Pkoceedings of Seventeenth Koemal Institute 187 



agreed upon at that time was twelve per cent o± solids, of which 

 three should be fat. Since that time the solids have been reduced 

 to eleven and one-half per cent, leaving the fat at three per cent. 



At the same time a Dairy Commissioner was appointed to see 

 that the law was enforced. The outcome of this law has been 

 that the consumer has no-t been furnished with milk of a quality 

 very much above the legal limit ; but it has largely stopped 

 adulteration with water. At the present time there are a large 

 number of consumers who would like to purchase a higher grade 

 of milk than that ordinarily retailed, but find it difficult to obtain 

 it in most towns. Certified milk with a guaranteed percentage 

 of butter fat is too expensive for the average consumer. In 

 reckoning the money value of various kinds of food which are 

 offered for sale, the net energy which they will produce is the 

 unit which is used to determine their relative economy. In dis- 

 cussing this question of the retailing of raw milk I do not see any 

 reason why the same rule should not be used. 



The State Board of Health has established rules for the sale 

 of milk from the standpoint of its healthfulness, dividing it into 

 classes for cleanliness as determined by the inspection of the 

 dairies and the number of bacteria per cubic centimeter. Under 

 these rules the retailer is responsible for the proper branding of 

 his milk according to these different classes. 



The object in formulating these rules was to conserve the pub- 

 lic health by insuring them a cleaner and better milk, but they 

 do not grade the milk according to its real food value, which de- 

 pends on the amount of solids present. 



Legal milk, under the present law, contains 11^ per cent of 

 solids, of which 3 per cent is fat. One hundred pounds of that 

 milk made into butter, with good methods, would produce three 

 pounds and six ounces of butter. Selling it at thirty cents a 

 pound, and allowing the skim milk to be worth twenty-five cents, 

 we have a total value for the one hundred pounds of milk of one 

 dollar and twenty cents, or two and seven-tenths cents a quart. 



One hundred pounds of 4-per-cent milk handled in the same 

 way would give a value of one dollar and sixty cents, or three 

 and four-tenths cents a quart. On the same basis 5 per cent milk 

 would give a value of one dollar and ninety-three cents or four 

 and one-tenth cents a quart. Since the casein increases about 



