SANITARY MILK PRODUCTION 177 



On the contrary they are greatly influenced by the system of cuts em- 

 ployed and somewhat also by the mental attitude of the inspector. Thus 

 one system may be lenient, in that it makes some allowance for even an 

 attempt to approach the conditions postulated for a perfect score, whereas 

 another may be severe, in that it makes no allowances of the sort. For 

 example, if 6 points are allowed for the item of cleanliness of the stable, 

 the inspector under one system may be instructed to give 3 points if it 

 is half clean and 2 if it is a third clean, while the inspector under the other 

 system may have orders to cut 6 points if the stable is not immaculately 

 clean. Likewise, it is practically impossible for the inspector at dif- 

 ferent times to score the same farm exactly alike. When he is in an 

 amiable mood conditions at the farm are likely to appear better, and his 

 cuts are possibly a trifle less than when he is scoring under the spur of a 

 rebuke from his superior, or when he is dealing with a refractory dairy- 

 man. So it is not to be expected that the scores of the inspectors operat- 

 ing under different chiefs will be strictly comparable or that those of 

 individual inspectors will more than very closely approximate the truth. 

 These limitations of the score card are frankly recognized and in practice 

 are to some extent guarded against; they have not militated against its 

 extensive adoption by dairy companies, cities, and States nor roused 

 opposition among farmers to its use. In fact the score card has made 

 friends rapidly and instead of inciting strife has stirred farmers to emulate 

 one another in securing high scores. 



The score card is a means of stating the physical conditions of the 

 dairy. It was designed to record sanitary conditions on the farm and 

 to secure their betterment in order that overcrowding of cows in the 

 stables, poor ventilation of buildings used for dairy purposes, filthy 

 barns, undrained barnyards, location of hog pens and manure heaps 

 close to where the milk was handled, the use of poorly constructed, bat- 

 tered or worn out utensils and a host of other objectionable conditions 

 that frequently were found on dairy farms and that from time to time 

 occasioned publicity campaigns and brought dairying into disrepute, 

 might give place to other conditions which would secure the approval 

 of the public and establish confidence in the business. While it was 

 believed that some of these things in some degree affected the quality 

 of the milk it was recognized that others did not. The score card at- 

 tempted to make sure that the environment and especially the methods 

 of milk production were clean and comparable with those that attend the 

 production of other foods, rather than to estimate closely the quality 

 of milk produced on any particular farm. It has been very successful 

 in bringing about reforms along the former lines; to the latter purpose 

 it was never intended to be applied. No doubt in the main the dairies 

 that receive high scores produce better milk than those with low ones. 



Thus the committee on farm sanitation of the International Association 

 12 



