RELATION OF BACTERIA TO DAIRY INDUSTRY. 75 



when we are willing to pay a little more for it, 

 then only may we expect the use of greater care 

 in the handling of the milk, resulting in a purer 

 product. 



Bacteriology has therefore taught us that the 

 whole question of the milk supply in our com- 

 munities is one of avoiding the too rapid growth 

 of bacteria. These organisms are uniformly a 

 nuisance to the milkman. To avoid their evil 

 influence have been designed all the methods of 

 caring for the dairy and the barn, all the methods 

 of distributing milk in ice cars. Moreover, all the 

 special devices connected with the great industry 

 of milk supply have for their foundation the at- 

 tempt to avoid, in the first place, the presence of 

 too great a number of bacteria, and, in the second 

 place, the growth of these bacteria. 



BACTERIA IN BUTTER MAKING. 



Cream ripening. Passing from milk to butter, 

 we find a somewhat different story, inasmuch as 

 here bacteria are direct allies to the dairyman 

 rather than his enemies. Without being aware of 

 it, butter makers have for years been making use 

 of bacteria in their butter making and have been 

 profiting by the products which the bacteria have 

 furnished them. Cream, as it is obtained from 

 milk, will always contain bacteria in large quan- 

 tity, and these bacteria will grow as readily in 

 the cream as they will in the milk. The butter 

 maker seldom churns his cream when it is freshly 

 obtained from the milk. There are, it is true, 

 some places where sweet cream butter is made 

 and is in demand, but in the majority of butter- 

 consuming countries a different quality of butter 



