New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 29 



included a regular and systematic inspection of all the dairies 

 furnishing milk to the city, the grading of these dairies on the 

 basis of a score card, the publishing of the scores given to the sev- 

 eral farms and payment for the milk somewhat on the basis of the 

 sanitary quality of the product. The dairies were classified as 

 excellent, good, medium and poor. The initial inspection showed 

 that 37.5 per ct. were " poor," 57.5 per ct. " medium," and 5 

 per ct. '^ good." After three years of inspection and publicity 

 of the results, the first quarter of the fourth year showed that 12.8 

 per ct. of the dairies ranked as " excellent," 87.2 per ct. as 

 " good," the " medium " and " poor " grades having entirely dis- 

 appeared. This desirable result was made possible through the 

 co-operation of the board of health of the city and the milkmen. 

 A similar result may be secured in any of the smaller cities of the 

 State if similar means are adopted. One fact should be borne in 

 mind, however, that dairv farmers and milk dealers will not un- 



7 7 t/ 



dertake the labor and expense necessary to the production and sale 

 of clean milk unless the consumer is willing to pay a price com- 

 mensurate with the cost of the milk delivered at his door. 



One of the innovations in dairy farming is the milking machine. 

 When this machine was first introduced, questions were at once 

 raised as to its efficiency and economy. It was important to know 

 what the efi^ect of the machine would be on the sanitary quality 

 of the milk, and whether its continued use would affect the quantity 

 of milk produced, or would cause troubles with the udder of the 

 cow. It seemed to the management of the Station that these were 

 among the questions that it should attempt to answer. The first 

 results of our inquiries in this direction that were made public 

 related to the influence of the milking machine on the germ con- 

 tent of the milk. The conclusions reached were based upon 

 numerous and long continued observations. The investigation re- 

 quired a study of numerous factors involved in the use of the 

 milking machine, such as operation of filters, treatment of the 

 rubber parts of the machine with septicides, and so on. After 

 considerable experience and the attainment of the desirable con- 



