The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1890-11-12
Influence of Food Upon the Compost.
ton Of Milk.

The Massachusetts Ploughman for
July contains an article by Mr.. Henry
Stewart, which is quite remarkable.
The subject with which he deals is the
influence of food upon the composition
of milk, and he takes occasion to eioice
over the fact CD that scientific author
tiles are coming to see a truth of which
he has been the only advocate 1t is
no wonder, if many such articles as this
one of Mr., Stewards are printed, that
the public gets very much befogged IN
regard to what scientific men believe
and teach. 1t is difficult to see how
writer could more perfectly misrepre-
sent the views of our best scientific au-
thorites. Notice is taken of this ar
ticle only because it may be supposed,
by some not acquainted with scientific
literature, to represent the best knowl-
edge of the day.
Let us examine some of these state
ments. Mr.. Stewards first assertion
is that lone by one the scientific
authorities are helping to put quietus
on the misleading and injurious state
ment, that the proportion of butter in
milk cannot be increased by feeding;
and then he says further, " 1t is strange
that such heresy should have obtained
currency among those to whom dairy
men look for Instruction. AS mat
ter of fact, neither scientific men, nor
our best informed dairy instructors,
have of late years, if ever, put forth
any such views as the above. This is
the statement which has been made,
and which has been so often misunder-
stood and twisted out of shape that it
seems scarcely worth while to repeat
it, namely; The proportion Of fat in
milk may be decreased or increased by
variations in the food, or from other
causes, but this decrease or increase of
fat is generally accompanied by cor
responding decrease or increase of
solids other than fat. In other words,
while the proportion of fat in milk may
be changed because of the change in
the amount of milk solids, the relative
proportion of these solids to one
another remains practically unchanged,
at least so far as the Influence of food
is concerned. The numerous rigid in.
vestlgatiOns that have been made on
this subject, largely in Germany, but
to some extent hrr", show that milk
is subject to great fluctuations in COM
position from day to day, and also that
there are gradual changes which take
place as the period of lactation length
ems. But while these fluctuations and
gradual changes have been found to
take place in those experiments where
widely varying rations have been fed,
the relation of the different solids in
the milk has been found TO remain
fairly constant, or, if any change has
occurred, it has not been found to
have any fixed relation to the charac-
ter of the ration, and to be practically
Independent of the food. In brief, the
composition of the cows milk may
change very greatly in the relation of
the solids to the water, but only within
very narrow limits in the relation of
the solids to each other; and whatever
of this latter change has been found,
seems to have been produced almost
entirely by causes other than the food.
On the relation of solids to water, the
food seems occasionally to have Il
marked influence. These have been
the teachings of scientific men for the
last fifteen years, at least, and so far
no Investigations have been published
which should be taken as showing any
thing to the contrary. The few in
stances where the character of the food
seems to have had a small influence on
the composition Of the milk solids are
so largely in the minority, and are
so greatly over-balauced by opposing
results, that we should be very cautious
about using them as the basis of any
conclusions.
10 al
ing when he comes to deal with the re-
latlOu Of the fats in the food to the fais
in the milk. He dscOurses after this
fashion: THUS, tracing the fat in the
food where it exists in minute drops or
globules in the cells which make up the
tissue of plants or grains, we can fol-
low it directly into the milk without
change" and later he astOnishes the
reader with the remark that some cows,
"as in the case of the Jersey cow Prin-
cess I'd, may be able TO actually con-
vert seven pounds of fats in the foods
into butter in one day" Shades of
Liebigl BY what process of intuition
has this writer traced the globules of
fat in the food through their various
wanderiugs in the animal, aud safely
landed them in the butter fat when the
best scientific investigations so far
made have failed to conclusively demon
strate the fact which he so confidently
asserts? Or will the reader please con-
slider the amount of food which the
cow Princess "a must have eaten, in
order for it to contain seven pounds of
pure fats? Unless pure oil formed a
part of her ration, she must have eaten
not less than one hundred nOnnus of
dry matter daily, in order to receive
seven pounds of fat, even with very
liberal use of the oil meals. 1t is fair
assumption that a Jersey COW would
produce pound of butter per day, on
The ration of twenty pounds of timothy
hay and ten pounds of pea meal, the
whole containing less than half "A pound
of digoStible fat. If the fats of the
milk only come from the fats of the
food, how can such ration cause the
production of a pound of butter per
day, containing not less than eight
taptho of a nnnn1 of fatO AGAIN If