TREATMENT OF MILK FOR MARKET 145 



TRANSPORTATION 



The problems of transportation resolve themselves into 

 two: i. Temperature. 2. Protection from contamination. The 

 various devices by which these ends are reached cannot be con- 

 sidered at length here. In this country milk handlers have 

 learned to use ice freely, and by means of it milk may be trans- 

 ported for long distances upon the railroad and still be fairly 

 cool and sweet when it arrives at its destination. The ice car 

 has made this practicable. To get the best results the milk 

 should be cooled to as low a temperature as possible before be- 

 ing placed in the car, and then kept cold during transportation 

 by the use of plenty of ice. 



It is hardly necessary to say that the cooler the temperature 

 maintained the more satisfactory the result. In transportation 

 the milk is commonly sent in cans. For practical reasons of 

 economy this has seemed to be necessary for large supplies of 

 milk, although it would be a far better plan to transport it in 

 glass jars, if this were feasible. The cans used in transportation 

 should have a tightly fitting cover, which overhangs the top of 

 the can and thus prevents the entrance of dirt. But the cans 

 ordinarily used are themselves the source of much trouble and 

 the origin of much of the bacterial contamination of the milk. 

 A glance at the battered, rusty and dirty milk cans that one 

 finds at a railroad station will convince him that not a little of 

 the bacterial content of city milk comes from transportation. 

 Of course, the expectation is that these cans will be washed be- 

 fore milk is placed in them again, but battered, rusty cans are 

 practically incapable of being washed clean by any method 

 adopted in an ordinary dairy. Cleaner cans, more frequent re- 

 placing of old with new ones, would do much toward improving 

 the condition in which the milk reaches the city. 



In the handling of the milk after it reaches the city there 

 is another chance for contamination. The story is simply that 



