New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 445 



the amount of fat contained therein and use for ascertaining the 

 amount of such fat what is known as the Babcock test, the 

 bottles used in such test shall before such use be examined by 

 the director of the New York Experiment Station at Geneva. 

 If such bottles are found to be properly constructed and gradu- 

 ated so as to accurately show the amount of fat contained in 

 milk, each of them shall be legibly and indelibly marked S. B." 



The director of the station knew nothing of the passage of 

 this law until some time after it was placed on the statute books 

 and for that reason was not prepared to comply with its pro- 

 visions as soon, nor to the extent desirable in a law of that 

 class. Before we were able to get a marking device perfected 

 that would comply with the provisions of the law, some bottles 

 came with the request that they be returned at an early date. 

 In order to accommodate these first applicants we resorted to the 

 use of a copper tag with S. B. stamped on that and returned the 

 tested bottles with the understanding that we should, as soon as 

 we could, recall those bottles and properly mark them. Some 

 of those bottles have been returned but the others are still out 

 and should be returned and legally marked. We use for that 

 purpose an air pressure sand blast and a stencil with the letters 

 S. B. cut in it. 



The law as now worded is a step in the right direction, but 

 other provisions should be added in order to cover the whole 

 ground in such a way that there can be no misunderstanding of 

 the requirements. The inspection should cover all Babcock 

 bottles used to determine the per ct. of fat in the milk, whether 

 the milk is purchased outright or divided on a cooperative plan. 

 The pipette and all other glassware as well as the bottles should 

 be tested and marked. The use of mutilated or falsified glass- 

 ware should be forbidden under penalty severe enough to deter 

 the shrewd maker from breaking off the tip of the pipette or 

 similar dishonest practices in order to show a small percentage 

 of fat and consequent large overrun of butter. This fraudulent 

 manipulation of the test is one of the factors which has tended 

 to give the impression that the system is not correct. A farmer 



