4.67
Ash 0.60
------
100.00

In several analyses of milk published by Professor Voelcker, the highest
proportion of butter is stated to be 7.62. In that of cows kept on
poor and over-stocked pastures less than 2 per cent. was found. I have
examined in my capacity of Food Analyst to the City of Dublin several
hundred samples of milk, in not one of which have I found the proportion
of butter to amount to more than 5.6 per cent. In no sample did I find
a higher per-centage of solid matter than 13.15, or (when pure) lower
than 12.08. The quality of the food of the milch cow exercises a great
influence on the quality and yield of her milk. Aliments rich in fat and
sugar favor the production of butter, and augment the supply of milk.
Locust-beans, malt, and molasses are good milk-producing foods; but the
chief condition in the production of milk rich in butter is simply that
the animals which yield it must be fed with abundance of nutritious
food. Nor must it be supposed that the richness of milk is due to the
smallness of the yield, for whenever the quality of the secretion is
inferior, it is almost certain to be deficient in quantity. Those cows
which give the richest milk, generally yield the largest quantity.

_Yield of Milk._--According to Boussingault, a cow daily yields on the
average 10.4 parts of milk per 1,000 parts of her weight. Morton, in his
"Cyclopaedia of Agriculture," p. 621, states that Mr. Young, a Scotch
dairy keeper, obtained 680 gallons per cow per annum. Voelcker found
that some common dairy stock gave each of them fifty-two pints of milk
per diem, whilst three pedigree cows yielded respectively forty-nine
pints.

Professor Wilson gives the following information on this point:--

Our principal dairy breeds are the Ayrshire, the Channel Islands,
the Short-horn, the Suffolk, and the Kerry. Some published returns
of two dairies of Ayrshire cows give the annual milk produce per
cow at 650 and 632 gallons respectively. Three returns of dairies,
consisting wholly of Short-horns, show a produce of 540 gallons,
630 gallons, and 765 gallons respectively, or an average of 625
gallons per annum for each cow. In two dairies, where half-bred
Short-horns were kept, the yield was 810 and 866 gallons
respectively for each cow. In four dairies in Ireland, where p