6 BULLETIN 356, U, S. DEPARTMEiSTT OF AGRICULTURE. 



just when and how the milk submitted to a contest is produced. 

 At the time of milking he has to answer questions as to all the details 

 of the process, so that he has a record of the condition of the cows, 

 the feed, the cleanliness of his utensils, etc. Then, when he receives 

 his score card and observes, for instance, that he has received a cut 

 on flavor, he can go over the various details of the production of that 

 milk and perhaps find the method which caused the trouble. When 

 the samples are taken at times unknown to the dairyman, the direct 

 educational value is lost to a certain degree. The dairymen, unless 

 they have kept a complete diary of all methods and operations dur- 

 ing the entire month, do not know until sometime afterwards when 

 the samples were taken and have no means of knowing the conditions 

 that prevailed when the milk was drawn. 



On the other hand it has been argued by some that the score on a 

 sample of milk submitted by a dair^nnan is not a correct indicator 

 of the average product handled by that man. For instance, a man 

 may ordinarily have a very mediocre supply of milk but by special 

 efforts he may produce a very high-scoring sample for competition. 

 No claims, however, should be made at the milk exhibits by those in 

 charge that a high-scoring sample indicates that the exhibitor has 

 an average supply of the same high quahty. It is thought, more- 

 over, that a man who learns the principles of clean milk production 

 well enough to produce one sample of high-scoring milk is much more 

 likely to put those principles into general practice than a man who 

 has not studied the principles at all. Excellent results, however, 

 have been obtained in the coUected-sample contests. 



SOME EXAMPLES OF PACKING. 



Much ingenuity has been shown in shipping milk to some of the 

 shows. One firm in Canada made a large box about 4 feet square, 

 the sides, top, and bottom of which were made of thick cork. The 

 whole was then covered with a preparation of tar to make it water- 

 proof, and the bottles of milk were placed in a rack inside and the box 

 filled with ice. The whole was then crated to prevent injury to the 

 cork-board box. The cork was intended to serve as an insulation 

 and to keep the ice from melting so rapidly. 



In 1911 one Colorado dairy sent to the National Dairy Show milk 

 which was shipped in a specially constructed crate made as follows: 

 A galvanized cyUnder, fastened ot the bottom in a galvanized-iron 

 box, was made for each bottle of milk or cream. The bottles of 

 milk or cream were set down in the cylinders and a tightly fitting 

 cover placed over the top of each one. Then the space surrounding 

 each cylinder inside the galvanized-iron box was filled with crushed 

 ice. 



