102 



rather than quality aud even at ihe expense of the latter ; it drives pa- 

 trons possessing rich-milk dairy herds aud those who feed liberally and 

 intelligently into private dairying ; it tempts the short-sighted and cun- 

 ning into dishonest practices ; aud tends in every way to demoralize the 

 creamery iudustr3\ 



" The relative value plan, i. e. that of paying each patron according 

 to tlie quality as well as the quantity of his milk, is sure sooner or later 

 CO supplant the present irrational system. The difficulty is the large 

 amount of work supposed to be of necessity incident to it." A just sys- 

 tem would require that all the milk received at the creameiy should be 

 sampled, tested, and valued. Under ordinary conditions so much time 

 aud labor would be required as to make it impracticable, but as the result 

 of the experimental inquiries reported in this bulletin the author pro. 

 poses a plan by which, in his belief, a large amount of labor can be 

 avoided. It may be outlined as follows : 



" Put the daily sample for each patron in amount proportional to his 

 daily deliveries, successively, as taken at the weigh tank, into a recep- 

 tacle containing a small amount of some efficient preservative which 

 will not interfere with the subsequent testing of the composite sample, 

 and after a certain number of days — say seven or ten — ascertain by a 

 single test the average quality of the patron's delivery for that period." 

 Objections to this plan are considered, and details of experiments are 

 given for finding a preserving agent and testing its value. 



"The method employed for testing the milk, fresh and preserved, is 

 that described in Bulletin No. 8 of the station, under the name of ' The 

 Tovva Station Milk Test' (See Experiment Station Record, Vol. II, p. 

 52). It is quite likely that any preserv^ative whose presence does not 

 interfere with the working of this test may be used without hindrance 

 in the method of Short — but in the absence of trials no positive state- 

 ment can be made." For the preserving agent three qualities are 

 essential: 



" (1) It must be an efficient preservative, holding unchanged the fat 

 content of the milk for the desired length of time. 



" (2) It must keep the sample in good mechanical condition, i. e. it 

 must neither curdle the milk nor allow curdling to take place, nor allow 

 the cream which rises iu the sample to form a tough pellicle, difficult of 

 uuiform distribution throughout the liquid by gentle agitation. 



" (3) It must not interfere with the working of the method by which 

 the milk is to be tested." 



In the trials here reported the agents, alone or in combination, giving 

 a more or less encouraging result are: carbolic acid, salicylic acid, sali- 

 cylate of soda, benzoate of soda, boric acid, mercuric chloride (corro- 

 sive sublimate), arsenic acid, arsenious acid, and alcohol. "Of this list 

 the onlj^ ones that have proved in all respects satisfactory are those con- 

 taining mercuric chloride and these have invariably been almost perfect 

 in their performance." 



