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278 [1906
profit on this would be the selling price of 6,022 churns, or 96,352 gallons,
which, at one shilling a gallon, represents £4,817 12s., which is no inconsiderable
sum of money. With respect to the fat or cream, it may be said that the
usual method adopted is to add separated milk which contains only 0.5 per
cent. of fat to milk, whereby its bulk is increased and therefore its proportion
of fat reduced. By this means it is possible the Medical Officer of
Health in a previous report (1902) showed,fopraduce although containing as
nearly as possible 25 per cent. of separated milk. which
would pass the official standard of 3 per cent. of fat.
Of course, it is not for a moment to be thought that every milk vendor
manipulates the milk with the view of reducing its strength, or producing an
article which will merely pass the official standard, for there are milk purveyors
in this borough, as well as throughout London, whose reputation is without
reproach and who provide their customers with a really first class food, which
for quality cannot be bettered anywhere. Their names will at once occur to
any persons at all conversant with the milk question, and, therefore, need not
be mentioned, particularly as it would be entirely out of place in an official
report.
A good deal of the blame is sometimes put on the farmers by London
purveyors for the quality of the milk, and no doubt to a very small extent this
may be justified, for it is true that some of them do not take sufficient care to
ensure that each member of their herd produces milk of good quality. It is a
well known fact that both in quantity and quality different cows give different
results. For instance, recently Mr. Alexander Lauder, in reporting on some
experiments that he made for the East Scotland Agricultural College, found
that the yield of the best cow in a year was 1,505 gallons, and of the worst
478, and taking the value of the milk at 6¼d. per gallon, the five best cows
produced milk worth £149 5s. od., or £29 17s. od. each, while the five which
stood lowest on the list produced only £87 8s. od., or £17 1s. od. each.
It may be safely stated that variations of this kind are not uncommon, and
are not noticed from day to day, although at the end of the year, as the above
figures will show, they amount to a considerable sum. He points out that a
difference of 100 gallons in the year at 6¼d. is worth 52s. and that it is not too
much to say that cows in the same herd frequently differ in their production
by as much as £5 without the farmer being aware of it.
In the Journal of the Board of Agriculture it has recently been indicated
that where milk is used for butter making it is essential that the dairyman
should see that all his cows are yielding milk with a high percentage of butter
fat, otherwise, unless a very high price is obtained for the butter, the value
obtained for the milk is very low. Every 25 lbs. of milk containing 3.6 per
t