[2] A portable milk-weighing appliance is made in which the weight of the pail is included, and an indicator shows on a dial the exact weight in pounds and ounces, and likewise the volume in gallons and pints, of the milk in the pail. When the pail is empty the indicator of course points to zero.
[3] Landw. Futterungslehre, 5te Aufl., 1888, p. 249.
[4] The Analyst, April 1885, vol. x. p. 67.
[5] The evidence on this point taken by the Committee on Milk and Cream Regulations in 1900 is somewhat conflicting. The report states that an impression commonly prevails that the quality of milk is more or less determined by the nature and composition of the food which the cow receives. One witness said that farmers who produce milk for sale feed differently from what they do if they are producing for butter. Another stated that most of the statistics which go to show that food has no effect on milk fail, because the experiments are not carried far enough to counterbalance that peculiarity of the animal first to utilize the food for itself before utilizing it for the milk. A witness who kept a herd of 100 milking cows expressed the opinion that improvement in the quality of milk can be effected by feeding, though not to any large extent. On the other hand, it was maintained that the fat percentage in the milk of a cow cannot be raised by any manner or method of feeding. It is possible that in the case of cows very poorly fed the addition of rich food would alter the composition of their milk, but if the cows are well-fed to begin with, this would not be so. The proprietor of a herd of 500 milking cows did not think that feeding affected the quality of milk from ordinarily well-kept animals. An experimenter found that the result of resorting to rather poor feeding was that the first effect was produced upon the weight of the cow and not upon the milk; the animal began to get thin, losing its weight, though there was not very much effect upon the quality of the milk.
[6] Journ. Roy. Agric. Soc., 1898.
[7] Trans. Highl. and Agric. Soc. Scot., 1899.
[8] Report on Cheddar Cheese-Making, London, 1899.
[9] “The Practice of Stilton Cheese-Making,” Journ. Roy. Agric. Soc., 1899.
[10] Experiment Station Record, xii. 9 (Washington, 1901).
[11] Market butter is sometimes deliberately over-weighted with water, and a fraudulent profit is obtained by selling this extra moisture at the price of butter.