FROM FARM TO CONSUMER 279 



the bottles should be permitted to collect until the case is 

 discharged or until the numbers become too great for the 

 householder to accommodate. They should be taken and 

 disinfected by the board of health in a separate place be- 

 fore they are returned to the dairy. One difficulty with 

 the present pattern of glass bottle in common use is the cup 

 above the cardboard seal. This is a receptacle for dirt, 

 melted ice, etc. Many devices have been proposed to obvi- 

 ate this nuisance, such as parchment or foil caps which 

 cover the entire neck of the bottle. Recently the crown cork 

 and seal has been used to close milk bottles. These are the 

 familiar tin caps used to seal beer bottles, ginger ale, and 

 other drinks. The seals, to satisfy the sanitarian, must, 

 in themselves, be clean and must be so arranged as to keep 

 the milk in, but the dirt and bacteria out. Whatever form 

 of stopper is used, it is of some importance that it should 

 be so arranged that if opened and the contents tampered 

 with in any way the seal will tell the tale. 



It is not unknown that drivers make pints out of quarts 

 or quarts out of pints, provided they run out of either 

 quarts or pints while delivering milk. This would not 

 be possible if the seals were of such a character that 

 they could not be tampered with without showing evidence 

 that the bottle had been opened. In one of my early morn- 

 ing investigations I once noticed a driver making quarts 

 out of pints. He filled the empty quart bottles which he 

 had collected that morning from two pint bottles and 

 closed the quart bottle with a paper cap which he carried 

 in his vest pocket. Not only was the quart bottle not 

 cleansed or disinfected before it was filled, but the driver 

 conscientiously licked the neck of the bottle "clean" so as 

 not to leave evidence of his act. 



The single-service milk package 



The disadvantages of the milk bottle have directed atten- 

 tion toward the individual package. Many forms, shapes, 



