Io6 STORRS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



Various methods of clarifying milk, such as straining, filter- 

 ing, sedimentation, and the use of centrifugal machines, have 

 been employed both in this country and in Europe. Some of 

 these have been fairly successful in removing both dirt and 

 bacteria, but none have proved entirely satisfactory. One 

 important objection to such methods of handling milk, especi- 

 ally in the small dairy, is that they involve considerable time, 

 and some of them additional machiner}- , and thus add to the 

 cost of production. 



It is much more irnportant, however, to go further back 

 than this, and to prevent the dirt from getting into the milk 

 at all, because a good deal of it dissolves readily in the warm 

 milk and therefore cannot be removed, and thus contaminates 

 the tnilk with both filth and the bacteria of the dirt. It is 

 necessary, therefore, to secure some means whereby the dirt 

 may be originalh^ excluded. 



It has been found that if the stables are well cleaned and 

 ventilated and exposed to sunlight, if the cows are kept well 

 brushed and cleaned, if just before milking the parts of the 

 cow immediately above and around the pail are washed, and 

 if the milker is clean and wears clean clothes and uses sterile 

 utensils, the quantities of dirt and bacteria which get into the 

 milk are greatly reduced. 



Devices for excluding the dirt have also been tried in this 

 country and in Europe. One of the simplest and most practical 

 of these is a milking pail with a cover for reducing the area of 

 the surface exposed during the milking. In order to test the 

 efficiency of such a pail for keeping out dirt that would fall into 

 an open pail, the writer carried on a number of experiments 

 during the winter of 1901-1902 at the Connecticut Agricultural 

 College. In connection with these experiments a number of 

 other observations were made, the whole investigation includ- 

 ing: 



1 . The efficienc}' of the covered pail in excluding dirt from 

 the milk. 



2. The relation between the amount of dirt in the milk and 

 the keeping property of the milk. 



3. The relation between the amount of dirt in the milk and 

 the germ content. 



