SOURCE OF BACTERIA IN MILK. 



milk vessel without contact .with the air. Although these 

 machines have been ingenious and have apparently prevented 

 the ordinary contamination with dust and dirt of the stable, 

 they have hitherto not been practical. They are usually 

 somewhat complicated, and the difficulty in keeping them 

 clean is very great. Some experiments made with such milk- 

 ing machines have shown that the milk is, on the whole, rather 

 more contaminated with bacteria than when milked in the 

 ordinary way, and none of the results obtained up to the 

 present time promise much that is useful along this line. 

 The milking machines hitherto devised, besides being expen- 

 sive and complicated, are really of no great value. Until 

 some radical improvement in them has been made milk will 

 be drawn from the cow in the old-fashioned way. 



But a few simple devices can reduce the amount of ex- 

 ternal contamination that may get into the milk during an 

 ordinary milking. It is possible to use a specially devised 



milk pail which does not expose 

 such a large area for collecting dirt 

 as the ordinary pail. Sometimes 

 tllis is accom pli sne d by having a 

 milk vessel with a narrow mouth; 

 sometimes by having a milk pail 

 with a cover in which there is a 

 small opening only, near one side, 

 through which the milk is drawn. 

 In some dairies the entrance of dirt 

 into the milk is still further prevent- 

 ed by a simple device shown in Fig. 

 ii. Here a bit of sterilized cheese 

 cloth can be stretched over the small 

 opening in the milk pail cover, thus 



keeping out a considerable quantity of the dirt which would 

 otherwise enter the milk. Sometimes the milk pail is pro- 

 vided with a special cover of such shape that the whole sur- 



FlG - " 



A milk pail with a special cover 

 designed to keep out the dust 

 wh'ch falls into the pail during 

 milking:. 



