MILK AND CREAM CONTESTS. 11 
ACIDITY. 
The acidity is allowed 5 points out of 100. Phenolphthalein is 
used as an indicator, and the milk is titrated with tenth-normal 
sodium hydroxid. The results are reduced to percentages and the 
scores allowed according to the scale on the score card. As 0.2 per 
cent is considered the danger line in commercial milk and cream, no 
sample containing more than that amount of acidity is given a 
perfect score. While such milk may taste perfectly sweet, it has been 
found that it is usually unsafe to use it on account of the fact that it 
is apt to turn sour very quickly. 
BOTTLE AND CAP. 
The general appearance of the sample is considered of importance 
enough to demand an allowance of the remaining 5 points out of the 
100. Samples should all be submitted in regulation milk bottles, 
and the mouth of the bottle should be thoroughly protected from 
dust, dirty water, etc. Deductions should be made for dirty or 
chipped bottles, or for flaws or other imperfections in the glass; for 
metal parts, especially such as come in direct contact with the milk, 
slight cuts should be made in the score. Caps should be sealed in 
place with hot parafhn, or both cap and top of bottle covered with 
parchment paper or other protection from water and dirt. It very 
often happens that the caps are hastily placed in the bottles, or are 
not of the proper size. This should be penalized, as it results in 
leakage from the bottles as weU as permitting dirty ice water, etc., to 
seep into them. 
Bottles should be filled so that there will be no room for churning 
during transit. Deductions should be made for violations of this 
rule. 
EDUCATIONAL FEATURES. 
Whenever milk and cream contests are held, it is desirable to have 
in connection therewith a meeting or a series of meetings at which 
the subject of clean milk production is thoroughly discussed. Usu- 
ally at least two meetings are held, one for the producers and the other 
for consumers. At the producers' meeting the technical side of clean 
milk production is taken up and the dairymen are shown how they 
can improve the quality of their product. Comments are made on 
the samples entered in the competition, and remedies for the defects 
are suggested. At the consumers' meeting great stress is laid on the 
fact that clean milk is more difiicult and expensive to produce than 
dirty milk, and an effort is made to educate the consumer to the point 
where he will be willing to pay an increased price for a safer and more 
wholesome article of food. Instruction is given to city milk consum- 
