184 agriculture; of maine. 



even soldering in the depressions of which bacteria may escape 

 the cleansing processes. 



Similar utensils in the milk room will be equally advantage- 

 ous, and often and thorough washing of the shelves on which 

 the milk or the milk vessels stand will greatly decrease the bac- 

 terial content of the milk. Here is often the starting point of 

 dairy troubles, for milk that has been splashed out of dishes 

 and allowed to remain on the shelves becomes a veritable hot- 

 bed of bacteria which were in the original milk, and, when dry, 

 the dust from these spots will introduce more acid-producing 

 bacteria into the milk than all the previous precautions will 

 have succeeded in excluding. The common practise of wash- 

 ing the milk vessels at once in scalding water leaves much to 

 be desired, as the albumen of the milk is coagulated at this 

 temperature, and is likely to form a scum on the sides of the 

 dish, in which the bacteria of acid-producing species will thrive. 

 It is much better to wash out the utensils in slightly warm 

 water, which will remove the albumen without coagulating it, 

 then rinse with weak lime water and later with boiling water. 

 Even without the use of the middle step the successive use of 

 warm and hot water in washing the milk dishes will give sur- 

 prisingly good results in increased purity of the milk. 



Enough has already been said on the question of the dairy' 

 water supply. I simply reiterate here that no water should be 

 used for dairy purposes that you would hesitate to use for 

 drinking purposes. A good and safe water supply is abso- 

 lutely essential if disease and other troublesome bacteria are 

 to be excluded from our milks. 



And so we finally come to the persons who handle the milk. 

 It hardly seems necessary to again state that no sick person, 

 or person who has been in attendance on a sick person, or who 

 has been in contact with such a person's clothes or food, should 

 be allowed to either milk a cow, or handle milk in the milk 

 room. Here lies the source of most of our milk-borne epi- 

 demics of typhoid fever, diphtheria and scarlet fever. In defer- 

 ence to common decency, if for no other reason, the healthy 

 handler of milk should have clean hands and wear clothes free 

 from dust when so engaged. Even a clean pair of overalls, 

 used only for milking, will give surprising results, while the 

 use of a milking suit, used only when milking, will still farther 



