The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1872-07-25
AGRICULTURAL

in an address before the Ohio Dairymen's
Association, devotes considerable att en-
tion to the subject of tainted milk. He
says:
Perhaps the most prolific cause of
bad milk in such instances, results from
the cows drinking the water Of stagnant
pools, tramping through swails of
mud which are alive with filthy organ
isms of decomposing vegetable or ami
NAL matter.
Experience and scientific investiga-
ton have established the fact that milk
is spoiled in the cows bag, simply on
occount of the cows inhaling bad odors
while at pasture We have numerous
instances where deaconed calves thrown
out and left exposed in portion of the
pasture-where dead horses and the
carcasses of other animals have been al
lowed to putrefy-that the COWS inhal-
ing the stencil from these decaying re-
mains of animal matter, the milk has
taken a putrid taint before being drawn
from the bag
az have seen numerous cases where
the milk has received u taint from par
ticles of dust falling from the cows into
the pail while milking, and unsupported
of doing harm by the mill1er. In the
summer of 1870, while on visit to Mr..
l.. b. Arnold, of Tompkins county, New
York, l saw an instance of dust innocu-
lating milk brought to the factory.
When the milk was received at the fac
tory window, there was no reason to
suspect taint from any particular dairy.
The delivery from the several patrons
went into the vat together and was set
in the usual manner with rennet. But
during the process of heating up the
curds most intensely foul and disagree
able odor was emitted. The cheese
maker sent for Mr.. Arnold and myself,
and we went down to the factory to-
gether. We found the curds then about
half scalded, giving off q stencil exceed
ingly Offensive smell like that COM
ing from a nasty mud hole stirred up
and exposed to the air in hot weather.
There was no mistaking the peculiar
odor, and l suggested at once that some
of the patrons were allowing their cows
to slake their thirst from stagnant pools.
He afterward traced the milk to its
source, and found the trouble to come
from one patron, who, after turning his
cows to the after feed, had allowed them
to cross a narrow slough, where parti-
cles of mud adhering to the udder and
hair, and becoming dry, the dust en-
tered the milk during the milking, and
had introduced class of fungi, which,
by their multiplication, spoiled the milk.
The patron had meant no harm. He
had taken every precaution so far as his
knowledge extended for the delivery of
good milk, and on correcting the fault
the trouble ceased. Another case is in
point, and which occurred the past sum-
mer, 1871. Prof. Law, of Cornell Uni
versity, gets his supply of milk from
milkman. One day, during the hot
weather, he observed q popularity in
the cream rising on the milk furnished
by the milkman. 1t appeared to be
ropy, and on subjecting it to an exami-
nation under powerful microscope, it
was found to contain large number of
living organisms in different stages of
growth. Pushing his investigations
further, the Professor called upon the
milkman to inquire concerning the man
agement and keeping of his cows, and
the manner in which the milk was cared
for. Here he found, on looking over
the premises, that the COWS, for lack of
good clean water-the season being un-
usually dry-were forced to slake their
thirst in stagnant pool located in
| muddy swale. Taking specimens of
this water and examining it under the
microscope, the same class of organisms
was found as those in the milk. 1t was
now pretty evident where the cause of
the trouble lay; but to make the matter
more clear, specimens of blood We're
taken from the COWS and examined
under the microscope, when these, also,
were found to contain the same class of
organisms.
"The animals, on applying ther-
mOmeter tests for determining health
and disease, were found to be hot and
feverish, thus showing that these living
organisms introduced through the me-
dium of the filthy water and taken into
the circulation, and by their power of
reproduction and multiplication in the
blood, became the source of diseas @.
Investigating still further, a particle Of
the filthy water was introduced into
milk free from such organisms, and
known from tests to be in good order,
and in a short time the same filthy Or
ganisms multiplied and took possession
of it in vast numbers, producing the
same character of milk as that first no.
ticcd. Other experiments and investi-
cations were made, but all similar in
result to those 1 have described.
"In my report upon English dairies
in 1866, made to the American Dairy
mems Association, called attention to
the character of English milk as cleaner
than ours, and l attributed the finer
favored cheese of England, in a great
measure, to this cause. Nothing struck
me with more force than the care taken
by the Cheddar dairymen of Somerset
shire to get good milk. The pastures
are well drained and provided with an
abundance of clear running water.
There are no filthy pools or mud-holes
where COWS are allowed to tramp and
wu!,ow IN search of water The milk
ing s~c IS are open on one side, paved
with stone or cement There is sufi-
cient incline back of the cows, so that
all the filth flows into the stone cutters
and after milking, all the droppings are
removed and the floors and cutters are
flushed with water, so that everything
is clean and sweet for the next milking.
The liquid excrements and washings are
conducted into tank sunk into the
ground, outside the milk house, and
from thence, as occasion requires, are
applied to growing crops. You will see
| that undar this systam of olean m aturaS