COMPOSITE SAMPLING 55 



served that the butter maker (?) did not cover the jars 

 at all ! Can we wonder why patrons complain so fre- 

 quently about the testing? Where the jars are kept 

 uncovered for several weeks the cream is in a condition 

 in which it can not be reincorporated with the milk and 

 the Babcock test in this case becomes truly a snare and 

 delusion. 



Should the samples show any dried or churned cream 

 on testing- day, the sample jars must be placed in water at 

 a temperature of iio° F. for five or ten minutes to allow 

 the cream or butter to melt. When this is done the 

 sample for the test bottle must be taken instantly after 

 mixing, as the melted fat separates very quickly. 



Frequency of Testing. It must not be supposed that 

 if enough preservative can be added to the sample jars to 

 keep the milk sweet for a month or longer that it is just 

 as well to make monthly tests as weekly. Far from it. Even 

 if the milk does remain sweet, the tendency of the cream 

 to churn and become dried and crusty is in itself sufficient 

 protest against monthly testing. It is rare, indeed, that 

 samples that have been kept for a month or longer can be 

 sampled satisfactorily without warming them in a water 

 bath, which means a great deal of extra work. 



The best tests are secured when the samples are tested 

 weekly or at most every two weeks. When the tests 

 are made weekly it rarely becomes necessary to warm the 

 samples if they have been properly cared for. Then, 

 too, if an error is made anywhere in the testing, there 

 are three other tests for the month that help to mini- 

 mize It. It is not strange at all that a sample jar 

 should break occasionally. If the jar should contain a 

 whole month's milk the patron is deprived of his test for 



