TYPES OF CITY MILK 207 



likely to buy the cheapest quality. No article of food 

 should be so closely scrutinized, for, although the legal 

 safeguards which the public milk inspection places around 

 our milk supplies insure a tolerably good chemical quality, 

 there is a great difference in the product from different 

 sources. It is an absolute rule that cheap milk is always 

 poor milk, and the cheaper the less its value. It is not 

 economy to purchase poor milk, for, although there may 

 be a saving in the original purchase, the amount of food 

 bought is less and the danger attending its use is much 

 greater. Recognizing, then, that its value is in proportion 

 to its cost, we notice the kinds of milk that are to be had 

 in the modem city. 



Grocery Milk. The poorest kind of milk that can be 

 purchased is that which the poorer classes use in a few of 

 our large cities. It is bought in small quantities from 

 grocery stores. This method of purchasing is perhaps a 

 necessity for the poorer classes who have no refrigerators, 

 for in warm weather it is quite impossible to keep milk 

 without ice. The store keeps the milk on ice, and the 

 customer buys it in such quantities as can be consumed at 

 once. This would not be a bad arrangement if it were not 

 for the fact that the poorer kinds of milk generally reach 

 these stores, and that the milk is likely to be kept in the 

 stores till it is old, under conditions which make contamina- 

 tion and even watering very easy. As a rule this grocery 

 milk is the least reliable of any milk on the market. It is 

 sold for a small price but is proportionately of poor qual- 

 ity, and it would be better economy for the poorer classes 

 to purchase a better grade. Its sale is now forbidden by 

 law in most of the large cities of the United States. 



