52 VERMONT DAIRYMEN'S REPORT. 



of their cow barns and milk rooms, and their free use of ice ; 

 in proportion, in short, to their study of economic dairy bacte- 

 riology, there will follow the improvement of the character of 

 their dairy products. Such procedure will tend to make their 

 products more uniform, more attractive to buyers and lead to 

 larger consumption. 



Some time ago a series of questions touching dairy opera- 

 tions were sent by the dairy division of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture to several heads of creameries the 

 country over. One of the questions was essentially as follows : 

 What one thing, if it could be brought about, would, more than 

 any other, help the dairy industry and dairy products in this 

 country? The overwhelming majority of the replies, not a 

 plurality, mind you, but a majority, stated that more care in the 

 handling of the milk after it was drawn from the cow and before 

 it reached the factory was the one thing needful. The dairy- 

 man himself is principally at fault in the matter, a fault which 

 may be remedied by a not unreasonable amount of care. The 

 discouraging feature of the matter, however, so far as it per- 

 tains to associate dairying, is that one bad mess of milk 

 drags down the entire lot to its low level ; it leaveneth the 

 lump. And not unnaturally th- dairyman says, " What avails 

 it for me to use care, to steam my cans, to ice my milk, to dip 

 it, to aerate it, to jacket my cans, to groom my cows, to feed 

 my dry fodder after milking, to ventilate my barn, only to have 

 my milk mixed at the creamery with John Doe's, who never 

 washes his cans, whose cows lie in filth and darkness and whose 

 milk must be well nigh sour when taken into the factory?" 

 John Doe's milk ought to be turned back from the weigh can. 

 The creamery taking John Doe's milk and making on that 

 account a poorer grade of butter ought not to get a good price for 

 it. Unfortunately in many localities, notably in this State, 

 creameries are so thickly located and competition is so keen 

 that generally John Doe can sell milk of pretty tough quality 

 to some one. And, moreover, rivalry between commission men 

 is sometimes sharp enough in certain markets to cause the pay- 

 ment of over-high prices for goods not strictly of a grade merit- 

 ing them. 



There are ways, however, in which any creamery which is 

 in earnest in this matter can grade up to some extent the quality 

 of its milk so far as it relates to bacterial content. 



(a) It can start a campaign of education among its 

 patrons. The dairy papers preach the gospel of cleanliness ; the 

 bulletins of the various experiment stations and in particular 

 those of the Dairy Division of the Department of Agriculture 

 explain the matter from A to Z in such a way that he who runs 

 may read ; the very unoriginal remarks I have been making 



