CHAPTER IX. 



[THE VILLAGE MILK PLANT. 



THE milk supply of a farm community is not so vital 

 a problem for consideration by the general public, because 

 the consumer, as a rule, is his own producer. The con- 

 sumer uses the quality of milk that he produces, and if 

 he does not have a pure and sanitary milk for use, no one 

 but himself is to blame. 



In the small city or village, conditions are but one step 

 more complex than this. The consumer is supplied with 

 milk by his neighbor, who generally resides just outside 

 of the village limits. The city milk dealer and the pro- 

 ducer are, as a rule, one and the same person. The milk 

 produced in the morning, together with that of the pre- 

 vious night, is delivered to the consumer the same morn- 

 ing by the dairyman who produced it. This milk usually 

 is exposed to less contamination, and is kept for a shorter 

 time before delivery than the ordinary market milk of 

 a large city. But from a sanitary point of view there is 

 wide latitude in the operation of small city milk plants. 



Objectionable Practices. The small city milk plant, 

 operating on but a small scale, cannot afford an elaborate 

 and expensive equipment. In many places hot water 

 and steam for cleaning purposes are available only in 

 limited supply, which results in less thorough cleaning 

 of bottles and utensils. 



A number of practices that some small milk dealers 

 follow should be condemned. Among these are, first, 



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