ANNUAL REPORT. ix 



milk. For some years past this price has been less than the 

 value, and even less than the cost of the milk, but the farm- 

 ers have acceded to the terms. If the season proves 

 favorable and the pastures are good, the amount produced 

 may exceed the demand for pure milk, of which only from 

 sixty to seventy per cent, is required to make the amount 

 distributed to the consumers ; in that case the contractor 

 turns it back upon the farmer. 



If the season proves a bad one the farmer gets no more for 

 the lessened supply, so that in either case he is the loser. 



By an act of the last legislature the Board of Health, 

 Lunacy and Charity is made the guardian of the public 

 against such frauds as the adulteration of milk, and empow- 

 ered to appoint inspectors to take samples, analyze milk, 

 and to prosecute fraudulent dealers. 



In this work the officers of the Board have been thorough, 

 and their investigations reveal the fact that a very small part 

 of the milk sold in Boston is genuine. It is, for the most 

 part, skimmed, extended with water, re-colored with cara- 

 mel, and it is often treated with boracic acid that it mav be 

 kept in the dealer's possession longer than would be possible 

 if it was in a natural condition. 



This fraudulent manipulation is not attributed to the milk- 

 producers, nor to the contractors who collect the product 

 and sell it at wholesale ; it is the vice of the retailer who 

 distributes it from house to house. 



This systematic adulteration affects the farmers in two 

 ways : it adds about thirty per cent, to the gross supply of 

 milk, thus meeting the demand to that extent; and the fact, 

 that milk is so well known to be adulterated has the effect 

 of lessening its free use. 



This condition of affairs would seem to indicate a co-ope- 

 ration between producers and consumers, as the proper 

 remedy for an abuse that affects not merely comfort and 

 luxury, but assails the health of children. It is, however, 

 a discouraging fact that the public take little interest in the 

 matter. So long as a fluid that has the appearance of milk 

 is served early at their doors, few ask questions. Many 

 wealthy families who unhesitatingly use a food compounded 

 by unscrupulous peddlers, take pains and are at expense to 



