290 MILK AND THE PUBLIC HEALTH chap. 



direct by the farmer, otherwise it goes in the first place to a 

 collecting depot. While usually satisfactory, this is not always 

 the case. The chief requirements are light and airy premises, 

 a properly made cement floor sloped to a drain outside and 

 a water supply which is pure and abundant. The floor 

 requires to be very well made and with the best cement con- 

 crete, as the heavy churns are very apt to break it up; spilt 

 milk then lodges in the fissures and decomposes. 



They should be provided with means for generating steam, 

 and with suitable arrangements for using it, to thoroughly 

 clean the churns and other vessels. A cooling plant is 

 also essential, while, if of any size, they should have a cold 

 storage room attached, large enough to hold a number 

 of churns. The latter is necessary for the milk which 

 arrives late and has to be kept for many hours until the 

 next despatch. Many country depots are also provided with 

 pasteurising plant and cream separators. They are usually 

 situated quite near to railway stations, and must be free from 

 objectionable surroundings. 



For the transference of the milk from the farmer to the 

 consumer or large purveyor in the big town, railway transit is 

 essential, and becomes a more and more important part of the 

 milk business as the agricultural land recedes from the towns 

 and the large towns grow larger. To ensure that a clean, 

 fresh milk shall be delivered in a state which has not 

 materially affected its purity or freshness, the transit must 

 be rapid, and the milk must be kept cold. In addition, to 

 ensure its cheapness, the cost of transit must be low. It is 

 also necessary that the transit should be in proper vessels. 



Milk Churns. — As pointed out in Chapter XV. the ordin- 

 ary types of churns in use are very bad. There is no necessity 

 for the churns to be ventilated. The writer has carefully 

 compared the bacterial content, the development of acidity, 

 and the rapidity of souring in milk samples kept under 

 identical conditions, except that one series were in air-tight 

 bottles and the other in vessels with free air access. He found 

 no constant differences. 



Doane^ made determinations of the number of bacteria 

 and the percentage of acid in aerated and unaerated milk. 



^ Experiment-Station Record, 1903, vol. xv. No. -3. 



