EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS 245 



Whenever ropiness does exist, it may generally with safety be attributed 

 to foreign and transient bacteria, which gain access to the milk, perhaps 

 accidentally. They sweep down upon a dairy unexpectedly and appar- 

 ently without a cause; but if the soil, the water, and the air; the cans, 

 the stables, and milk houses could be accurately examined, in fact all 

 those things which surround and have to do with a dairy, the avenue by 

 which they entered would be discovered. 



Many countries have been witness to this disease. In Norway, they 

 make use of this ropy milk in the preparation of a drink, called Tattem- 

 jolk. The people place the leaves of the butterwort in the milk and the 

 fermentation follows. Bacteria which would give rise to the same con- 

 dition have been found on these leaves. In Holland, Edam cheese is 

 manufactured from slimy milk. Many cases have been reported from 

 Switzerland and Austria. France and other countries have had their 

 share of this disease. To gain the exact extent of this condition in the 

 United States is impossible. When the information is voluntary and 

 comes from individuals who have been afflicted, reliance can be given; 

 but when the information is sought from dairymen or milk-men, they will 

 evade the question lest it might work harm to them. A few voluntary 

 contributions have been given in "Hoard's Dairyman." These cover 

 about two years and are simply representative of the extent of territory 

 involved and time cf occurence. Doubtless a very small fraction of one 

 per cent is represented by these individuals. In most cases, these con- 

 tributions are in the form of queries and have been reduced to the mini- 

 mum by eliminating all that has no bearing upon the matter in hand. 

 Whenever the feeding is introduced, it is allowed to remain because it is 

 a common opinion that the feeding is the real cause of the trouble. 



The first case was located at Trenton, N. J., and occurred in the summer 

 of 1893, beginning about the middle of July and lasting till about the first 

 of August. The pastures were dry and short during the time. That the 

 individual might ascertain whether the trouble originated from the food 

 or pasture, he tested both and tried each cow's milk by itself, but failed to 

 find the cause. 



In October, 1893, a dairyman in Illinois stated that he had been visited 

 by the ropy milk plague, and that it had appeared for a day or a week at 

 a time since the middle of July. At certain periods it was very noticeable, 

 at other times it was hardly perceptible. The whey tank was cleaned and 

 the whey scalded every day; when not scalded it would appear like soft 

 soap upon dipping the next morning. The curd would not cook firmly 

 when the milk was ropy; cheese made from it lacked in flavor and an un- 

 pleasant taste was also present, while the keeping qualities were not satis- 

 factory. 



A man living near Memphis, Tenn., and running a dairy of forty cows, 

 wrote as follows: "In runniBg my dairy of forty cows, I have been 

 troubled the last week with my milk 'roping.' Please tell me the cause. 

 The cows were changed from a pasture, where there was running water, to- 

 one of corn stalks and cotton stalks, where the water was a pond in the 

 field. I am feeding cotton hulls, a chop of corn, oats, and oil meal mixfd 

 together. Milk would turn ropy in about twelve hours. I buy corn and 

 oats from a feed store." This happened in January, 1894. Another case 

 was reported from Chillicothe, Mo., in April, 1894, where the milk re- 

 mained sweet. It was set in deep cans in ice water. A simple query came 

 from Massachusetts, in September, 1894, stating that the trouble existed. 



