ISO AGRICULTURAL BACTERIOLOGY. 



The Milk Vessel. The second important source of bacteria 

 is the milk vessel. Upon an ordinary farm the milk vessels are 

 rarely washed bacteriologically clean. The washing in hot 

 water with subsequent drying in the sun is wholly insufficient 

 to remove the bacteria. These are sure to remain in the ves- 

 sel, clinging in the corners and cracks, partly dried perhaps, 

 but alive and ready to begin active life just as soon as they are 

 supplied with the food which comes to them with the next lot 

 of milk drawn. Indeed the ordinary farm has no really effec- 

 tive means of washing the milk vessels. Live steam is the 

 only satisfactory method of doing it, and this is not com- 

 monly available to the agriculturist. Many a troublesome ex- 

 perience of the milk dealer in warm weather is attributable 

 directly to imperfectly washed milk cans, and disappears at 

 once when all the milk vessels are thoroughly sterilized by 

 live steam. Next to the filth of the cow the milk vessel is the 

 most prolific source of trouble. 



In this connection the agriculturist should guard against one 

 common source of troublesome bacterial contamination. It 

 has been conclusively shown that one of the ordinary sources 

 of troublesome bacteria is water. One of the most mischiev- 

 ous and widely distributed dairy infections is slimy milk (see 

 page 199), and there is good reason for believing that this in- 

 fection must in some cases be traced to water. The milk pro- 

 ducer has also in recent years been informed of the danger of 

 distributing typhoid fever by milk and, in some cases at all 

 events, the source of the typhoid fever germs is the water of 

 the dairy. It is not necessary that a milk producer should 

 water his milk in order to lay himself open to this danger. 

 He may wash his cans in boiling water and subsequently rinse 

 them in cold water from his well. If he uses well water which 

 is filled with the slimy milk bacteria or with the typhoid germ, 

 he leaves these bacteria in the cans ready for action. More- 

 over, it is a common practice in main dairies and creameries 



