OUR MILK SUPPLY.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2477, 15 March 1882, Page 4

OUR MILK SUPPLY .

[Prom the “ Weekly Press.”] IT is not long sinoo very considerable attention was drawn tc the condition of tho dairies surrounding this city. Tho enquiry was inStituted in consequence of on outbreak of typhoid fever, it having been ascertained that most of the persona affected wore using milk the product; t)f the eamo dairy. On mspec* tion it was found that tho premises were filthy in Ike extreme, tho wonder being that the evil resulting therofroin was not of a more pronounced character. Such would prodably halve been the ossa but for the prompt action >whioh was token as soon as tho awoovery was made. We thoroughly agree with tho necessity of reasonable sanitary precautions in dealing with milk, so as to prevent it becoming the medium of spreading mftsctionß diseases. We do not doubt that in softie cases it has been proved almost to a certainty that mischief has beon caused by milk which has become tainted by the seeds of contagious disease, either from -contact 'with persons infected with disease, from being ~plaood in a foul and tainted atmosphere, or, ..perhaps, more often from milk being adulterated with water from a polluted source, or , oven from cans being rinsed in foul water, There seems, however, eomeriskof unfouMlod alarm and of erroneous notions prevailing on tho subject, for in case of sickness persons are too prone to rest contented with the assumption that such sickness must be due to a polluted milk supply, which may have no foundation iu fact. The first cause really lyinginother oauseofluoh at defective drainage, &o. It may be that tho dangers attending the consumption of milk are sometimes exaggorated ; still the question of the supervision of our dairies is a very -important one, and we hope ere long to see the amended 'Public Health Act brought into operation throughout the colony, providing lor the registration and inspection of dairies and farm promises from ■which milk is distributed for sale, with power to impose psnalties upon any person having disease in their households, or in any other way brought in direct contact with it, who either milk the cows or detil with tho milk for sale. Regulations of this kind would, if properly carried out, sufficiently protect the public, and would only press heavily upon the unthrifty and careless persons engaged in the trade. Every one knows how difficult it is to procure a supply of good butter throughout the year. Bad butter is invariably the result of badly managed cream. Few people have any idea of tho absorbent properties of cream, and yet how often is the dairy used as ft kind -of gcnsral store room, where meat, fish, and even onions may be found, the presence of any one of the above being sufficient to seriously affect a large quantity of cream. Stagnant water must not be allowed to lie about. Dung heaps and p'g ■ties ought not to be in the same locality. Iu fact, the position of the dairy should bo of equal importance with the position of the dwelling house:; the prevailing winds should blow from the dairy, so that no noxious vapors are watted towards it, or rather through it. It must be within the experience of all managers of - large-schools how readily infection of any kind may spread by association. Our present school-system, necessitating large numbers of children being brought together under the same roof increases the risk_ of disease. Hence the greater necessity for vigilance. Nothing is more necessary to the health of children than a plentiful supply of purofresh milk, which can only be obtained from cows properly fed and properly attended to, and where scrupulous attention is paid to every detail about the dairy, which should be a roomy apartment and well ventilated. The floor should be of flags, tiles, or cement, and a plentiful supply of good water should be at hand. A few suggestions hearing on the care of dairy oowi, &0., will not be out of place here. Dairy cows will prove the capacity of any man for the business of farming, for there is no stock which, so to say, resents parsimony in the matter of feeding so quickly, and the man who cannot make a set of cows pay well (we are speaking now of dairies of milk and butter, within reach of large centres of population) neither could make a flack of sheep out wool enough, nor make mutton enough to answer the purpose of keeping. The price of well managed dairy produce is sufficiently remunerative, and so is that of meat, so that there is a double inducement to feed well. The right sort of cows must be kept, and this ia an important point, which can only bo arrived at by careful observation, for some cows’ milk will yield double the oream others will and now and then the milk of a cow will be most difficult to churn from its oily nature, frequently causing much annoyance and loss, for the oream of the whole dairy is so far affected, that it is with difficulty butter can be produced, Again, different cows fed upon the same food will produce milk of a different quality. Those tell-tales, tho lactometers, carefully graduated, made of glass, ought to be ■in every dairy; in fact, tho money value of each cow’s milk should bo tested. However well off a farmer may be for pasture, the same should be supplemented with a few acres of hay and roots, such as mangols and carrots, &o. Oows love a change of food, and this characteristic is favorable to the production of milk so long as the food is not too fattening, A constant and liberal supply of food must be kept up. This can only bo done by the exercise of forethought. Successions! crops of early spring soiling must be provided. Now is the time to commence, by ploughing deeply half an acre or so, and sowing, as soon as possible, a mixture of Cape barley and winter tores, sowing again in May with ryo and tares. The ground must bo in good heart to produce a rich succulent crop of soiling ; fine crushed bones at the rate of four hundred weight per aero may foe used with great advantage. Land which has grown a crop of early soiling so manured will be in the best possible condition for mangolds, or any other spring crop. Finally, - there is as much and more to be learned before a dairy can be carried on profitably as thero is in connection with any part of the farm. Any amateur can grow a good crop of grain upon rich virgin soil; but the results of dairying are in exact proportion to the care, skill, and cleanliness bestowed.