Timely Hints for Farmers. 89 



CARE OF MILK FOR THE FACTORY. 

 No. 10, February 15. 



A consideration of the subject of the care of milk upon the 

 ranch is always timely. It is especially so at this time of the year. 

 If any special provision is to be made for better methods of hand- 

 ling the cows and the milk during the trying summer season, now 

 is the time to do it, before the warm weather sets in. 



With the great lack of cold water upon our farms the problem 

 of getting milk to the factory in the best of condition is not an 

 easy one to solve. Many dairymen are careless or indifferent con- 

 cerning it, and others, knowing this, argue that it is useless for 

 them to take good care of their milk if it is to be contaminated at 

 the factory by being mixed with the bad milk of their neighbors. 

 And there is some reason in their argument. As a chain is no 

 stronger than its weakest link, so a day's make of butter or cheese 

 at the factory cannot be very much better than what would have 

 been made from the poorest lot of milk alone. Most milk faults 

 are contagious and milk coming to the factory sour or tainted 

 should invariably be rejected. Any man who so disregards, not 

 only his own interests, but those of his fellow patrons, as to deliver 

 foul milk at the factory should suffer this penalty at least. To re- 

 ject bad milk is the creameryman's only means of defending him- 

 self and his other patrons against the few wilfully careless and ig- 

 norant, and in justice to all ccncerned it must be done. No cream- 

 ery man likes to turn away a patron, however, and no patron can 

 afford to have his milk refused. If a few general principles con- 

 cerning the handling of milk are understood and acted upon it 

 need not be necessary. 



In the first place it should be understood that the souring and 

 other fermentations of milk are not normal changes. They take 

 place as a result of the growth in the milk of minute forms of life 

 called germs, or bacteria. These germs are so small that they are 

 to be seen only by the use of a powerful microscope, but they repro- 

 duce themselves with great rapidity. Milk as it is formed in the 

 udder of the healthy cow is free from these germs and, if it could 

 be drawn without exposure to the air, into a closed vessel, equally 

 germ free, it would remain in a sweet condition indefinitely. 



