SOURCES OF INtfECTlOtf IN THE STABLE. 71 



traces of the soda must be removed by repeated rinsings 

 with common water. 



It is a very good plan to dip the milk-pail in boiling-hot 

 water at the end of each cleaning. This will make the pails 

 dry almost instantaneously, even in the joints, and a large 

 number of bacteria but little tenacious of life (like, e.g., 

 the one causing the milk and butter disease at Duelund 

 mentioned before, see p. 20) will be destroyed. It is also 

 advisable to steam the pails once a week, especially in 

 winter. 



The milk-cans used for hauling ought to be treated in 

 the same manner after each use, with the difference that 

 steaming ought to be obligatory in their cleaning. Steam- 

 ing is the strongest weapon against bacterial growth in the 

 cans and should be applied far more than is now the case. 

 By the word cleanliness we do not understand the same 

 now as in former days. In it is included all that heretofore 

 was included under the term and a new point has been 

 added freedom from bacteria: cleanliness now also in- 

 cludes sterility. Absolute sterility can of course never be 

 reached in a business like practical dairying, but it is 

 nevertheless the duty of every dairyman to try to reach a 

 certain degree of sterility in the milk cans and pails which 

 may be easily obtained in any modern creamery by means 

 of steaming. 



Steaming Milk-vessels. A good method of arranging 

 the steaming is, e.g., to conduct one or two steam-pipes 

 under the floor or under a low table near the sink by an 

 arrangement like that shown in the accompanying illustra- 

 tion (Fig. 22). 



When the milk-can has been scrubbed clean, it is 

 turned upside down over the steam-pipe and steam is 



