42 CITY MILK SUPPLY 



good ordinance, by the tuberculin test alone, can do more than give a high 

 degree of protection from the tuberculous cow. Ordinances that are 

 defective in that they do not provide for semiannual or at least annual 

 retests of the herds, or that do not require the application of the test 

 to replacements and additions to the herd in the interval between tests, 

 or that fail to provide for notification to the proper authorities of what 

 final disposition of reactors is made, are likely to fall far short of giving 

 adequate protection and in some cases to lull the consumer into a sense of 

 false security. This is apt to be almost certainly the case, if funds to 

 insure the enforcement of the ordinance are not forthcoming. In large 

 cities where the herds are many and widely dispersed the expense of seeing 

 that such a law is complied with is very considerable. Moreover, when 

 such ordinances are first put into practice a concentration of losses is all 

 but sure to fall upon the farmer. In small communities that have re- 

 quired the tuberculin test there has not always ensued a rise in the price 

 of milk but it is claimed that should large cities require it there would 

 follow an increase of 1 ct. a quart. The opponents of the tuberculin test 

 also point out that it protects against one disease, tuberculosis, only 

 \\hereas a safeguard against all the diseases that may be transmitted by 

 milk, is furnished by the " holder" process of pasteurization. Further- 

 more it is contended that inasmuch as many city dealers are already sup- 

 plied with pasteurizing machines, since it has been found necessary to 

 pasteurize milk shipped from distant points in order to preserve it, there 

 will be no necessity for increasing the price of milk if compulsory pas- 

 teurization is substituted for the tuberculin test. 



There is considerable merit in this argument but those contemplating 

 choosing pasteurization in preference to the tuberculin test should not 

 for an instant forget that pasteurization is done by machinery under 

 human direction, that both are liable to failure and that both need su- 

 pervision. Pasteurizing machinery without automatic continuous tem- 

 perature-recording devices is worthless while the records, the machinery 

 and the finished product demand frequent, rigid and efficient inspection 

 to keep the process from degenerating into a fraud. 



The Intradermal Test. The intradermal test is used exclusively in 

 Missouri by the State Veterinarian in State work but for interstate ship- 

 ments the subcutaneous test is used because the intradermal test leaves 

 no record, and has not been officially recognized by the Bureau of Animal 

 Industry. The intradermal test is used officially in the Territory of 

 Hawaii, and in Delaware and California is accepted, if made by an approved 

 veterinarian. In the last-named State members of the Experiment 

 Station staff are of the opinion that the subcutaneous test yields unsatis- 

 factory results on young calves, on wild range cattle and on dairy stock 

 in the hot season in some of the interior valleys. In California, then, 

 Ward and Baker and also Haring and Bell have used the intradermal 



