8 BULLETIN 642, 17. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 



At each milking a sample was taken from the open pail and one 

 from the small-top pail. In this connection it must be understood 

 that the sample came from a can, but that the open or small-top pail 

 was used in the milking. 



Table 1 shows the bacterial analyses of 32 samples of milk. The 

 numbers represent milkings, both in the table and throughout the 

 bulletin. It will be seen from the table that the first count of milk 

 from the open pail was 14,000 bacteria per cubic centimeter. As the 

 manure accumulated on the floor during the first week and the cows 

 became more dirty the bacterial content of the milk increased. The 



Fig. i. — Condition of one of the cows during Experiment No. 1. 



highest count obtained with the open pail was 1,200,000 and with 

 the small-top pail 750,000 bacteria per cubic centimeter. Through- 

 out the experiment the counts from the open pail were higher than 

 the corresponding counts from the small-top pail. The difference is 

 represented fairly well by the average count of the 32 samples from 

 the open pail, which was 497,653 bacteria per cubic centimeter, as 

 compared with 368,214 for the small-top pail. 



It must be remembered, however, that the actual value of the small- 

 top pail can not be determined accurately from these results for the 

 reason that the utensils were not sterilized, which brings in an un- 

 known factor, since the number of bacteria introduced into the milk 

 from the unsterilized utensils is variable. The figures show that the 

 use of the small-top pail was of some value, even when none of the 

 utensils were sterilized. 



