752 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



guilty; that her milk as it was drawn from the udder was free from 

 micro-organisms if the fore milk was rejected. This is known to be 

 not quite true She docs contribute a small quota to the general 

 assemblage; and all the cleansing of bain, and dairy, and occupants 

 will not avail here, for we cannot cleanse the inside of a cow's udder. 

 But we may defer almost all of the bacteria from entering the milk 

 after it leaves the udder. 



There are three ways of fighting the bacteria in milk. 



They may be kept out. 



They may be killed out. 



They may be caused to commit race suicide. 



Exclusion, destruction, isolation! All good — but the best way and 

 one not of necessity expensive is so far as may be to include them. 



Now I do not mean again to rehearse the story of cleanliness in 

 the dahy. Its an old story, and folks are tired of it. I do want, 

 however, to say a word or two about the sanitary milk pail. 



Much of the dirt which gets into milk tangible, and intangible, 

 visible and invisible, that which may be seen on the cheese cloth 

 strainer, and that which dissolves and passes through — dandruff, 

 hairs, flecks of dried manure, bacteria and the like — fall into the milk 

 from above during the process of milking. Now straining milk 

 through cheese cloth only removes a part of this material. The 

 situation can be bettered to a marked degree, the keeping quality of 

 the milk be enhanced, and the likelihood that the milk w r ill make 

 good butter be increased by attention to a few details that are 

 neither costly in money or time, nor difficult to install. 



1. Wipe udder and abdomen with a slightly damp cloth imme- 

 diately before milking. 



2. Provide milkers with clean clothes for use at milking time. 



3. Fill the seams of dairy utensils with solder and use some form 

 of the sanitary or dirt-excluding milking pails. 



There are several forms of the latter. One is a covered pail with 

 a 4 inch funnel covered with wire gause into which fits a loose ring 

 whereby may be fastened in a few layers of cheese cloth. Another 

 is a closed pail with a large opening covered with a wire mesh, 

 cheese cloth and absorbent cotton. And still a third and very prac- 

 tical pail is one with a shoulder and a hood, or visor, which is other- 

 wise open. According as this is held the amount of dirt entering 

 the pail may be cut down from GO to 90 per cent. 



If now after the bacteria have been thus excluded their growth 

 and multiplication are checked by low temperatures, one may feel 

 fairly certain that the milk will have a lease of life almost as great 

 as that of a ton of coal during a cold wave. 



Doped milk is one of the dangers of the market milk trade, one of 

 its great temptations. What is science's latest say-so as to em- 

 balming processes? 



Dr. Wiley of the U. S. Department of Agriculture has contributed 

 the first piece of positive information we have had on this subject. 

 Claims and counter-claims have been made as to the harmlessness 

 or harmfulness of chemical preservatives. He, however, is in a fair 

 way to settle the matter by direct experimentation with his "poison 

 squad," a lot of young men of vigorous health to whom under care- 

 ful restrictions and constant medical supervision the borax com- 

 pounds, common preservatives, have been fed. Without going into 



