KEEPING MILK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19857, 30 January 1928, Page 4

KEEPING MILK.

THE USE OF FIRE. Using fire instead of ice to keep milk ma; seem strange tu the people in this country, but the milk stations and restaurants in Cuba have to keep their milk in tanks that are constantly heated with a kerosene burner. Other countries with the same torrid climate that ia characteristic of Cuba, use similar means for the keeping of their milk and other liairy products. On account of fctio clitflate, Cuba has not progressed a great deal in becoming a dairy country. Condensed milk is shipped there by the boat load. Practically all of the milk sold in Havana is boiled and adulterated so that the infant mortality and stomach disorders have been very high. The natives of Cuba produce the milk in a very crude manner. The cows are mostly native stock ;md tick-immusa. For generations calves have been allowed to remain with their duns until full grown. When a cow i& brought in to milk, tbo calf is tied to her front leg until the milk is about half withdrawn. The calf is then allowed to suck the Ibalance, or the cream. On this Jiccount, the butterfat test averages less than 3 per cent., but that condition is gradually being done away with. The buildings where the cows are milked are nothing more than a shed witfc a roof of thatched palm leaves and a dirt floor. The milk is poured into 40 quart cans, without straining or cooling, and is set along the roadside, where it is picked up by auto truck and hauled to the cities. *lt is usually still \rarm when it reaches the city, and is immediately boiled in order to keep it well and make it safe for consumption.