THE SUPERVISION OF MILK IN LARGE DAIRIES. 77 



in the same way as that of sweet-milk. Further details will be 

 given in Chapter III. 



33. The Supervision of Milk in large Collecting and Co-operative 

 Dairies. In the interests of the milk trade, it is necessary that the 

 milk coining from each separate dairy should have its appearance, 

 taste, and smell tested. Its temperature should also be taken, in 

 order to see if it has sufficiently cooled down after milking. It is 

 further necessary to ascertain whether it has been contaminated 

 with dirt, to determine its specific gravity, and to see that the 

 vessels used for carrying it are suited for the purpose. The milk 

 should be tested by boiling it, and a preliminary estimation of its 

 fat should be made. If the milk from any dairy appears suspicious, 

 an average sample should be taken, with all due precautions, before 

 witnesses, and sent for accurate analysis to the nearest public 

 chemical laboratory. At the same time, in order to hinder as much 

 as possible any fermentation during transit, the milk should be 

 cooled in ice before being sent away, and every endeavour should 

 be made to hasten the transit. Since the conditions of clear profit 

 are greater the richer the milk is in fat, the managers of dairies 

 should make a point of discovering those suppliers who send in 

 unusually poor milk, and they should either cease dealing with 

 them, or should induce them to increase gradually the percentage 

 of fat in their milk. The best way of avoiding the imposition 

 which is daily practised, when milk of varying value is simply 

 sold according to weight, consists in buying it from producers at 

 so much per kilogram according to the percentage of fat it contains, 

 in short, in selling it according to the percentage of fat it contains 

 as well as according to its weight. 



In order to carry out this method of purchase, it is necessary that the 

 milk obtained from each supplier be regularly tested by some method 

 or other for its percentage of fat. If such tests are not made often 

 enough, it can hardly be expected that reliable data will be available 

 for ascertaining what the true average percentage of fat of single milk 

 consignments really is, for it is not impossible that, in the case of an 

 incorrect average being taken, the payment for milk may be as far, or even 

 further, from being a just one than is the case in buying milk of varying 

 value simply by weight; and thus all the trouble and expense involved 

 be really of no use. To obtain reliable data the milk of each customer 

 should be examined at least once a week. 



If in any district and in Germany there are many such districts 



