172 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



moreover, rivalry between commission men is sometimes 

 sharp enough in certain markets to cause the payment of over- 

 high prices for goods not strictly of a grade meriting them. 



There are ways, however, in which any creamery which is 

 in earnest in this matter can grade up the quality of its milk 

 so far as it relates to bacterial content : — 



1. It can start a campaign of education among its 

 patrons. The dairy papers preach the gospel of cleanliness ; 

 the bulletins of the various stations and in particular those 

 of the dairy division of the Department of Agriculture 

 explain the matter from A to Z in such a way that he who 

 runs may read ; the very unoriginal remarks I have been 

 making from this platform to-day are reiterated at institutes, 

 dairy schools and farmers' clubs the dairy world over. 

 Hold patrons' meetings, discuss these things among your- 

 selves, show that care of milk pays indirectly if not 

 directly. 



2. Use the alkaline tablet, the rennet and the nose tests 

 on the milks delivered by the various patrons. Use these 

 before the patrons ; let them see the differences ; let them 

 note the effects thereon of care and of lack of care of the 

 milk ; let them see how increasing nearness to sourness calls 

 for more alkaline solution ; how milks with incipient taints 

 are detected by the curd test and by the nose test ; how 

 unerringly the batch of milk that caused that bitter taste, 

 that off flavor, is ferreted out by these secondary tests. 

 Use the alkaline tablet solution from time to time at the 

 weigh can as a warning, as an optical illustration to John 

 Doe that his milk is not being properly cared for. It has 

 worked elsewhere, as has the Babcock test in years past, to 

 force the indifferent and the careless to better ways. The 

 test may be made by the man at the weigh can as rapidly as 

 he can weigh the milk. Add to this test a little moral 

 suasion and a good backbone, and the character of the milk 

 used and the products made can be graded upwards to quite 

 an extent. 



I cannot refrain from referring at this point to the dairy 

 history of a typical Vermont hill town in the northern part 

 of our State. It has so much of suggestiveness in this con- 

 nection, and is so good an illustration of the best of New 



