, 1886-12-15
PREPARATION or CONDENSED MILK.
Operations in the Three Factories In
Switzerland-An Interesting Process.

Switzerland-An Interesting Process.
NJ. Louis Grandeur has just published
q succinct and instructive o of
dairy farming in Switzerland. There
are, he tells us, about l, 100, 900 head of
cattle in Switzerland, rather more than
half of which are cows. The total guam
tity of milk which they yield in the
course of a year is 213, 900, 900 gallons,
the daily average per COW being one and
one-quarter gallons, and the value of this
milk, estimated in English money at
about G pence per gallon, is about 5,5T5,-
600 pounds sterling. NJ. Grandeur then
proceeds to show bow this large guam
tity of milk is DISPOSED of. In the first
place, one-half is used for making AZ, 600
tons of cheese, and of this quantity 50
per cent is thin cheese-that is to say,
made with skin milk. The cream taken
from the milk used in making thin
cheese goes to make 1000 tons OF but
ter, which is not quite enough for home
cons mption. But of cheese something
like 500. or FUNDS sterling worth is ex-
ported ever. ye r. Thenative consump-
ton of milk itself, and the preparation
of conIvnseI milk. account for another
30, 900, 900 gallons: this amounting, with
what is convened into butter and cheese,
to Sc per cent. of the whole. The re-
naming II per cent. goes toward rearing
the 800, 900 calves which are, taking one
year with another, to be found in Swift
erland. NJ. Grandeur then goes on to
describe the operations Of the Condensed
Milk company, which. with its capital OF
400, 600 pounds sterling. has seven fac
tories, of which three Cham, GUN, and
Reichenbacht) are in Switzerland.
This industry had its origin, so far as
Switzerland was concerned, at Cham,
when, in 1866. Mr.. Page. the United
States consul at Zurich, determined to
try an experiment which had beer con-
Quoted successfully upon a large scale
in his own country. He had great diff
Guilty in getting any one to believe in the
possibility Of success, and for the first
year or two his factory did not condenso
the milk of more than 300 cows, or
make more than $50, 900 pound-tins Of
condensed milk. At the present time
the Cham factory receives the milk of
5000 cows, and turns out more than To-
600, 900 tins of milk n year.
II III 10 DlOubht W thO ia'tciJ vi
large trolleys, each holding eighty cans;
the company itself fetching the milk
from the various farms, and giving a
uniform price of . 1-2 pence per gallon
for it. Upon arriving at the factory the
milk is passed into a large reservoir
through n net which acts as n strainer.
This reservoir also serves as one of the
scales of a machine which weighs the
milk. After the milk has been weighed,
n plug is withdrawn from the bottom
of the reservoir, and the milk runs out
into large boilers of copper, where
il is mixed with sugar of the same
weight ms itself. When the sugar is dis
solved the liquid mixture runs into
vacuum boilers, where it undergoes, at
n very high temperature. the process Of
condensation. In the course of three
hours it is reduced to about IA third of
its original volume by the elimination of
water. while the essential elements of
the milk, such rs fat and c%aseinc, are
in no way affected. From the %condens-
ing-boilers, the liquid mixture, which
has about the same consistency as a
fluid strip, is passed into large cylin-
dcrs which are constantly being inn
merscd in cold water. where it rapidly
coo!s. The condensed milk, when cold,
is raised by machinery into the work
shops. where it is put into metal tins,
which are Immediately sealed hermeti-
cally, and are then ready for sale. All
the cans used for bringing in the milk
are first washed out with water, then
scrubbed inside, and finally steamed,
before going back to the dairy.
Thu treatment of this large quantity of
milk and the fabrication and filling of
some So 600 tins per diem would be i'm
possible unless the greater part of the
work was done by machinery; and. from
the cutting out of the sheets of metal
which are used for making the tins to
the fastening down of the wooden cases
in which the milk is sent all over the
world, all is done by machinery, n single
workman being able osolder 100 tins an
hour, thanks to the excellence of the
machines he manages.-Chicag Times.