The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1909-11-18
like MILK As FOOD
Quart a Day to Family Of Five
Persons Is Proportion.
Two-ThIrds Of Supply Furnished BY
Cow Is Used to Make Butter and
Cheese-Where Good Quail
ity Comes From.


Washington.-Although two-thirds
OF all the milk produced by farmers
for sale Is used to make butter and
cheese. the other third Is sufficient to
allow each person to consume on an
average of about twenty gallons a
year. This means about a quart day
to family of five persons. In other
words, milk and cream together fur
nish 16 per cent. of the total food Of
the average American family of to-
day
In some parts of the world other
kinds of milk are used than that
taken from ''old bossy." Goats milk
Is common. especially in the billy dis
tricts of Europe; buffalo's milk is
much used in India; the llamas milk
In South America; camel's milk in
the desert countries; mares milk in
the steppes of Russia and central
Asia; RENDERS milk in the arctic re-
g1ons, but cows milk predominates
entirely in the western world. Per-
haps no food has been more often
studied by chemists than milk and
Its products. and a great deal of in
formation is available regarding the
composition and properties of this
important food material.
The milk which Is ordinarily sold
for household use is subject to con-
siderable variation in composition. It
is owing to such natural variation in
composition that milk is purchased at
creameries on the basis of its fat con.
tent. This variation in nutritive value
Is In large part attributable to differ
ences in the breeds OF cows kept, GER
tain breeds producing more milk that
contains fat than others.
Among the best for producing
cream are the Channel Island breeds,
which give milk rich il fat that
easily rises to the top. The age of
the animal also has considerable in.
fuence young cows producing richer
milk than old ones of the same kind.
In general, well fed COW gives more
and better milk than if poorly fed,
but the relative proportions of fat,
case1n, and sugar In the milk are not
so greatly influenced by the compost.
ton of the food as is the quality of
the milk
The average cow Of a given breed
possesses certain capabilities for pro-
ducing milk. but does not reach her
normal capacity of milk production
unless she is well fed. When once
she has sufficient and well balanced
ration, neither the composition nor
the amount Of the milk yield seems
to be greatly improved by either in.
creasing the ration or changing the
proportion Of the nutrients it sup
plies.
Dlsease germs may get into milk
either directly from a diseased cow
or indirectly from a diseased person
from polluted water, or some similar
way. There are many other possible
sources of contagion. Among the
contagious diseases to which the
cows are not liable, but which may
De spread by milk. the most common
are scarlet fever, typhoid fever and
diphtheria. The records show that
milk is often the cause of an emf
oemic, and not infrequently it may
De traced to the milk from a single
farm.
some idea OF the Importance of
milk as human food may be gained
from the fact that about one.sixtb of
the total food of the average family
is furnished by it and its products.
MIX from various mammals is used
In various parts of the world, but
that of the COW far surpasses all other
kinds In importance. Few staple
1oods vary so much in composition.
but, on the average. good, unaduIter
ated milk should contain about 81 mar
cent. water and IL per cent. solids