DAIRY MEETING. 149 



If the man who is employed by the cow test associations could 

 have authority to speak on these subjects, I think it would be 

 beneficial. The trouble in Maine is that if you go around to 

 your patrons and tell them that their tie-ups are dirty and the 

 cows in bad condition, they are inclined to think you are a little 

 too fussy, as they all think they are clean, and they will send 

 their cream to another creamery. There ought to be some way 

 of stopping this. Out West if cream is rejected by one cream- 

 ery it is not received by another. I do not know as that could 

 be done here, as there is so much competition. For my part, 

 if another creamery refuses cream that is in a filthy condition I 

 will refuse it if I know it, and I have done so. We have had 

 samples of cream taken from our teams that contained bacteria 

 far in excess of the 500,000 limit. There is a fine if the 

 cream contains more than 500,000 bacteria to the cubic centi- 

 meter. I have seen samples that contained 3,000,000 germs 

 to the cubic centimeter. I am glad to do anything I can to 

 promote the creamery interests. I think the system of indi- 

 vidual cans is the right one and I am going to adopt it as soon 

 as possible. 



A. W. GiLMAN. I have been very much interested in this dis- 

 cussion. Indirectly, if not directly, I am one of the creamery- 

 men. Finally some of their puzzling questions come to me for 

 settlement. When I first came to the Department of Agricul- 

 ture, very many men were sending in complaints. They did not 

 believe they were getting their just dues, and asked me how they 

 could get what belonged to them, or something along that line. 

 It is very gratifying to be able to state that within the last two 

 years I have not received a single complaint from any man who 

 is selling his product to these creamery men. That is a great 

 step along the line of a union between the producer and the 

 manufacturer. 



I am very much interested in this question of cow test asso- 

 ciations. I firmly believe in them, and I was certainly strength- 

 ened when Brother Hamlin said he wanted the movement to 

 start over there in his section. I saw in a moment what an 

 impression that had upon Senator Alden. He told me this 

 morning that he was going to have the first association in his 

 section, which is the home of the dairy cow and where one of 

 the butter factories is established. He said, "I have been 



