No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 549 



conditions, but with our ability to handle milk quickl}^ the use of 

 any of these measures becomes unnecessary if reasonably good care 

 is taken to keep the milk pure when it is being drawn from the cow 

 and before it leaves the farm. 



It is impracticable for the dairyman who cannot get an extra 

 price for his milk, to observe all the precautions that are enforced 

 upon farmers where certified milk is produced. But the quality 

 of most of our market milk could be greatly improved without any 

 additional expense. Care in keeping the stable clean and free from 

 dust at milking-time, the use of a brush upon the cow and a damp 

 cloth on her udder just before milking, the speralization of utensils 

 and the prompt cooling of milk, are the improvements needed upon 

 very many dairy farms. These cost nothing except a little careful 

 thought, and they will give results which will show at once in better 

 quality of milk; and if the dairyman's business ability is not lacking 

 they are likely to soon show also by better returns for his milk. 



THE PRODUCTION OE CERTIFIED MILK. 



By DR. C. J MARSHALL, Philadelphia.. 



The progress made in dairying in the past few years has been 

 extremely gratifying. Some of the best minds in the country have 

 been devoted to this work. The results of these efforts are made 

 known to us in the many books, bulletins, dairy papers, and agricul- 

 tural reports written on this subject. We are constantly gaining 

 valuable information through these various channels. There seems 

 to be no limit to the knowledge that should be utilized in managing 

 a dairy and its products. Preparation for this work should be made 

 as carefully as for the ministry, law, or for the practice of medicine. 

 After this careful preparation has been made, equally as much read- 

 ing and thinking should be done as is necessary for success in other 

 callings. In all the qualifications for success there are none that 

 are not useful in the dairy business. It requires superior work- 

 manship to produce the best goods in any line, and as dairymen we 

 should never be satisfied until we are able to produce the best in 

 the market. 



One of the most important branches of the dairy business is in 

 reference to producing milk and delivering it to its destination prac- 

 tically pure. Milk is easily contaminated and when it has become 

 so nothing can restore it to its original purity. There is less diffi- 

 culty to reason out plans for handling milk in such a way that it 

 will not become exposed to contamination than to get these plans 

 executed. 



One of the discouragements at present is that a person who may 

 observe the necessary precautions in handling milk may experience 

 difficulty in making his customers believe that his precautions are 

 necessary or that the milk produced under these careful conditions 

 is any more wholesome than milk handled in the ordinary way. 

 There is another class of people who are good salesmen and by ad- 

 vertising and talking can convince some people that the milk handled 

 by them has good qualities that it does not possess. 



