Vermo^tt DAiRYisrEN's Association. 31 



conscientiously say "Not guilty" to every count in this in- 

 dictment but at the same time I am sure that you will admit 

 perhaps that most of your neighbors would be found guilty on 

 at least a few of these counts. 



To be sure there have been great improvements in creamery 

 apparatus and methods within the last few years and with the 

 aid of clarifiers, pasteurizers and commercial starters the cream- 

 ery man is able to turn out a fair product even when battling 

 against a discouraging indifference on the part of the patrons. 

 But improved methods and apparatus in the creamery have not 

 done away with the necessity for cleanliness on the part of the 

 patrons. It is as essential now as it ever was that milk should 

 be produced under sanitary conditions, INIilk is one of the chief 

 articles of food, especially for the young, and hundreds of dis- 

 ease epidemics have been traced directly to the milk supply. 



When the public health is so vitally concerned surely it is 

 not officious intermeddling with private business to insist upon 

 the observance of reasonable precautions that have for their pur- 

 pose the prevention of contamination. 



But the requirements must be reasonable, the ordinary 

 farmer cannot be expected to realize the standard set by such 

 p firm as the Deerfoot Company of Southboro, Mass., for in- 

 stance, where the barn is a sanitary model, the cows carefully 

 cleaned each day, the manure removed to a distance. 



Where the milkers wash themselves thoroughly, put on 

 clean white overalls and jumpers and carefully clean the cow's 

 flank and udder before milking. Where the milk as soon as 

 drawn from the cow is taken to a separate compartment where 

 it is immediately taken care of according to the most approved 

 sanitary methods. To require this of the ordinary farmer would 

 be unreasonable. 



It would put him out of the dairy business for it requires 

 considerable capital and in order to make it pay prices consider- 

 ably above the average must be secured. 



But it is not asking too much to require that the cow stable 

 be kept clean and ventilated, that the manure be disposed of in 

 such a manner as to avoid contamination of the air in and around 

 the cow stable, that the cowls' bodies be kept clean and that thev 

 be sup])Hed with an abundance of pure water, that the milk be 

 properlv strained and cooled and kept where it will be free from 

 contamination until delivered to the creamery. 



It requires but a few moments for the milker to wash his 

 hands, brush the dust from his overalls and from the flank and 

 udder of the cow before milking, but it results in a wonderful 

 improvement in the quality of the milk. And yet how few 

 there are who take these few simple precautions ! 



I think that when these precautions are taken the farmer 



