Dairy Bacteriology. 



By Prof. H. A. Hatcding, Bacteriologist Now York Agricultural Experimen 



Station. 



Notes which formed basis of Address at meeting of New York State Dairying's Associatio 



at Watertowu. 



Mr. President and Members: I begin this talk with fear, not 

 for lack of subject-matter, but for fear that I will use unintelligible 

 language. For I am to tell you of conclusions reached by the aid 

 of bacteriology, an infant science, and one which has only recently 

 begun to extend a helping hand to dairying. It is unfortunate for 

 us that I must mention the word bacillus, for the mere mention 

 of the word calls to mind a host of erroneous impressions and mis- 

 conceptions. If I were to talk about cattle or cheese I would have 

 the satisfaction of knowing that my auditors had a good idea of 

 the object that I was speaking of and would occasionally receive 

 sympathetic nods of approval. But when I tell you that I have 

 found a bacillus to be the cause of ropy milk, I feel alone here, 

 for there is only one other in this audience to contradict me. I 

 must necessarily beg you to stretch your imaginations to think of 

 bacteria, those minute things visible only under the microscope, 

 as units in nature, and deserving your serious attention. 



Ropy milk is of practical importance to the milk dealer and 

 consumer alone. The cheese-maker here is interested in this mat- 

 ter only in that it will explain a common phenomenon and one very 

 similar to that encountered by him in slippery whey. 



Objectionable on account of its unwholesome appearance, 

 change dealers with insinuations that the cows are not healthy, or 

 that you have weeds in the pastures, or that the feed is wrong. 

 Belief that it is garget milk. Ropy, not slimy, when drawn. 

 Garget milk is slimy when drawn. 



Cause. — A bacillus, not a disease producer. Erroneous idea of 

 medical side of bacteriology. 



A harmless mass of viscid slime, living in water naturally, and 

 which would not of his own accord harm milk. Unfortunately for 



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