J. H. Monrad, Assistant Dairy Commissioner of Illinois, student, writer and lecturer on dairy subjects, collected and indexed one of the most complete and valuable libraries of dairy literature found anywhere, which after his death in 1915 was taken over and installed in special rooms by Chr. Hansen’s Laboratorium in Copenhagen, where a librarian is keeping it up to date and it is open to the public.
In Canada, Dairy Commissioners Jas. W. Robertson and J. A. Ruddick, D. M. McPherson, the “Cheese King,” and others contributed to an enormous development of the manufacture of high-class cheese, and in New Zealand and Australia similar progress was made.
Business and science have vied with each other in increasing the output of dairy products and improving their quality. In the table below, showing estimates for 1917, some interesting figures are given of the amount of milk produced in the United States and the uses to which it is applied.[[1]]
Uses to which milk is put (calculations based on estimates)
| Item | Lbs. of Milk | Per Cent |
|---|---|---|
| Product of 22,768,000 cows at 3,716 lbs. per an. | 84,611,350,000 | ── |
| Disposition of milk product: | ───── | |
| 1,650,000,000 lbs. of butter (at 21 lbs. milk) | 34,663,850,000 | 41.0 |
| 420,000,000 lbs. of cheese (at 10 lbs. milk) | 4,200,000,000 | 5.0 |
| 975,000,000 lbs. of condensed milk (at 2½ lbs. milk) | 2,437,500,000 | 2.9 |
| 210,000,000 gals. of ice cream (weighing 6 lbs. to the gallon, 10% fat) | 3,150,000,000 | 3.7 |
| 100,000,000 persons; 45% at 0.7 lb. a day (cities) farms with dairy cows, 30%, 1.5 lbs. per day; other farms and small towns, 25%, 1 lb. a day, approximately | 36,500,000,000 | 43.1 |
| 17,500,000 calves, whole milk (estimated) requirement | 3,660,000,000 | 4.3 |
| ───── | ||
| Total | 84,611,350,000 | 100.0 |
Although the table accounts for all the milk produced, it does not tell the whole story, since the preparation of a number of products results in the formation of vast quantities of by-products that are not used to the fullest advantage for human food.
New York City alone consumes 1,600,000 quarts of milk a day, but even this enormous quantity means only 0.6 pint per capita. The consuming public has been slow to realize the value of milk and its products, and too much emphasis cannot be laid upon the fact that even at the largely increased cost of all dairy products they are still some of the cheapest and the most healthful of foods, especially for growing children, and should be used in much larger quantities.
THE STORY OF MILK