27 it RURAL NEW-YORKER 
I 191 
Making, Hig,h-Class Milk at tke South 
A NECESSARY FOOD.—When tlie-milkman leaves 
a quart of milk in a nice sunny place just 
after one has finished breakfast, without any milk 
m* cream to be'had. lie may be philosophical enough 
to reason that he has a whole quart left for supper, 
provided there are no .wife or children with a lirst 
mortgage upon it. Imagine one’s disappointment at 
suppertime to find that the precious quart of milk 
has soured or has developed a flavor so far from 
appetizing that the whole .thing is .thrown out in 
disgust. A skillful cook may “doctor up" the vege¬ 
tables and make an appetizing dish of 
them, but making filthy and sour milk 
appetizing is an art that has not yet 
been acquired. Experiences along 
these lines led E. S. Gay. now deceased, 
to attempt to produce his own fruits, 
vegetables and milk, especially the 
latter, upon liis farm, located just out¬ 
side of Atlanta. In discussing his 
plans with his friends -lie found their 
experiences had not been unlike his 
own. and they told Mm if he suc¬ 
ceeded in producing the kind of milk 
he purposed they wanted him to pro¬ 
duce enough to supply them also. 
CLEANLINESS A FUNDAMENTAL. 
—Being a business man and uot 
familiar with the dairy business. Mr. 
Gay visited a number of dairies in an 
effort to get the information that would 
enable him to carry out liis cherished 
plans. He found •many different meth¬ 
ods employed ami numerous kinds of 
equipment intended to enable the dairy¬ 
man to produce a good quality of 
milk. Iu spite of all such, a majority 
of the dairymen were producing a very 
poor grade of milk. Being a keen ob¬ 
server. Mr. Gay decided that, after all. 
there was more iu the way- the devices 
were used than in the devices them¬ 
selves. Acting upon this conclusion, 
the equipment at the Gaymont Dairy 
from the first has not been elaborate, 
but cleanliness has been insisted upon 
to the superlative degree, 
had pronounced ideas as to what con¬ 
stituted cleanliness. Some dairymen 
he knew were scrubbing their stable 
floors, brushing the cows and washing 
and drying their udders before milk¬ 
ing,. washing and rinsing bottles and 
utensils carefully before using; and 
yet the milk from these dairies was not 
satisfactory. These men wanted to 
produce good •milk, and some of them 
did produce a fairly satisfactory 
product, judged by tlic usual standards, 
while others thought they did. How 
well Mr. Gay succeeded in producing 
the kind of milk that appealed to him¬ 
self and friends and. later, to a host of 
critical customers, is shown by the fact 
that the bacterial count from this 
dairy has been as low 
dom reaches 
siders that 
duce milk with 
Iu this climate 
North, results 
gratifying. 
INEXPENSIVE BUILDINGS.—From 
the pictures it will be seen that the 
dairy buildings on this farm are inex¬ 
pensive. The building at -tlu* right in 
Fig. 519 is what we call the sleeping 
barn. The cows occupy separate stalls. These stalls 
are wide enough for comfort, but so narrow that 
the cows cannot turn round in them. The cows are 
not tied, but a rope is stretched taut behind them 
about 2Yj ft. from the floor to prevent their backing 
out of the stalls. The stall floor is of dirt, and is 
bedded with shavings or pine needles. The cows 
stand facing outward. The center aisle is a few 
inches below the level of the stalls, and is of con¬ 
crete. This makes the barn more sanitary and helps 
lo reduce the labor of cleaning. The sleeping barn 
has been described first because it is by keeping the 
cows clean that the bacteria are kept down at the 
barn end. At. the left of the above picture is shown 
a small portion of a long open shed where the cows 
arc fed lray and silage after having been milked. 
THE MILKING BARN.—Fig. 517 shows an end 
view of the milking barn and storage room. In the 
feed room is stored the grain which is fed before 
the cows are milked. A little grain is placed before 
each stanchion to induce the cows to take their 
places more readily. Each cow is fed additional 
grain, according to her milk production. This grain 
is eaten while the cows are being prepared for rnilk- 
irfg. The currycomb and brush, .principally the lat¬ 
ter, are used to remove all loose dirt, adhering bed¬ 
ding. etc. Special attention is given to see that the 
rear half of the cow is thoroughly cleaned with the 
currycomb and brush. Any soiled parts are cleaned 
with brush and -water. Then the udder and right 
flank of each cow is washed with warm water and 
wiped dry with a clean cloth. By the time the 
milkers are ready to begin their task the dust from 
the feeding and cleaning has practically all settled. 
It will undoubtedly be a shock to some of the in¬ 
spectors of certified dairies to learn that the men 
who milk the cows are the ones who clean them off. 
and {heir uniforms icrs the same .blue overalls worn 
while using the (urrveorttb and brush. It is true 
these are reasonably clean and carefully brushed 
before-the milking is begun. The milkers also care¬ 
fully wash their hands with soap and water before 
beginning to milk. The milking barn is equipped 
with steel stanchions and concrete floor. All drop¬ 
pings are promptly removed, -and the gutter at once 
flushed with a pail of water. A little of the fore 
milk is drawn into .the gutter, as this is thought by 
many to contain numerous bacteria. Three ■milkers 
are employed for the herd of 50 cows. As rapidly 
as drawn the milk is carried to the mi Ms-house. 
about 50 yards distant, and cooled at 
once to about 45 degrees Fahrenheit. 
The cooler used is such as may.be pur¬ 
chased from any dairy supply house. 
•STRAINING AND BOTTLING.— 
From the milkers’ pails the milk is 
strained through four plies of a light¬ 
weight bunting. The patented pails 
with strainer and felt disks in the top 
are not used. With clean cows and a 
clean stable these are of but little 
value. Our motto is: “Keep the dirt 
out." This has given better results 
than -where one tries to strain it out. 
At the milk-house the milk is again 
strained through four plies of the 
light-weight hunting into a -pouring 
pail. From this it is poured into the 
cooler through two plies of hunting. 
The milk from the cooler passes 
through four more plies of the hunt¬ 
ing into a five-gallon can. It is imme¬ 
diately bo’ttled with a single valve 
hand *bottler. Ordinarily it would not 
be -necessary to pass the milk through 
so many strainers, but the cheap con¬ 
struction of the milk bouse leaves it 
open to quite an extent to the entrance 
of dust ami insects. The strainer cloths 
are the greatest single source of bac¬ 
teria. if not properly cared for. and 
the more one uses these the greater 
the care that must be taken- to avoid 
careless washing and sterilizing. Af.er 
being thoroughly washed and rinsed m 
clean water the cloths are placed in 
the sterilizer with the bottles and ster¬ 
ilized. The common milk bottle with 
the cardboard cap is not used, but a 
bottle taking a large-sized metal cap 
with cardboard lining such as, except 
for size, is used on “pop" bottles. By 
the use of this cap the bottle is tightly 
sealed, and -elmre is no exposed* pour¬ 
ing lip to become dirty and fly-specked 
after the milk leaves the dairy. Where 
there are so many dairymen the loss 
of the common -bottles by theft and 
through many unscrupulous customers 
who -make a business of selling bottles 
to other dairymen, is considerable, but 
we have no trouble ahmg this line, as 
no one can use these special bottles 
without a capping machine. 
COOLING.—As soon as bottled the 
milk is placed into a concrete tank or 
vat and covered with chipped ice. This 
vat is deep enough to hold two tiers of 
bottles standing upright. For the first 
tier the ice is fine enough to sift down 
among the bottles, and enough is used 
to reach to the top of the bottles. Toe 
second tier is stood upon the first, an-1 
is also covered with broken ice. Sev¬ 
eral thicknesses of burlap or canvas 
are thrown over to conserve the ice. 
While this method of holding the night’s milk, which 
is not delivered till morning, may not be the best, 
it is cheap and efficient. In the morning this milk 
is taken- out and placed in metal cases and iced, 
partly with the same ice used upon it in the vat, 
and delivered to customers, while the morning's 
milking is being done. The morning’s milk is han¬ 
dled in the same way. except it is packed at once 
in the metal cases ready for delivery. As there is 
a good demand for this milk it is not necessary to 
cater to a widely scattered trade. Our territory 
covers only one side of the city, and is divided into 
two routes which do not overlap. As a rule, the 
milk is delivered to customers in time for dinner. 
Milk inn Barn and Feed Room. Fin. 51 7 
Mr. Gay 
Milk House. Fig. 5IS 
as 500 and se.- 
5.000. When one con¬ 
it is more difficult to pro- 
a low bacterial count 
than iu the colder 
have certainly been 
Sleeping Barn. Fig. old 
