EDITORIAL. 705 



however salutary in purpose, are promulgated without sufficient con- 

 sideration as to their necessity or practicability, friction in their en- 

 forcement is well-nigh inevitable. It is the function of science to 

 forestall the possibility, in the zeal for improvement, of arbitrary re- 

 quirements and consequent injustice by providing a definite answer 

 as to what conditions are fair and essential. 



The experiment stations and the Dairy Division of this Depart- 

 ment, as was frequently pointed out at the meeting, have been promi- 

 nent among the many agencies instrumental in supplying informa- 

 tion along these lines. A resolution was adopted by the association 

 endorsing the work of the Dairy Division, and especially that per- 

 taining to its market milk investigations. The stations have not, of 

 course, been directly engaged in enforcing inspection laws, but mat- 

 ters relating to inspection problems have received careful attention, 

 and much of their work has been fundamental. The composition and 

 properties of milk, its cost of production, the effect of various dairy 

 practices on its quality, and many other factors have been studied, 

 and knowledge acquired which has been useful in the drafting and 

 administration of fair and adequate regulations and also in many 

 other ways. For instance, early in the history of the stations, the 

 invention of the Babcock test at the Wisconsin Station in 1890 pro- 

 vided a means of rapidly ascertaining the fat content of milk and 

 cream in place of the former cumbersome and time-consuming extrac- 

 tion methods, and its adoption not only facilitated the campaign 

 against adulteration by skimming but led to far-reaching changes in 

 the whole dairy industry by its intimate relations to herd improve- 

 ment and similar phases. 



It is probable that the stations have also rendered much useful 

 service by dispelling popular prejudice against certain dairy methods 

 and showing that these were unobjectionabje. As an example, the in- 

 troduction of the silo has revolutionized dairy practice in this coun- 

 try, yet for many years there was a strong prejudice on the part of 

 some consumers against milk from cows fed corn silage. The studies 

 of the Wisconsin Station, reported in 1897, and of the Illinois Station 

 reported in 1905 demonstrated that corn silage, fed under proper pre- 

 cautions, did not produce objectionable flavors in milk and its use in 

 high-grade dairies is to-day well-nigh universal. 



Another early popular fallacy was that yellow color in milk and 

 cream is indicative of richness in butter fat. Palmer, of the Dairy 

 Division, and Eckles, of the Missouri Station, however, have demon- 

 strated that very little relation exists between the two characteristics, 

 the color being identified as mainly the substance carotin found in 

 certain feeds which, when consumed by cows, imparts its shade to the 

 milk and cream. 



