192 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



that this age is fast becoming the age of the consumer. While 

 this statement may not be true of all commodities, it is begin- 

 ning to be true of milk, and the consumer is now demanding 

 that the milk left at his door must be of low bacteria content 

 and must be obtained from healthy cattle, kept in sanitary 

 •dairies. It is for this reason that the milk inspectors from 

 Massachusetts cities and towns are visiting your state and in- 

 specting the premises upon which milk for the Massachusetts 

 market is produced. The law under which so many local 

 boards of health are inspecting our dairies is far reaching in 

 its action, and its entire possibilities have not yet been realized 

 by these boards. At present, they are paying most at- 

 tention to the scoring of the dairies, using a minimum 

 score on the United States dair}^ score card as the requirements 

 for the admission of the milk to Massachusetts cities or towns, 

 but the possibilities of the law may be realized and bacteria 

 limitations may be required before the dairymen can furnish to 

 the wholesale or to the retail dealer. These local boards have, 

 in many instances, made bacteriological standards, above which 

 the sale of milk in their respective cities and towns is prohib- 

 ited. It seems desirable, however, that the bacteriological stan- 

 dards for milk should be made by statute rather than by regu- 

 lations, or, they should be made and enforced by one central 

 authority, owing to the varied character of the regulations 

 and the dififerent methods of enforcement under the present 

 conditions. 



There are harmful and harmless bacteria and fortunately the 

 former are not usually present in milk, otherwise our death 

 rate would be enormously high. It is a comparatively simple 

 matter to determine the total number of bacteria in milk, but 

 to separate and identify the number and character of each 

 class of bacteria present would be interminable and in many in- 

 stances impossible. It is a very simple matter to drop a needle 

 in a haystack, but finding the same needle is a matter of great 

 difficulty, although the entire quantity of hay, plus needle, 

 can be easily estimated. The character of these dififerent 

 bacteria are determined by the peculiarities of their growth 

 upon dififerent media, and some are capable of being recognized 

 by their microscopic appearance. It is a difficult matter to 

 recognize a few weed seeds in your hay or clover seed, until 



