160 CITY MILK SUPPLY 



suited for them to do so. The question then arises why plastered and 

 painted barns have superseded those of matched boards and why health 

 authorities advise whitewashing. Speaking by and large, dirty barns 

 and good dairying have parted company forever; barns of matched 

 boards, with age, become dingy, more difficult to clean and give trouble 

 from the boards separating. The plaster finish appeals to the practical 

 man as being lighter, brighter and more easily cared for. Then, there is 

 this difference between the two types, the wooden barns absorb odors so 

 that neglect of cleanliness, or even long use, tends to give them a decided 

 odor that is likely to be unpleasant, and one that is apt to be acquired 

 by the milk, but plaster work tends to neutralize odors rather than to 

 store them. It is to keep the barn sweet as well as for appearance that 

 the woodwork in barns is painted. Whitewashing is insisted on by 

 boards of health, chiefly in old wooden barns as a means of lighting them 

 up, so that better work will be done in them, because the light reflected 

 from the white walls helps one to see. Also, probably whitewashing 

 helps to keep down vermin but it is chiefly useful in filling the pores of 

 the wood thereby preventing the absorption of odors and making the 

 barns better smelling. Putting these things together it seems that the 

 experiments fortify inspectors with reasons for permitting men of small 

 capital and those serving a class of trade than cannot afford luxuries, 

 to continue in business with mediocre equipment provided they are 

 actually producing good milk, but where the diligence to succeed under 

 such conditions is lacking there are ample reasons for requiring the plant 

 to be improved or business stopped. Similar experiments are desirable 

 to determine if possible what degree of dirtiness must obtain in the dairy 

 barn to raise the bacterial count. 



The writer regards as interesting the fact that the scurf from clipped 

 cows was found to raise the count above that of the milk of the carefully 

 cleaned, undipped ones but he believes that in practice cows will con- 

 tinue to be clipped because in that condition they are easier to clean and 

 consequently will be more thoroughly cleaned than they would be were 

 they left with long-haired udders and flanks. 



The Open Stable and the Germ Content of Milk. In the States of 

 the Union that have a mild winter there are in use open stables for 

 housing cattle. There is a tendency for the germ content of the air of 

 closed cow stables to be higher in winter than summer, because of the 

 closer confinement of the cows and the use of dry feeds and bedding that 

 fill the air with more or less dust. So it seems that milk drawn in the 

 separate milking room of an open stable might contain fewer bacteria 

 than that drawn in a closed stable. A brief series of experiments to 

 determine the matter was conducted by Lamson at the Maryland Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station. While his data were too limited to permit 

 him to draw definite conclusions, they indicated that the germ content 



