Good flavor sells milk, cream, butter and cheese; poor flavor condemns them. Flavor is that indescribable something, which, in good dairy products, appeals pleasantly to our senses, but often passes unnoticed because so familiar; in poor products it is equally indescribable, but more often characterized in vigorous language, when “frowzy” butter, “garlicy” milk, “bitter” cream or “strong” cheese present their offensive odors and tastes. The ordinary consumer calls flavor the “taste” of the article which tickles his palate; but the expert knows that the nerves of smell play the larger part, and he depends for his judgment largely upon a trained nose. Hence we see the butter judge or cheese scorer pass the trier beneath his nostrils with deep-drawn breath and meditative study of the aroma which arises. Smells, however, cannot be measured in degrees or separated into their elements by the spectroscope; therefore we have to depend upon general terms, often differing with the different experts, in our discussion of flavor; yet we have some well-marked classes which serve as a basis for reference. [Sidenote: =Faults of flavor classified.=] We can separate the faulty flavors into classes by their origin. The minute particles thrown off by dairy products, whose impact upon tongue or nostrils give rise to taste or smell, may come (1) from compounds in the food of the cow or developed in her body (2) from matters, other than germs, taken up by the milk while it stands in poorly-ventilated stables or rooms reeking with foul smells, or (3) from substances which are the direct or indirect result of the activity of living organisms in the milk. Odors of the first class will be most noticeable while the milk is warm from the cow and will not increase with time. They are really far less common than dairymen generally believe and may be avoided almost entirely by careful feeding. Garlic, turnips, cabbage and such “fragrant” edibles will, of course, taint the milk if they are fed within a few hours before milking; but when fed soon after the cows are milked, the volatile oils to which these odors are due will generally disappear from the animal’s system before the next morning or evening. Too often odors of the second class are assigned to the first, and the old cow takes the blame for man’s fault; as milk very readily and quickly takes up smells and tastes from its surroundings. When the owner delivers milk to the factory and is told that it “smells bad,” he forgets that he or his men let it stand in the uncleaned stable to draw in the “cowy” and worse odors, while the cows were being fed and some other chores attended to; or that they poured it into pails that lacked a little of perfect sweetness; and he immediately says; “I’ve got to stop feeding silage.” “The cows ate some cabbage trimmings last night,” or, “Someone forgot to close the rye-field gate.”