MANAWATU EVENING STANDARD POHANGINA GAZETTE. Circulation, 3,000 Copies Daily. WEDNESDAY, MAY 25th, 1904. THE BABCOCK MILK TESTER.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XL, Issue 7846, 25 May 1904, Page 4

MANAWATU EVENING STANDARD POHANGINA GAZETTE. Circulation, 3,000 Copies Daily. WEDNESDAY, MAY 25th, 1904. THE BABCOCK MILK TESTER.

At a mooting of dairymen in Christ! ohuroh last week the chairman declared that he had no confidence in the Babcook milk tester " as a basis for buying and selling, or upon whioh to proseoute dairymen "—in other words, as a means of ascertaining the amount of butter fat in milk. This expression of opinion is contested by the Chriatchuroh Press, which points out that it in in opposition to the views of ail the leading dairy authorities, and to hundreds of thousands of milk suppliers who have perfect confidence in the maohlne. The Babock tester was the invention of Dr S. M. Babcook, of the Wisconsin Experiment Station, in the United States and it combines the principle of centrifogal force with simple chemical action, by means of which the butter fat is separated from the milk, and the percentage is shown in a graduated testing glass. The inventor might have made a fortune out of it but, instead, he generously presented the machine to the dairying world, and now It v in use in all dairy countries. It is said to be more generally used in New Zealand in con. uection with butter and cheesp factories than in any other country, and not long ago a presentation from New Zealand dairymen was made to Dr Babcock, in acknowledgement of the threat benefit he had conferred upon their industry. Without its use in coniunction with the separator it is difficult to see how the dairy industry could have progressed as it has done. If provides, a simple and accurate means of gauging the quality of each supplier's milk, where payments are made for butter fat, and it is a check upon the' dishonest, for the addition of water or the remoyal of cream is of no benefit .where the test is in use. It is also extremely useful for measuring the butter -fat producing capacity of each individual cow in a herd, ana by thus enabling a dairyman to weed out unprofitable animals, a herd can be greatly improved. When the Babcock tester was introduced it took some time before confidence was shown in it. Even in this colony it was several years before complaints from milk suppliers ceased to be general, but now they are. seldom heard. More care is now taken at factories in making the tests with the machine, and the graduated glass bottles used are tested by Mr C- B, Aston, the head of the chemical division of the Department of Agriculture, so as to seoure the greatest accuraoy.