490 THE CONTROL OF THE MILK SUPPLY 



Every day the gravel, sand, and cloths, as well as the filtration 

 apparatus, are washed ; boiling water to which carbonate of soda 

 has been added is poured through until the water flows out 

 clear ; then they are sterilised by passing steam through them 

 at a high temperature. This double process of cleaning and 

 sterilisation radically cleans the filter from all impurities which 

 the passage of the milk may leave, and destroys all micro- 

 organisms which it may have retained. The filtration of the 

 cream, the creamed milk, the uncreamed milk, and the milk for 

 infants is effected in four different forms of apparatus, in order to 

 avoid any mixing of the different sorts. The filter reserved for 

 cream is small, but the three others are of considerable dimen- 

 sions, those used for the creamed and uncreamed milk filtering 

 4000 litres in three hours. 



Under the lower tub of the filter is placed an enamelled iron 

 reservoir into which the filtered milk flows. Adjusted to the 

 centre of the bottom of this reservoir a horizontal pipe communi- 

 cates by a right-angled bend with a pipe placed vertically in 

 the middle of the recipient. This pipe, pierced throughout its 

 length with a multitude of holes, collects the milk from the 

 different layers and conducts it, so mixed as to show an equal 

 average composition, into the horizontal pipe through which 

 it flows into the vessels destined to transport it to the town. 



It is from these reservoirs that the two kinds of milk, uncreamed 

 and half-creamed, each filtered in a special apparatus, are drawn 

 into the cans in which they are delivered in the town. The can 

 is filled, then weighed and provided with a label indicating the 

 quality of the milk it contains ; the lid is kept shut by means 

 of a wire whose two ends are passed into a leaden seal, on one 

 side of which is impressed the date and on the other the 

 Company's trade-mark. The cans thus sealed are then replaced 

 in the tanks filled with ice until their departure for the town. 



Bottling" the cream. — On arrival at the works the cream is 

 weighed and tasted, then declared, according to its quality, 

 No. I Cream or No. 2 Cream. The two qualities are filtered 

 separately, and then put into bottles containing 50 and 25 centi- 

 litres. Those containing No. i Cream are marked with a wide 

 crosswise mark, those containing No. 2 Cream with two marks. 

 All the bottles have at the bottom the registered trade-mark 

 of the Company, and the initials K.M.F. The bottles are only 

 filled to the beginning of the neck, where a mark indicates the 

 exact quantity of the contents. The corks have a groove on 



