THIRTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 177 



CARE OF MILK IN THE HOME. 



By B. R. Rickards and H. N. Parker, University of Illinois. 



Unless the best care is taken of milk from the time it is pro- 

 duced until it is used, it spoils quickly and becomes unfit for 

 food. Experience lias shown that clean milk keeps longer than 

 dirty milk, and that clean milk is a wholesome, nourishing food, 

 whereas dirty milk frequently induces intestinal disorders and 

 is very apt to cause serious diarrhea in infants. The reasons for 

 this are that milk produced under clean conditions contains few 

 bacteria, and that clean dairymen usually chill their milk at 

 once and keep it cold, so that there is little chance for these 

 few bacteria to multiply. On the other hand, a dairyman who 

 does not have clean habits soon gets dirt and dung into his milk, 

 thus heavily seeding it with those germs which cause rapid de- 

 composition. Moreover, the dirty dairyman rarely keeps his 

 milk cold ; thus he gives these organisms the best possible chance 

 to increase in numbers. When clean milk gets old it changes 

 to a sour milk which is perfectly healthful, but the decomposition 

 of dirty milk is usually brought about by filth germs which cause 

 harmful changes in the milk. 



Use Clean Milk. 



The housewife should take as much pains to see that she is 

 getting clean milk as she does to see that only fresh untainted 

 meat is delivered to her. 



Clean Milk Contains No Sediment. 



One way of telling whether milk is clean or not is to lift 

 the unopened bottle carefully and look at the bottom to see if 

 there is any sediment or settlings. A better test can be made by 

 filtering the milk (slightly warmed to hasten the process) 

 through a thin pad of absorbent cotton placed in the neck of an 



