Thirty-sixth Annual Convention 963 



mium for richness, because his butter fat was above 3.7 per cent.^' 

 wliich is the standard set bj this station. 



Now as to the results of the practice of this system of milk 

 production at Homer. Many thousands of tests for bacteria have 

 been made at this plant. During the first year and a half the 

 work was done bv a graduate of the ]\rassachusetts Institute 

 of Technology, who while acting as bacteriologist to the sta- 

 tion was also superintendent of the plant. During the last three 

 months the work has been done by a young man recently gradu- 

 ated from the local high school, who was trained under the 

 former bacteriologist to carry on this work. The ordinary ship- 

 ping station could hardly afford to pay the salary of a high-class 

 bacteriologist. The counting of milk by the plate method for 

 bacteria is, however, not a complicated or mysterious process, 

 but something which can be mastered by any young man with a 

 high school education. A training of only a few weeks is neces- 

 sary to instruct such a man in the methods sufficient to enable him 

 to make tests which can be relied upon. This makes it possible 

 for any shipping station having a reasonable volume of business 

 to afford this kind of tests. Tests of the milk from each dairy 

 farm at Homer have been made by the bacteriologist of the De- 

 partment of Health of the City of ]^ew York, who sent representa- 

 tives to the station to take their own samples and made the an- 

 alyses in 'New York City. Tests have also been made on several 

 occasions by bacteriologists who have visited the plant and have 

 remained there for the several days necessary to carry out the 

 tests in the laboratory at the station. All of these tests have 

 united to show that the fanners are bringing milk to the station 

 which contains numbers of bacteria much smaller than can be 

 lound in milk brought to shipping stations where such a system 

 as this is not practiced. The company has been informed that 

 among 1,000 or more stations shipping milk to New York City 

 this is the only station whose milk is all in Class A. Its greatest 

 market has been the 55 stores operated by the JSTew York City De- 

 partment of Health for the feeding of infants. During the past 

 summer all of the milk supplied to these stores came from the 

 Homer station, and during the hot months as many as 14,000 



