The New York herald., 1869-01-15

ters Of food and drink the remaining In ignorance as
to their quality, however btssful such state may
be, can never make 1t foolish to be wise as to
their composition or the good or evil efects
upon the system which may be produced by
the dinerent constituents which are contained
In them. The reason that 80 many articles which
are really injurious to the human system are,
theess daily sold and used for the diet OF man Is
easily traced to this one cause Of ignorance. 1t is
so much easier take for granted that article Is
good one than to take the trouble to test Its quality
and 50 determine its real merit, and, as q conse-
quence the guarantee Of tradesman is considered
sufcient BY purchasers to assure them that what
they are buying is indeed, what 1t Is represented to
be-
ADuLTERATIoN.
The article or milk Is one which Is used by every
body and that too very often in the preparation Of
food for those who above all others require whole
some sustenance viz, invalds and young children,
and yet there Is scarcely any artibe OF food with
regard to which SO little care Is shown in the selec
ton. Orange county and Westchester county milk
have for long time been considered as the best sold
In New York and Brooklyn, and as consequence
the fashion has now become general among house,
keepers to order their mkmen to furnish them with
lacteal uid from OF these two counties. Whether
they really are served with it not shall try to
to show in the course Of this article. That milk Is
easily adulterated every one will be ready to admit
but the extent to which this aduteraion is carried
on Is not generally known. The fact Is the best
COW O mKman has Is almost invariably an iron
tailed one-the pump--and from 1t as much mix Is
dairy gained from an entire dairy. To repeat the
various stories about the OF water In preparing
milk Tor the market would take up more space than
we can give: TO tell Of the verdant countryman,
who when shown frog, vigorously dtsporting hin-
self IN the Just served milk, innocenty thinking
only OF the water, exclaimed ''Sure isn't 1t its
natiral iiiment" or OF the conscientious dispenser
Axvhn no y tss,f
was caught one day putting milk TO his water, or
further OF the nervous milk vender who believed
wonld only be to commence series OF milk and
warery stories that might be carried en- al fyl1ni-
@ The fact Is, the adulteration In this way Is not
by any means the worst part OF the milk business.
II the milk be pure the addition Of aqua pura does
not make 1t deleterIous, and II the milk Is i'm
feet in lessenlng the impurity. And this
leads us to the worst feature as TO the
max " b.
the city Or Brooklyn are several large COW stables
nothing being given them In the way Of food but the
this large number Of animals Is sold in both clties
and generally without the buyer knowing that he is
cconSton & these places be interesting to the
public we win therefore endeavor to describe the
largest Of these
The largest establishment in Kings county which
can be cassed under this head is situated between
North Fourth and Fifth streets and on First street,
Some time before reaching the stable its nearness
was made painfully evident by the unpleasant odors
with which the nasal organ was greeted, and the
% number s Of " cattle ss Serded dp together but 20 by
mo me. hs duns actual
Arrived at the spot the block between Fourth and
nas with outhouses used in PREPARING Inc sw for
the cattle which are imprisoned within them Open
ing the door Of these prison houses some six hun
dred oxen and three hundred mich cows were dis
covered confined In stalls varying from about thirty
inches to sixty inches In width, as they were used
for one or for two animals. On opening the doors
was found that no windows supplied light or vent a.
ton OF any kind the only air being admitted through
the doors, which were almost generally closed.
Deggars description. The poor animals all appeared
cramped up. some being actually tied up as II to pre-
which the space they occupied would permit. A
noxiOus and almost sufY0cating vap0r filled tine
escapinr nom ther bedanbed skins M sin in the shape @ of
visible steam. The noors were covered with
excrement. and here and there might be
nth. The buildings can scarcely be more
than eight feet high, and in these the cows
from winch New York and Brooklyn are supplied
with milk have stood until In some cases their tails
have rotted away. In the troughs before them were
large quantities Of the only food ever supplied to
them, which, a. said before, consists OF disttIer's
swill, watery substance having a. a sediment
sort OF discoored meal In and out among these dis
iating the "miikmaids' OF the establishment;
and even these failed 70 add any re-
deemns feature r. to the disgusting scene
sung or In "Five O'Clock in the morning" and
kindred songs, they were dir-be-smeared, high
bootei, red-shirted, unshaved. unwasued men, who
seemed but little removed In wretchedness from the
unfortunate animals among which they worked.
The whole picture was In every sense q disgusting
one, ana the only wonder was that under such cir
cumstances tine milk yielded should be white at all.
Amid the surrounding nth one could but expect the
rfff dnt1 IN In 1IAp nI ffz
surroundings.
Leaving these buildl1gs and wandering towards
the river, possible to get breath OF bresl air, to
cleanse the nostrs Of the slckening stencil the vsi
tor finds gang Of men busily engaged In removing
the swill from canal boats lying at the dock. some
idea or the immensely OF this establishment may be
gathered from the fact that four large canal boats
filled with swli rom New York distilleries are daily
emptled into the tanks provided to hold the sup
plies, and that sometimes NTH Ia needed In the
advanced hours OF the night.
Leaving the pestlentlal spot by the plank road
which leads out opposite North Filth street, the mys
terles OF the milk trade are opened to the uninit-
ated. Standing about waiting until they shall re-
shapes and Sizes bearing signs In large letters
the popular words "Pure Orange County MIX"
Island Mill and other equally ictitsons inscriptions
but nowhere can be seen the honest words .'Sweet
MIX" Near the entrance. too, stands large
pump-the only redeemins feature In tue
whole premises-she only article which speaks
OF purity drawn from depths below the accum-
uated hth which runs rampant on every side.
With the scents stun hanging round our oifactory
nerves we leave the vie establishment wondering
how II is that, after so many complaints have been
made to them, the Board OF Health has as yet taken
no step to prevent the sale OF the milk drawn from
such cows and to destroy an institution VIII ch Is
pest TO the whole nelghborhood. The place ID run
by Jew, who lets out stalls and swlll.
ANOTHER ESTABLISHMENT.
Near flusnlng avenue, running through rom
Franklin avenue to Skillman street, II located
similar though somewhat smaller COW stable. The
buildings which constitute tnis establishment arc
tumble down frame snanties, with interiors not un-
like the buildings already described. Here some 100
or 1j0 cows are kept Imprisoned m narrow stalls
and are led with swil supplied BY Williamsburg
distileries. The same filthy sgnt may be seen here
as at North Fourth street. The floors covered with
excrement the COWS covered with Nth, the men
dirty and begrimed, and a sckening stencil pervad-
Ing the whole place. The pump exists here also and
does good service. One old mxmAn stated that
third part OF wafer was not thought too much to
be used by mix servers, while store milk was often
"han and narf" "Where ignorancc,u &C, will not
90. no housekeeTcr should be ignorant a. 70 where
the milk abe purchases realiv comes from.
MINOR ESTABLISHMENTS.
IN addition to these two, which may fairly be con-