16 BACTERIA 



HOW THEY GROW 



Warm milk is one of the best places in the world 

 to grow bacteria. It is so nourishing and di- 

 gestible that nearly all kinds of bacteria find 

 milk exactly suited to their taste. When par- 

 ticles of dust fall into milk, the crew of bacteria 

 which they carry begin to multiply rapidly. Some 

 feed on the sugar in milk and change it into acid, 

 and this acid causes the milk to become sour. 

 Others feed on curds and give milk a bad odor 

 or make it decay. 



Cold weather stops growth of plants. Cold 

 stops the growth of bacteria. Where it is as cold 

 as ice or ice-water, bacteria grow scarcely at 

 all. Warm weather with a temperature of blood- 

 heat makes bacteria grow most rapidly. 



One germ will swell up, break in half, and in 

 twenty-four hours double 48 times. If not inter- 

 fered with, this means in forty-eight hours one 

 germ would multiply itself to 281,474,976,710,656. 



DISEASE FROM MILK 



I. Typhoid Fever has destroyed the business 

 of many dairy farmers. Typhoid in the farmer's 

 family or in hired help sometimes gets into the 



