58 Seventeenth Annual Report of the 



8. Milk which has been diluted with water or any other fluid, or to which 

 has been added or into which has been introduced any foreign substance 

 whatever. 



When the Agricultural Law was first passed the standard now 

 existing for milk, as above quoted, was enacted in substance and 

 the work done by the Department of Agriculture as to milk was 

 largely to stop the adulteration of milk by adding thereto any 

 foreign substance. At that time milk being sold for consump- 

 tion was largely adulterated in this way, to the disadvantage of 

 both the consumer and producer of that commodity. It was 

 thought that if this could be stopped, the result would be bene- 

 ficial to two classes of the community which embraced the entire 

 community, namely, the producer of the commodity and all the 

 consumers. The law apparently, however, was happily worded 

 in such way that more ground could be covered when the neces- 

 sity for it became apparent. It is a well known fact that to-day 

 milk is drawn from nearly every portion of the state, some of it 

 from distances varying from a few miles to 500, being drawn 

 from the extreme western and northern parts of the state to the 

 city of New York. It is conceded that this condition of things 

 has been brought about by the stopping of the sale of the adul- 

 terated commodity, that is, the commodity that has been adulter- 

 ated by adding thereto foreign substances. Recent developments 

 have, however, made it quite apparent to those who have given 

 the subject careful consideration that something more is needed 

 in the interest of the consuming public than that the milk shall 

 be delivered to the consumer without the adulterations that are 

 simply made from the commercial standpoint, so that, in addi- 

 tion to the ordinary surveillance of the milk supply Avithin the 

 state, namely, of trying to stop natural adulteration, I have en- 

 deavored to make additional improvements to the product by 

 examinations of the milk gathering stations and plants or places 

 where the animals are kept and the milk is produced, with a view 

 of improving the sanitary conditions and surroundings where 

 needed, to the end that the product shall go to the consumer in 

 both a cleanly and healthful condition. To do this required a 

 great amount of work, as there are in the state 439 stations 

 called milk gathering stations where milk is bought or received 



