346 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



later i^eriocl. For protection iu the wagon it is recommended to use 

 blankets in like manner as already stated. 



With their i:)reseut amount of business, common freight-cars are used 

 for transportation, without ice. Some of the larger shippers have de- 

 rived much advantage from the use of a patented cooler, which consists 

 of two vessels, one within the other, so constructed that, by a very sim- 

 ple contrivance, a thin sheet of milk is made to pass rapidly in a spiral 

 direction between two bodies of water. The cooler is readily cleansed, 

 thus avoiding a current objection against patent coolers. During April 

 and a part of May, 1872, the milk shipped by the president of the asso- 

 ciation, residing at Clifton, Virginia, thirty miles li-om the city, was 

 nearly all sour when received in Washington, notwithstanding his en- 

 deavors to fulfill directions as to cooling. On making trial of the just- 

 mentioned cooler the difficulty disappeared. In order to test the im- 

 provement fully, a 10-gallon can of milk, received from him in the mid- 

 dle of May when the weather at midday was quite warm, was left in 

 one corner of the railroad freight-depot for three days after its arrival, 

 without ice or other protection, remaining sweet at the close of that 

 time. The cooler would appear to be quite similar in principle to one 

 which received a medal from the Eoyal Agricultural Society of England 

 in 1872, but the form of application is diiierent. 



Dr. S. L. Loomis,of Washington, who contributed an article on milk to 

 the Keport of 1861, and who has had considerable practical acquaintance 

 with the business of milk shii)ment, in exemplifying the mistakes that 

 sometimes occur, says that some years ago, when traveling on the line 

 of the Harlem Eailroad, and about one hundred miles from New York, 

 he met a young farmer who had recently commenced sending milk to 

 that city. The latter complained that while his father, whose farm was 

 near by, had no difficulty with his shipments, he himself, though brought 

 up in the business and now following the accustomed course, was contin- 

 ually having milk returned upon him. In reply, a test by thermometer 

 was suggested, and the instrument when placed in the spring w^hich had 

 been relied on for cooling showed a temperature of 56°, 2° higher than 

 the approved limit. His milk had not been properly cooled. It is im- 

 portant that milk after being cooled should not be subjected to alter- 

 nations of temperature. Farmers should also beware of delegating care 

 of. milk to servants whose reliability and competence is not assured. 

 Dr. Loomis adds that the conditions attending the distribution of city- 

 fed milk in Washington are substantially the same as stated by him in 

 18G1, and estimates that about 1,000 cows are now kept within the city 

 limits. 



SEALED CANS. 



There can be no just reason for the use of one description of measure 

 between the producer and the dealer, and another between the dealer 

 and the consumer. Such usage is in effect a deception. It is plainly 

 desirable that cans should be sealed, showing their capacity in standard 

 or (in common phrase) wine measure. 



ORaANIZED ASSOCIATION. 



The circumstances of the milk trade point plainly to the desirability 

 of some general organized communication between producers. Accu- 

 rate and widely diffused information concerning home management and 

 cost of production, conduct of transportation and charges of middle-men, 



