1891.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 395 



quality of the milk of Boston, as a whole, is very good. 

 For the proper enforcement of a law to prevent the adulter- 

 ation of milk, it is necessary that a certain fixed standard of 

 quality shall be prescribed. In this Commonwealth the 

 statute requires that, to be of good standard quality, milk 

 must yield on analysis not more than 87 per cent of watery 

 fluid, nor less than 13 per cent of milk solids, nor less than 

 9.75 per cent of milk solids exclusive of fat, except during 

 the months of May and June, when it shall contain not less 

 than 12 per cent of milk solids. 



"The only methods of adulteration at all employed are the 

 very simplest possible, and include skimming, watering and 

 coloring. Milk, as purchased in Boston, has commonly 

 passed through several hands : the producer, the contractor, 

 the dealer who delivers from a wagon, and to a great extent 

 the shop-keeper. The practice of adulteration is not confined 

 to any class of dealers, and is carried on by individuals in 

 any branch of the business, who are tempted to larger profits 

 than they can justly earn ; for a man is not necessarily honest 

 because he is a producer, nor is he to be considered dishonest 

 merely because he drives a milk wagon or sells milk over the 

 counter. In several instances complaints against milkmen 

 have been withdrawn, on satisfactory evidence that the dairies 

 supplying them were at fault. Of store-keepers it may be 

 said that many of them keep milk for sale merely as an 

 accommodation to their customers, and not for profit, and 

 that as a rule they deliver the milkas it is received. Of 

 those who sell from wagons, the majority never tamper 

 with their milk; many do occasionally, especially when the 

 supply runs short ; and others are habitually dishonest. The 

 addition of coloring-matter to milk is done almost wholly 

 after it leaves the hands of the producers. The materials 

 used for this purpose are caramel (burnt sugar) and annotto." 



