No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 99 



a fine not exceeding- fifty dollars for neglecting- to clean milk cans and other 

 vessels before returning them to the original shipper. The law further pro- 

 vides that the prosecution can be brought by any person aggrieved by such 

 negligence. It is therefore not dependent for enforcement upon any health 

 officer or State official, as was supposed, but is available by the individual or 

 ordinary citizen whenever the occasion may warrant such action. 



Many dealers would ignore all sanitary requirements, and permit milk cans to 

 become so foul, filthy and odor-and-germ-laden that they were a public nui- 

 sance. Although the law has been in force only a few months, there is a mark- 

 ed change for the better, and the effect is salutary and beneficial in many 

 directions. Just "a few prosecutions of the more glaring offenders in a city 

 win produce a good moral effect. 



Local boards of health in the cities and boroughs will see to it that the law 

 is properly observed, and where delinquents will not take heed, prosecutions 

 will necessarily follow. 



Rusted and badly corroded milk cans are also a menace and should be con- 

 demned because of their unsanitary condition. Such cans can hardly ever 

 be placed in a sanitary condition even with careful treatment. 



LAW TO PROTECT PROPERTY OF DAIRYMEN. 



Another proposition now to be considered is a proposed act of Assembly to 

 prohibit unauthorized parties from the unlawful use and destruction of milk 

 cans and other receptacles employed in the transportation of milk and cream. 

 Such legislation is now being- enforced in other states, and as the loss from 

 this source aggregates thousands of dollars annually, there is no valid 

 reason against similar legislation in Pennsylvania. 



The brewery and bottling interests have special legislation for their pro- 

 lection against the willful des-truction of barrels, bottles, etc., and it is equally 

 important that the dairying interests should be similarly protected against 

 v.anton loss. The act should prohibit the selling, buying, destroying, in- 

 juring, disposing of or concealing of any milk or cream-can, jug, bottle 

 or jar belonging to such milk producer or dealer, under a severe penalty. 

 It should further provide against defiling or befouling in any manner any 

 such receptacles, thus affording additional protection against their misuse. 



GOOD, VERSUS BAD SYSTEMS IN BUTTER MAKING. 



In a certain state, the farmers living in the vicinity of one of the agricul- 

 tural experiment stations made butter until the hot days of July, and then 

 gave up the work because they were unable to make a product of g-ood 

 quality. Thfr cieam was then delivered to the college creamery, where, under 

 different methods, butter of a good quality was readily produced. 



It is a well known fact that entirely too large a percentage of the butter 

 produced in Pennsylvania during the warm months of the year is of such 

 poor quality that it seems imperative that new methods for the care of the 

 milk and cream and the manufacture of butter should be strenuously urged. 

 While it is claimed that age will have a deleterious effect upon the quality 

 of cream, and that the private dairy does not have a supply of cream suffi- 

 cient to warrant daily churning operations, it is equally well known that bac- 

 terial development in cream is largely influenced by temperature and clean- 

 liness. It is also a well known fact that the bad bacteria develop more rap- 

 idly than the desirable forms, and that to prevent the excessive development 

 of bacteria, the milk and cream should he kept cool, and the cream delivered 

 to the local creamery with greater frequency. The ordinary souring of milk is 

 due to the action of lactic bacteria on milk-sugar changing it to lactic acid. 

 After all has been considered, the same self-evident truths stand out pre-emi- 

 nent: Good clean milk produces rich cream, and when handled at a low tem- 

 perature and promptly converted into butter, there is but little doubt as to 

 its superior quality. 



It is a matter of genuine regret that this important question does not re- 

 ceive more frequent and careful attention at the farmers' institutes, and the 

 subject is broached here in order that the intelligent housewives and home- 

 makers may arrange to have this subject fully discussed at some of the com- 

 ing institutes. 



MORE PROFITABLE COWS NEEDED. 



Although some claim that now and then a herd of common cows may do as 

 well as the dairy or thoroughbred cows, an Increased number of the better 

 grade of cows is now found on the farms of the State. The thoroughbred 

 stock will, in the aggregate, show the largest financial g.ain. This fact is 

 substantiated by the number of dairym.en and farmers who are constantly 

 in quest of a better grade of animals, and the additional fact that sires are 

 now being introduced into many herds at fancy prices for the purpose of in- 

 creasing the herd with improved blood. 



