48 REPORT OF THE No. 55 



It is somewhat of a temptation to dwell with poetic fervor on the alluring 

 pastoral scene into which the grazing kine, the green hills and the nestling lakes 

 which make up the Tully Farms might be painted. But it is the utilitarian rather 

 than the artistic aspect of all these things which must be made prominent. The 

 "grazing kine" are just cows tuberculin tested, sound and healthy to be sure but 

 not thoroughbred or specially fancy. The "'green hills" are appreciated for the 

 pasture they afford rather than for the not unimportant part they fill in the land- 

 scape scheme of Onondaga County. And the "nestling lakes" are worthy of note 

 in this chronicle because their very adjacency enables the barns to be supplied 

 with plenteous quantities of pure water which from time immemorial has been 

 one of the first aids to cleanliness. 



KEEPING EVERYTHING CLEAN. 



As the Commission entered the Tully yards one bright afternoon just before 

 milking time, they were impressed with what a handy thing it is to have an abund- 

 ance of water on the premises. A large hose attached to a nearby hydrant had 

 just completed the laying of the dust all around the cow barn where the milking 

 is done, and especially in the vicinity of the doors. "That/' explained G-. C. Wat- 

 son, the General Manager, who with R. D. Woolsey, A.M., LL.B., Dairy Superin- 

 tendent, showed your Commission every courtesy, "helps to keep down the bac- 

 teria by minimizing the possibility of any bacteria-laden dust getting in the milk.' 7 



Inside the barn, which is of simple enough construction of stone walls, ce- 

 ment floors and iron stanchions, the sarnie generous distribution of water was in 

 progress. But before entering it is to be noted that everyone had to put on a 

 clean white coat lest some of the dust from their clothes contaminate the barns or 

 cows. The hose is turned on the ceiling, the floor, and the cows, until only a few 

 irrepressible flies are left to remind one of the unceasing menace of the germ 

 kingdom!. But the cows are not yet ready to be milked. A man goes along with 

 a pail and a cloth and washes off the rear flanks and udder. This operation is 

 repeated by a second man, and a third devotes his attention to the udder only. 

 By this time which is after all only a matter of a few moments it is regarded 

 as reasonably certain that the cow will not give anything but milk, and men in 

 sterilized white suits, clean every morning, seated on sterilized metal stools, pro- 

 ceed to milk with sterilized, manicured hands into sterilized, small-top pails. As 

 each cow is milked and of course the fore-milk is always discarded the milk 

 is carried to a little room at the side where it is weighed and the weight recorded, 

 together with the number of the cow and the number of the milker. This en- 

 ables the company to tell whether a cow is keeping up its record and whether the 

 milkers are keeping up theirs. This record duly made, the milker goes back to 

 another cow, but of course not without first washing his hands. 



VERY LOW BACTERIA COUNT. 



From the little milk room, the milk is quickly transported across to the bottling 

 plant some twenty yards' away. This building is of concrete, and including the 

 plant is said to have cost $40,000. The bottling room is absolutely dust-proof and 

 no one is allowed to enter except one or two employees who direct the machinery. 

 The milk passes over the cooling apparatus, then through other tubes into the 

 bottles', which are already in the boxes and which are immediately shifted to an- 

 other point where the covering is placed on by the same automatic machinery. 



