DAIRY WORK AT THE EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 3G3 



the more common forms are numbered by liundreds. Many of these 

 tests have been made in connection with dairy-srliool work. Consider- 

 ing that under these conditions the nmchines are run by inexperienced 

 persons for practice, although under the general supervision of an 

 instrnctor, it can hardly be expected that very reliable results will be 

 secured, and such work can certainly not be regarded as of very high 

 character for an experiment station. The dairy school is usually of 

 short duration and its function is essentially educational. Kesults 

 obtained incidentally under such circumstances as to the efhciency of 

 dairy ai)paratu-^, can hardly be said to constitnte a fair trial of the 

 apparatus or to carry any considerable amount of conviction. They are 

 usually not satisfactory to the manufacturers aside from those whose 

 machines have made the best showings, and they involve the stations 

 in altercations and submit them to charges of doing unreliable work, 

 which they may have dilticulty in refuting. As far as the published 

 work is concerned, it seems far better to divorce entirely the station 

 work in this line, as in others, from the instructional work of the col- 

 lege. In regard to the testing of separators and other dairy apparatns, 

 it may be questioned whether the time has not come when this nmy be 

 discontinued, as far as the common makes and forms are concerned, and 

 limited to new forms or improvements which make their appearance. 

 Beyond doubt the work which has been done has been extremely use- 

 ful in enabling the stations to give advice as to the kinds and sizes 

 of separators, and in keeping out of the market or limiting the sale of 

 inferior makes. The relative merits of the different kinds have been 

 quite generally determined uiuler a variety of conditions, and the data 

 already accumulated have been compiled and summarized, making it 

 possible for any station to intelligently give advice in the selection of 

 apparatus as called upon. It has been apparent for some time that 

 the method of handling the machine influences the results, and some 

 recent work has brought out marked ditFerences between individual 

 separators of the same make and model. Moreover, the machines are 

 undergoing modification from time to time, and new forms make their 

 appearance, which give the figures obtained only a transient compara- 

 tive value. 



For the more advanced experimental work, at least, the cor»peration 

 of the agriculturist or dairyman Avith other members of the station 

 staff" is very desirable, and indeed almost essential to thorough work. 

 Tills is too often overlooked, and Ave find the agriculturist or dairyman 

 carrying on experiments without the aid or cotiperation of the (diemist 

 or bacteriologist. This frecjuently accounts for deficiencies in the work, 

 and lays it opeii to criticism, for thorough as may have been the train- 

 ing of the agriculturist or dairyman, he can hardly expect to carry 

 on himself the chemical analysis necessary to exact work, and it is 

 expecting too much of the I>abcock test to rely upon it as the sole aid 

 in such experiments. 



