188 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



DAIRY HYGIE)NE). 



By Du. M. E. Conaki). Wfstgrove, Pa. 



In discussing the importance of dairy hygiene, we are confronted 

 by the man}' prejudiced impressions m the minds of people who seem 

 to think that we are advocating an entirely new thought and prin- 

 ciple, possibl3% for self gratification only, which, if put into practice, 

 must entail burdensome inconve^iience and expense upon the pro- 

 duct" of dairy products, which bring in no adequate return or com- 

 pensation. If this view of the subject is a correct one, the life of the 

 new departure will be short, and we shall soon return to the "good 

 old days"' of the wooden milk bucket and earthen milk pan, with all 

 their accompanying adjuncts in the dairy industry. 



However, modern life has its needs, and those needs show little 

 respect for i-logical prejudice. The days when every man could go 

 oi:t to the forests and streams and kill what food he needed are 

 past. Our food supply is now often drawn from remote sections of 

 the I'O'.mtiy. The farmer of one-half century ago, driving his cattle 

 along dusty miles of road to market, finds a curious comvterpart in 

 tli(! modein stock raiser, who sends his cattle a thousand miles to 

 the; stock yards, without leading the comforts of his own home for a 

 single nighl, and receives the returns for their sale at his own door. 



The conditions surrounding the rearing of live stock, and the 

 marketing of their products are matters of the greatest importance 

 to oiir railroads as well as to the consuming public. They fre- 

 quently demand local or State investigation, and are often a topic 

 for international discussion. I>ad health amo«gst our live stock, 

 and the consequent unhealthfulness of their products, affects our 

 geiieral foreign trade; for it is recognized that man and the lower 

 aLJmals in a greater or less degree affect eacli other, and that some 

 diseases can be transmitted from man to brute, and from brute to 

 man. An facts that can reduce the spread of contagion are, there- 

 fore, of the highest importance to man, and those engaged in increas- 

 ing aaid disseminating our knowledge of them should be classed as 

 public benefactors. 



The commercial conditions of to-day have called into existence 

 hundreds of (rowded towns and cities, in which wholesome food 

 is iin absolute necessity, and in which unwholesome or infected food 



