9 



tical business proposition. The man who knows that the milk he is 

 using- or drinking- is produced in absolutely clean and sanitary surround- 

 ings, has a keener appetite for the same. The man who eats butter is 

 much more likely to want a second helping if he knows that the butter 

 has been produced by cleanly methods from clean and sanitary milk. So 

 with cheese and all milk products. 



Farmers who supply milk for butter or cheese making should take 

 as much care of the milk as those who produce milk for bottling purposes. 

 A thing that is worth doing at all is worth doing well, and one of the 

 things a dairyman must learn is absolute cleanliness, a cleanliness dif- 

 ferent from what they have ever considered before. The first thing to be 

 borne in mind is that milk is naturally a pure product. If any milk is 

 found unclean, unwholesome, or disproportioned in its component parts, 

 the chances are it is not the fault of the cow. In all such cases the pre- 

 sumption is that some person is to blame, either the one who cares for 

 the cow or the one who handles the milk. Milk containing a large amount 

 of sediment is suspicious. Particles of dirt are a sign that germs are 

 abundant. This unclean milk may be dangerous as well as disgusting. 

 What would you think of finding a teaspoonful of sediment at the bottom 

 of one quart of milk? And yet I have seen it. We consume more filth 

 in our milk than in any other article of food. 



The secret of milk preservation lieb in these two rules : First, clean- 

 liness ; second, keep at a low temperature; and it must be classed as a 

 piece of good fortune that a food product of such value and widespread 

 use can be maintained by the observance of so few and so simple pre- 

 cautions. 



In the handling of milk from the cow to consumer, use as few ves- 

 sels as possible, the fewer the better. We want clean cows, clean milkers 

 with clean hands, clean and well ventilated stables, clean strainers, pails, 

 and separators. It is well to form the habit of milking quickly and cool- 

 ing quickly. 



W 7 e cannot have milk that is right, and do the milking in a stable 

 that is full of floating life. Now, what is the cause of all our trouble? 

 The first thing that impresses one as very objectionable is the dirty con- 

 dition of the cows. I sometimes wonder why it is that the horses are so 

 well cared for while the faithful dairy cow hardly knows the touch of a 

 brush. The plain fact is that more or less dirt and unseen millions of 

 bacteria fall ir o the milk pail. Those who use separators and see all 

 the impurities which come out of the milk, have a fair idea of how much 

 this amounts to, and I may say that it is a good deal more than it should 

 be in an article of food. 



To determine definitely the amount of filth that gets into milk during 

 the process of milking, and how much this can be lessened by washing 

 the udders, the following comparison was made. It was determined 

 after several trials with three different milkers, that it requires an average 

 of 4! minutes to milk a cow. A glazed dish 11 inches in diameter, the 

 size of an ordinary milk pail was placed in the top of a pail and held 



