126 BACTERIA IN DAILY LIFE 



with more studious and careful foreign competitors. It 

 is insisted upon by our foreign teachers that our cow-stalls 

 are too short and not roomy enough, and our cow-houses 

 badly constructed; that we do not (i) groom our cows 

 or (2) clean the teats, nor (3) sponge their udders, bellies, 

 and sides before milking with clean, tepid water ; (4) that 

 the milkers do not tie up the cow's tail nor clean their 

 own hands and persons, nor (5) cover their clothes with 

 a clean, well-aired blouse during milking ; that (6) they 

 generally milk in a foul atmosphere (bacterially), tainted 

 with the odour of dung, brewer's grains, or farmyard 

 refuse. I am sorry to state that there is too much solid 

 fact about the contentions which, based upon bacteriology, 

 are given as causes of injury to quality. . . . Cleanliness 

 is now a matter requiring the primary attention of English 

 dairy-farmers. The study of bacteria proves that such 

 inattention is greatly the cause of foreign butters beating 

 ours." 



It follows as a natural sequence that all the cans 

 and vessels used for dairy purposes should be 

 absolutely beyond suspicion of contamination. 

 Professor Russell has shown by actual experiment 

 that, even where the vessels are in good condition 

 and fairly well cleaned, the milk has a very 

 different bacterial population when collected in 

 them and in vessels sterilised by steam. 



Two covered cans were taken, one of which 

 had been cleaned in the ordinary way, and the 

 other .sterilised by steam for half an hour. Previous 

 to milking the animal was carefully cleaned, and 



