid) through the curd is desirable, in order that each particle of ammonia and acid as set free, may, at the moment, be in contact. Consequently, that milk which is the richest in butter by analysis, and yet which throws up the least cream upon standing, and whose cream, when once risen, will readily remingle with the milk upon agitation, most nearly fulfills the desired condition. So much confidence do I feel in the correctness of these conclusions which are derived from the study of the milk globule, that I am willing to affirm that the same care used in making cheese from milk of each breed, will produce a different quality in the result, although the milk may contain equivalent amounts of fat by analysis. Even that the cream of a few hours may be skimmed from these milks, and the cheese made from the remainder will produce such variable grades in ripening that some may be sold as skim-milk and others as full-milk cheese. The Jersey milk, according to these views, is unfitted for the cheese maker, and the farmer who keeps Jersey cows to supply milk for cheese factory use, is, paradoxical as as it may seem, producing results most beneficial to neither himself nor the manufacturer. The Ayrshire milk is remarkably fitted for the uses of the factory, as not only does it contain the chemical elements of cheese, but the fat contained in that form which is the most useful, and the forms not carried to such extreme as to unfit the milk for changes in the manufacturing system. With Ayrshire milk I cannot doubt but that reasonable skimming, or that skimming which would ordinarily take place in manufacture, could take place without necessarily deteriorating, to any great extent, the quality of the cheese produced. Whatever loss there might be would be so trifling as to be readily compensated for by the skill of the manufacturer, for only that cream, in practice, would be removed which usually escapes in the whey as waste. The Dutch milk would appear by its structure to be hardly equal to the Ayrshire milk for cheese purposes, but it is possible that the ready miscibility of the cream with the milk, after the rising, might offset the deficiency of the granule. CONCLUSION. I have now presented the subject of milk in a few of its aspects. The subject is one of such immensity, as, indeed, are all subjects when critically examined, that it seems impossible that the labors of one person can cover the whole ground. In my consider. tion of this subject, I have been compelled to use authorities somewhat, but so far as I could, I have depended on original observation. In the appendix is given a list of all the works that I am aware of having consulted. I think my experiments are suggestive and embrace important truths; and I trust that other observers, reviewing the whole ground, will either disprove or place upon a firmer foundation my conclusions. Infallibility can not be claimed for any observer, but I have endeavored to approach this subject without bias; and with a sincere desire for truth, to report my observation without reference to preconceived theories, and to draw my deductions therefrom without being influenced by either partiality or prejudice toward any one breed or its advocates. WAUSHAKUM FARM, SOUTH Framingham, MASS., Nov. 20, 1873. Milk portion rewritten May 1, 1874. LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED. Beale. The Microscope in Medicine, 2d ed. Lond., 1858. Bird, Golding. Cooper, on the Anatomy of the Breast. 4to. Lond., 1840. Principles of Comp. Phys. 8vo. Phila., 1854. Cooper. Anatomy of the Breast. 4to. Lond. 1840. Dick. Jour. of Agriculture. 1831–2. Encyclopedia Britannica, Eighth edition. Flint, Austin. Physiology of Man. . New York, 1866. Frey. On Microscope and Microscopic Technology. Cutter. Johnson. Agriculture Chemistry. 80. New York, 1862. Kolliker. Human Histology. °. London, vol. I, 1853; vol. II, 1854. Latham. Millk Journal. London, Jan., 1872. Lehman. Physiological Chemistry. 8°. Phila., 1855. 2 vols. Microscopic Dictionary. Griffith and Henfrey. 2d ed. 8°. London, 1860. Simon. Animal Chemistry. Symonds. Jour. R. A. S. of England. 1858. Stricker. Human and Comp. Histology. Thomson. Animal Chemistry. Todd & Bowman. Physiological Anatomy. 8°. Phila., 1857. Virchow. Cellular Pathology. 8. Phila., 1863. Voelcker, Dr. Jour. R. A. S. of England, 1863, and elsewhere. |