RURAL AUSTRALIA.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume 30, Issue 9186, 13 October 1899, Page 1 (Supplement)

RURAL AUSTRALIA.

MILK PASTEURISATION,

By A. Busck, Diiry Instructor, Department cf Agriculture, Auckland, M.Z. (Reprinted from the " Awtraliin Varm and Home," Melbourne, by tj?eciul arrangontiii.) Pasteurisation of milk is the topic of the day. But when are we going to make a start? We all admit that we will have to go in for it sooner or later, but there i 3 a feeling that we want a little more inform ition on the subject before our dairy people will go to the expense of buying a plant. This feeling is certainly a prudent one. I will therefore endeavour to gii-o some actual - information, and a brief sketch of the advantages derived by pasteurisation. "Pasteurisation" is a process of heating fluids to temperatures of from 149deg. to 175deg., and ccoling these down quickly to below GOdeg.. and as much lower as possible. The process v derives its name from thefamou3 French bacteriologist, Profejsor Louis Pasteur, --whofirst applied this process to wine, and showed the vine-growers that by heating their wines to 140Jeg. Fahr. and cooling them down again, they could preserve them much longer. The process was next applied to beer, and later on to milk. In 1884 Professor 1 Fjord, of the Royal Agricultural College -•& Copenhagen, began a series of experiments with the pasteurisation of skim milk. The result of these was that he found by heating the skim mi ! k to 158deg. Fahr., and cooling it down, the keeping quality was gre itly increased, - and the farmers were able to feed their calves with good, sound milk. In 1888, Professor Fjord received a letter from the proprietor of Dueland, a large farm in Denmark, asking him for advice, lha d.iiy at Duelmd had for "years turned out a first qualiiy of butter, but that year the product suddenlj went down to inferior quality, without it being possible to account for the fault. Con- " sulent Boggild, the well-known Danish Dairy Expert, was instructed to visit -Dueland, in company with Mr. Jensen, one of the veterinary surgeons on the ■taff of the Agricultural College, and assistant to Professor Bar.y, in order to investigate the matter. Consilient TMg. gild reported that the dairy was in a ■perfect state, and no fault could be found in the treatment of the milk. Mr. ' 'Jensen reported that the milk was con■tamina'.ed before it arrived at the dairy, and that the condition of the cows was very satisfactory, f -' In order to get to the bottom of this mystery, Mr. Jensen started a number of experiments with the milk, and he found that it was saturated with a bacteria, which he named No. 9, or Bacillus fcetidus lactis. He isolated this bacteria, and found that it was able to increase at an astonishing rate, and by examining the dairy, the stables and the water in the well, he found large quantities of these bacteria present. In order to cope with these, he commenced a number of experiments with heating the ml k, aud found tint he was able to destroy bacillus fretidus lactis at a temperature of 149dcg. Fahr. when the mill; wae kept at this temperature for ten minutes, but it was an unsettled question if the cream and butter could stand this tempeiaturo without Injury, and in order to solve this very important question, Mr. Lunde, one of Professor Fjord's assistants, was instructed to commeuco experiments with the pasteurisation of cream, and he was ;.s-i3ted by Mr. Jensen, who examined the milk microscopically and bacterioWioally. It was found that the. buttor made from the pas! eurised cieam was of a very fine quality, and the following are the various t nipei attires which were found to have the required effect of destroying the bacteria No. 9 :—lyCdcg. for half a minute, IGTdeg. for five minutes, for five minutes, and 14'Jdeg. for ten minutes; while HOdeg. for more than half an hour was found to be insufficient. The butter made from cream pasteurised at any of these temperatures did not suffer cither in texture or in flavour as long as the cream was cooled down rapidly anil aB low as possible after the process of heating ; but butter mado from cream hoatod to IBsdeg. attained a boiled flavour. The result of a number of experiments which took place in five of the leading dairy factories in Denmark, under the •upervision of Professor Fjord, showed that the qmliiy of the pasteurised butter averacred 2.2' points better than tho non-p.-isteuris<'d , after both bnttera had b, en kt-pt for a fortnight, and 9.7 pointß in favour of tin; pasteurised butter by tho end of tho next fortnight. (The maximum number of points given for choicest btHter are 15 ) These experiments were repeated during the various seasons of tho year with tho eamo result*.

The next experiments with pas'curisatlon took place in IS9O, mid thin time it whs tho whole milk which was experimented with. Ths pasteurisation of cream and nkim milk separately meant a good de<\l (if expense and extra labour to tho dairy factories which would bo minimis d if the pasteurisation of tho wholo milk conld hi; done successfully, »nd Mr. Ltindn was instructed to start the experiments with tho whole-milk p«*teurisation. The tirst point which had to be considered was whether tho •lean skimming of the milk, which is •aoompJished at OOdeg., would suflcr vheta Xho separating w.ih done ut 170 dog. I'lils question was decided very i»t-U----hatorilj it being proved that the •etparatou. skimmed Quite m nUsn aft

170' leg. as at OOdeg. Fahr. The keeping quality of the butter made from pisteuriaed whole milk w.ib 3.6 points in favour of the pasteurised, compared with the non-jr-r-rreurised, by the end of the fiist fortnight, and 1.5 points in its favour by the t nd of the next fortnight). As regards quantity of butter made from pasteurised whole milk, pas'eurised cream, and non-pasteurised cream, it was found that a fraction less butter was obtaiued from the pasteurised cream, and that another fraction less was obtained from the pasteurised wVole milk, than from the non-pas'eurised cream. In this way the two first-named processes left a little more fat in the butter milk ; but the butter made from the pasteurised whole milk contained less moisture than the butter made by any of the other methods. The best proof that the pasteurisation of either creim or whole milk is of great benefit to the pocess of butter making is that more than 90 per cent, of the dairy factoiies in Denmark have adopted these methods. We see from the above that the pasteurisation of milk and cream is by no means a new process which has to be experimented with, but that the improvement in the keeping qualiiy of butter made from pasteurised milk or cream is an established fact. Whnt does this fact mean to the producers of butter in the colonies? It means that if Denmark finds it necessary to improve the keeping quality of her butter by the process of pasteurisation, it is thousands and thousands of times more necessary for us to adopt this process, and improve the keeping quality of our butter, when we take into consideration that Denmark is but a few hundred miles from the market for her produce, while we are about fourteen thousand miles from the market in which we have to compete with her, and that the deterioration of butter commences soon after it is made. From all the experiments which have taken place with pasteurisation of milk, it was found that this was only of value when the cream was cooled down as rapidly as possible to below 53deg. Fahr., and that the best results were obtained when the cream was cooled down to between 41dcg. and 43deg. The plant necessary for the pasteurisation is a whole-milk pasteuriser and two coolers. In seltcting the first-named it is necessary to try to get an effective machine of amp'e capacity, aud which is of simple construction, easy to clean, well insulated—so as to ensure economy of strain and to prevent evaporation—durable, compact, uniform in working, and a machine requiring a minimum of power j and, last of all, consider its cost price. In selecting coolers you must try to get these as effective bb possible, keeping in mind that you cannot have too large a cooling si:: face. Without an abundance of cool water or ice it is of no use to expect good results from pasteurisation.

A HI3H YEAR'S HECOED v. A HIGH WEEK'S RECORD. There are various proverbs and fables illustrating and emphasizing the truth that the winners in life's battles are not always the prodigieß who attract us by Btartling performances for an hour, a day, or a week. Not infrequently the tortoise distances the hare in the long race, by reason of his persistent perseverance .and attention to business. This same truth is sometimes seen in cows, and it is a good plau to recur to it now and then, lest we get discouraged at the big tests of twenty pounds or more of butter in seven days that are reported from time to time. The'cow that can yield a pound of butter, right along, day after day, for about 300 days, is a good cow to keep and biced from, and it is not at all necessary for a cow to make even 14 pounds a week in order to reach phenomenal excellence. It is not the cow that gives a big yield of butter per week for a few months in the year that pays best. The cow with ihe big butter record per week for a few weeks is seldom a good stayer. It i'b of prime importance, therefore, that one should know and not guess at what his cows are doing. Many a good cow has been condemned because she could noUshow a large weekly record, and many an inferior cow has been retained because she was not brought to book for a whole season's work. It lakes but little lime and next to no trouble to weigh and record each milking of every cow. Try it, and be convince 1 of its utility. It may possibly result in showing you that some of your most highly prized cows are really robbers in disguise, and, equally important, that you also have more valuable animals than you know of. Possibly it may reveal a case similar to one of the cows at the Minnesota Experiment Station, which never made as high as 14 pounds of butter 'ii any week' but did make the following records for fivo consecutive years: Lb. Milk. Lb. Butter. 1892 . _ 5,<»3 6 358 1893 ... 6.976 428 1694 ... 6,954 355 1895 ... 6,700 4CH 1896 _ 8,897 612

Farmers should organize. Each, acting for himself, renders this powerful cl&4 absolutely helpless. For the hard working million of farmers who nro willine to g'-t together, ke.-p logo ber, act together, and co-operate in many ways there is a bright future. It is only by thin means that those engaged in the leading occupation of mankind can hop* to achieve such results as are the moat desirable for the present and fatat* wtl-

WAYS OF COOKING POTATOES.

On a farm the advantage of a'variety, not only in foote, but in the wajs.of cooking fcodvis not, asa rule,- sufficiently at'ended to. Take potatoes, for instance. Djes one not get tired'of boiled, mashed, and fried' potatoes day after diy f Tet there are a grrat many different ways in which potatoes may be prepared so that they can come on the table as an agreeable change. Left-over, ma=hed, or boiled potatoes may, with a little trouble, be either utilised alone or with li;ft-over meats or fowl. Try some of the following recipes, and you will be surprised at the w«ys you can dish up potatoes, and make them delicioua every time : Potato Cakea. Take four cups of leftover mashed potatoes, one egg, a little milk, enough to make smooth, and flour enough to make them hold together. Mould, flour, and fry in hot lard or dripping. Creamed Potatoes. Take left-over boiled potatoes, cut them up in small squares, add milk euougli to cover them, and put in a small Eaucepan. Season with pepper aud salt and a good-sized lump of butter. When hot enough, thicken with flour. Parsley broken in small bits is sometimes added. Sweet Potato Cakes. Take cold potatoes, peel and mash them ; add two tablespoonfuls of white sugar. Mould into cakes, brush with white of an egg and flour, and fry in butter or lard. An Economical' Dish. Take mashed potatoes, season with ealt, pepper, butter, and cream. Place a layer of this preparation in a pudding dish ; upon this place a layer of cold meat or fish, clipped fine. Continue this until the dis;» is full. Strew breadcrumbs and small lumps of butter on the top, and bake broifn. German Potato Salad. Boil the desireut number or potatoes; peel and sliest before they get cold. Slice an onion in with them very fine, and season with pepper and salt. Take bacon, cut in sm*U pieces, and fry brown ; when brown add -»i/e cupful of vinegar. Pour this over th* potatoes, and mix thoroughly with & wooden spoon.

Sak&d Fotatoe». Take medium-sited potatoes, slice, not very thin, in c*ld water. Let them stand in this water fifteen minutes ; take ojit and dry. Then place a layer of these in a pudding dish, pepper and salt and small lumps of butter, then another layer of potatoes, etc., until the dish is filled. Over tha last layer grate cheese. Then add enough milk to cover them, put in the oven, and bake till done, about three-quMters of an hour. Delicious Maßhed Potatoes. Peel and boll the required number, cutting them, if large, so they will boil through. When done, mash thoroughly ; add a large losop of butter, milk or cream, and egg«, according to the quantity of pot*lo&, eaed. Then fijke a fork and beat well When thoroughly beaten put in a dUh, «nd place in the oven, until the top becomes a light brown. Potatoes and Onions. Left-over boiled potatoes sliced ; put a big piece of butter in the frying pan, add the potatoes and an onion, minced, and fry to • light brown. Serve hot. A little parsley may bo added just before serving. A Good Salad. Slice cold potatoes, and mix with quartered hard-boiled eggs and sliced beets. Ha.e ready a dressing of one part vinegar, two parts salad oil, and a little sail and pepper. Sprinkle the salad with finely chopped parsley, then add the dressing, and mix lightly, until the dressing is well worked into the salad.

EVERY WOMAN WANTS A PRETTY HOME.

The deftness of woraan'B fingers enables her to turn and twist the things that are old into decorations that are new and lovely in effect. She can select harmonious colorß when she buys inexpens ve furnishings, and eo tone the aspect of her home that rest and ease many welcome every new visitor; she may become bo essential to the happiness of each child in the home that its first inquiry when returning from play or from school will be, "Is mother home f" She may live-her young years over again with the loving childhood about her, if Bhe will share the joys and sorrows of her boys and girls. To every woman a home is essential, whether it may be her own or somebody else's. Bat wherever she lives it is right that she should bring the heart into her life. Love begets love, and wherever It is present the joys of daily life counterbalance the ills. How to tnakea home? Why, let the two who build it be of one mind—that it is to be the happiest spot in the whole earth. Include in your desire not only the purpose to make yourselves happy, but to brighten the lives of everybody else. And be sure to keep your windows open to the sunlight. So many times the best rooms in your homes are treated at If they were too good for everyday iife. And their chill and discomfort when experienced bran unexpected guc*f make her dream of "cellar-damp and creeping things." Let life in the home be free Mi mtr,m& yet ordeiiy. f 47