960 'N'EW York State Daikymex's Association 



this station. Twelve dairymen attended the lirst niectinii- at 

 which I told them that one of the requirements would be the tuber- 

 culin testing' of dairy cattle. At this aiuiouneement nine of the 

 gentlemen left the meeting and three remained for further 

 discussion. 



The second requirement T mentioned was the use of covered 

 milking pails to be washed and sterilized at the central station, 

 and the coolin<>' of nii'-ht's milk with ice. This was agreed to and 

 business was commenced more than two years ago. For the first 

 three months, to mj astonishment, the laboratory tests made in the 

 city failed to show any improvement in the quality of the milk. 

 I sent a bacteriologist to the station at Homer with laboratory 

 equipment and instructions to test the milk of each farmer as it 

 was brought in in the morning, and to offer one-quarter cent a 

 quart to each man who furnished milk below 10,000 bacteria per 

 cubic centimeter. On the day that this was done the tests of the 

 milk suddenly dropped from several hundred thousand bacteria 

 to less than 10,000. This was sufficient to convince me that the 

 testing of the milk by the laboratory in the station and the pay- 

 ment to the farmer of a premium for his efforts at cleanliness 

 were necessary to stimulate him in carrying out the sanitary 

 measures required. 



The number of farmers rapidly increased from three in Febru- 

 ary, 1911, to twenty -nine in the month of June, and to seventy- 

 one by the following October. The volume of milk increased from 

 000 quarts to over 14,000 quarts per day dtiring the flush season. 

 The station is still in operation. Each dairy farmer as he drives 

 up to the station with his load of milk, at*er discharging it at the 

 receiving door, drives on to another door where he is furnished 

 with a complete outfit of clean sterilized milk cans and covered 

 milking pails, sufficient for both morning's and night's milk. 

 Cans and pails are both fitted with tight tin covers to protect them 

 from dust during transportation. Samples are taken from a can 

 of both morning's and night's milk of each dairy farmer bv the 

 laboratory assistant at the station, so that he niay test them both 

 for l)utter fat and for baetei'ia. The milk is poured into two 

 large receiving vats, one for milk from herds which are tuberculin 



