292 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



same time throw away about as good an article, 

 is equal to it for giving a rich bloom to flowers. 

 Save your soot and you may have the richest 

 vegetables and the brightest flowers. — Plow, 

 Loom and Anvil. 



THE MILK TBADE OF BOSTON. 



The reading of a small book several years 

 since, entitled "T/^e Milk Trade of New York" 

 together with certain facts which came to our 

 knowledge, and several observations made from 

 time to time in regard to matters q«ite nearer 

 home, led us to make some investigations into 

 The Milk Trade of Boston. These investigations 

 have been going on with more or less care and 

 earnestness for the space of two years, and have 

 led to results which, when stated, will not fail to 

 startle some of the upright and confiding consu- 

 mers of milk in this city. 



In the first place, the milk trade of Boston has 

 reached a magnitude, in a commercial point of 

 view, which gives it importance, as employing a 

 large number of men and teams after it leaves 

 the farm, and has been transported over the rail- 

 roads into the city, or is brought here in wagons. 

 This goes to make up a part of the active busi- 

 ness of the city, and in this point of view alone^ 

 is worthy of consideration. 



We find by the investigations instituted, that 

 the value of the milk annually brought to the 

 city, as it comes from the country, is about one 

 million of dollars, and that, as it is sold out to 

 the consumers, it has swollen to the sum of one 

 million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars ! 

 the ttoo hundred and fifty thousand dollars being 

 the charge for carrying the Cochituate water 

 through the streets, and peddling it out at six 

 cents per quart ! This may seem a strong state- 

 ment, but we have the facts to justify us in ma- 

 king still broader ones, or even to make specific 

 charges, which it may yet become necessary to do. 



That the milk leaves the country pure, as a 

 general thing, there is no reason to doubt. This 

 point has received attention, and the facts elicited 

 all go to show that a few instances, only, have 

 been found where there was an adulteration of 

 milk on the farm. Those who purchase and col- 

 lect milk in the country, are vigilant and shrewd 

 men, not only constantly examining the milk as 

 it is sent to them, but visiting the places where 

 it is made, to learn whether the cows who yield 

 it are in good condition, and whether it is put up 

 in a cleanly and wholesome manner. There are 

 also other eyes than their own engaged for them, 

 so that there is very little probability they can 

 long be deceived by any producer who might be 

 sufficiently corrupt to attempt it. 



Happily for the consumer, and perhaps, happi- 

 ly for the seller, too, there is an instrument now 



in use by which any considerable adulteration of 

 milk with water, or reduction of its cream, can 

 be ascertained with certainty, and at a cost so 

 trifling as to enable every family to own one, and 

 to put it into practical use. This statement is 

 made considerately, after many personal tests 

 ourself, and with the certificates of other persona 

 before us who reside in various parts of the 

 State, all going to substantiate it. One of the 

 tests instituted was as follows : 



During the month of January last, we purchased, 

 in person, from those usually selling it, a single 

 pint of milk at a place, yVo?» every part of the city 

 of Boston. Each parcel was placed in a bottle by 

 itself, and the name of the person of whom it was 

 purchased, together with the name of the street 

 and number of the place of business, entered upon 

 a card and tied to the bottle. When a large box 

 full of these samples had been collected, the milk 

 was taken into the presence of several impartial 

 business men of the city and tested. Before giv- 

 ing a dozen of the cases as examples, we will state 

 that in the pure milk {of all cows,) the instru- 

 ment will stand at the degree marked 20, and 

 that as it rises above that point it indicates the 

 amount of water introduced ; so that if it stands 

 at fifteen, the instrument being graduated down- 

 wards, it is one-fourth water, if at 10, one-half 

 water, and so on. 



The following table will show, by this instru- 

 ment, the amount of water mixed with each sam- 

 ple, viz.: — 



Case. Degree. Adulteration. 



1. Street 19^ nearly pure. 



2. Street 17 15 per cent, water. 



3. Street 13 35 " " 



4. Street 17 15 " " 



5. Street 15 25 " " 



6. Street 17 15 " " 



7. Street 10| 47^ " " 



8. Street 21§ , skim milk. 



9. Street 14 30 per cent, water. 



10 Street 131 321 " " 



11. Street 13| 32| '< " 



12. Street 15J 22^ " " 



These results show that nearly — but not quite 

 — one-quarter ])art of all that is sold for milk in 

 Boston, is water. The samples collected were 

 from all classes of places, including the good and 

 bad, and were probably a fair average of them 

 all. 



The question now arises, who is justly charge- 

 able with this corruption and fraud upon our peo- 

 ple ? Our investigations have not left us with- 

 out some pretty tangible evidence on this point. 



Some of the places where this adulteration 

 takes place, together with the method of color- 

 ing, and other parts of the modus operandi, are 

 much better known than the participators in this 

 wicked work are aware of. That the milk comes 

 pure from the country, as a general thing, we 

 have no doubt ; it then passes through the hands 

 of the milk distributors or pedlers, where it pro- 



