No. 4.] GRADING OF MILK. 165 



a period of five years. On the same premises was an old- 

 fashioned cow barn used as a place for the temporary residence 

 of dairy cows newly purchased. Some of these would be in 

 milk, and consequently it was always necessary to have some 

 milking done in this old cow stable. This was done by a milker, 

 who transported his sterilized milk cans and covered milking 

 pails back and forth in a wheelbarrow. The milk from this 

 old dairy barn was tested in the bacteriological laboratory, and 

 showed that even under the existing primitive conditions it was 

 possible to produce milk with exceedingly small numbers of 

 bacteria, comparing favorably with milk produced in the sani- 

 tary barn. The actual figures for the year 1913 were a monthly 

 average of 3,102 bacteria per cubic centimeter for the old stable, 

 and 1,097 for the model sanitary barn, both of these figures 

 being well within the limits of the standard established for 

 certified milk, which is 10,000 bacteria per cubic centimeter. 



This experience was convincing evidence that by the adop- 

 tion of the simplest sanitary methods clean milk can be pro- 

 duced in ordinary cow stables, and led the writer to undertake 

 to produce large volumes of such milk under commercial con- 

 ditions. 



The first opportunity to do this occurred when the city of 

 New York demanded clean milk at low cost for the use of in- 

 fants in the tenement house districts, which was to be dis- 

 tributed through municipal milk stores. These stores were at 

 first established by the New York milk committee to the extent 

 of 31, and later were taken over by the city, and at the present 

 time number 55. The milk for these stores is produced at a 

 large shipping station in the village of Homer, New York, 260 

 miles away, where 71 dairy farmers have been trained to 

 observe the fundamental sanitary precautions necessary for 

 clean milk production, which they do in return for the payment 

 of a small bonus or premium above the regular market price. 

 The milk is all sent in 40-quart cans to a central shipping sta- 

 tion located on the railway, where, as the cans are poured into 

 the receiving tank, samples are taken daily by the local bacte- 

 riologist and tested in the laboratory in the shipping station. 

 The results are posted on the bulletin board, and the system of 

 payment to the farmers is based on the tests thus made of 



