Vermont Dairymen's Association. 35 



A member : — One question I want to ask this Association. I 

 had an experience last summer that I have never had before in 

 fifteen years : During the summer I had two lots of nice milk 

 thicken before I went to the creamery in the morning, and to 

 my wife's and my taste it had not changed a mite in sourness, 

 but you could dip your hand into it and take it up and it would 

 lie upon your hand and cpiiver like jelly. Can you explain it? 



President Bruce:—! cannot, I will call upon Mr. Eddy. 



Mr. Eddy : — I am not an encyclopedia and I never have 

 seen anything of that sort so I cannot answer the question. 



Mr. Ruddick : — That is quite a common thing, the spon- 

 taneous curdling of milk, which is a species of fermentation 

 different from that that causes the souring of milk. It is due to 

 the action of certain germs in the milk. I have seen this occur 

 on various occasions. Sometimes it has become in some parts of 

 our country rather a serious trouble because the milk is prac- 

 tically useless for butter or cheese making. The only thing 

 to do when that kind of disease (because it is a disease) breaks 

 out in your dairy is to take especial pains to remove or trace 

 the infection by the most thorough and systematic disinfection of 

 the whole surroundings. Sometimes the germs are from the 

 creamery or cheese factory in the way the skim milk is turned 

 into the cans and it has proA^en at times a rather difficult thing 

 to handle ; sometimes have to clean the whole premises, and 

 sometimes the premises of the neighbors or of the factory, if it 

 is infected, to get rid of the fermentation. It is a fermentation 

 the same as souring is. only differs in different fermentation. 



Secretary Davis : — If it had been aerated would it have made 

 any difference? 



Prof. Ruddick : — Anything that is liable to check the fer- 

 mentation. 



A member : — I wish to thank the gentleman for his ex- 

 planation. I have known one other instance of its acting in that 

 way. I had seen a good many of my neighbors bringing thick 

 milk home from the factory, but when I had to leave it at 

 home before I started I thought something had happened. 



Prof. Ruddick : — Your thorough cleaning probably did not 

 remove the source of the infection. It might have come from 

 the surroundings. We think a good suggestion would be to 

 move the cans and milk vessels to some other place for the 

 time being because there is a danger that the milk is being 

 infected by some of the surroundings. I do not think that the 

 electrical storm had anything to do with the occurrence, as a 

 matter of fact the electric current is used in certain ways to 

 destroy fermentation and to sterilize the milk. We all know that 

 when there is a thunder storm that the milk usually does sour 



