The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-11-20

city is about day old when the consu-
mer uses it, but because of the cooling
process at the country storage house and
the modern system of transit. If is in a
healthier condition than when twelve
hours old in the ordinary farmhouse
When the farmer has contracted" his
milk to buyer, he has to keen his stables
and milk cans clean. and deliver the Mix
at the nearest railroad station aft a sneoi-
fled hour. The buyer in most cases IS at
some pains to see that the reoniSite
cleaning of stables and milk cans is done.
There is an association of whoIesale buy-
ers in this city that refuses to buy of a
farmer who is negligent in cleanliness.
or remiss in the quality of the food Given
the COWS. A hysterical yellow sheet had
an article the other day that denounced
this association as trust taking for
Its starting point the fact that the associ-
alton at a public meeting had made the
usual fall increase of price to retailers.
an increase necessitated by the fact that
leedlng COWS in winter costs more than
IN summer. But recent report Of the
board OF Health speaks in the highest
terms OF he efficient aid received from
this association in preventing the ship
ment OF impure or diluted milk to the
c1ty-ald that was entirely lacking before
the association was formed.
1t is not pretended that all the stables
from which milk is shipped to the CITY
are kept as clean as is desirable IT. is
certain that many farmers still water
their COWS from wells in the stable wards.
the water from which is invariably a
cesspool mixture, often laden with ty-
phoid germs, bit the fact is now easily
determined that within two or three
years the inspection of milk in the city,
the heavy fines inflicted on dealers in bad
milk since 1895, and the co operation of
tI1rl 1o.,<l IL H.. .~Hl
suppressing the shipment of q bad prod
uct have served to improve the milk
used in the CITY to point where it is en-
tlrely safe to say that the city man gets
better milk at home than he gets in the
country.
AS many know, not all the milk sold
IN New York comes from the country.
On Manhattan Island there were last year
sol COWS, kept in 1873 stables The largest
herd was kept by John Corbett, who had
forty three cows on the Kingsbridge road.
Hugh brennan had thirty-seven in the
same neighborhood. Others had from
eleven to sixteen each, but majority of
all were scattered about singly and in
twos and thTeeS. Between the Harlem
and the Bronx there were 1,234 cows on
3o3 premises, and north of the Bronx
there were 52l herds of / ,161 COWS. In
all New York city boosted 2, 1855 COWS on
S33 premises. BY the last report nearly
all were pronounced in good condition,
but few We're called fair" Others
were said to lack exercise, and there were
two that were worse. The most import
ant fact about these cattle was the great
number of them that up to 1896 were in
fected by tuberculosis, the existence of
which in the COW was reasonably sure to
produce the same disease In the consul
mers of the milk. Of the 231 cows in
spected on the island 81 were found TO be
infected and were killed. In the Harlem
district 30 out of BAT had to be sacrificed,
and among SOB examined above the Bronx
12S were found infected and killed Since
that time 1t has been made rule that
purchasers of COWS shall demand that eve-
ry animal transferred shall be subject to
the inspection of the Board of Health.
An inspection of the rules governing
the owners of city COWS show a required
degree OF attention to cleanliness that
would make the eyes of the average keeper
of summer boarders bulge with astonish-
meut. Cows must have 600 Gu bic feet of
air space each. The manure must be re-
moved and the stable cleansed an hour be-
for each milking, and then the floor must
be sprinkled to lay any dust Immediately
before milking. Thorough washings of
the mixers and of the udder are demand
ed and the cooling of the milk to so de-
greeS Fahrenheit must follow milking.
the city is divided into districts where
inspectors are stationed and are held re-
sponSlble for the purity of the milk. In
addition to the routine inspections made
by these inspectors, the complaints and
requests of citizens are always carefully
considered. Not only is the quality of the
milk tested, but the ice boxes and milk
cans, and so forth, are examined and
cleanliness enforced. If any reader thinks
that the dealer from whom he is buying
milk is remiss in any way, the trouble
can be righted by means of a letter to
the Board of Health.
1t is to be observed further that only 161
quarts of adulterated milk were thrown
away in 1896, against 2 ,677 In 1896, and
the arrests were as 220 to $50. In 1896
the license of but one dealer was revoked
the revoking of q license being due to a
second violation of the milk ordinance.
On the whole, the milk supply Of this
city offers but ono reason for COMPLAINT
on the part of the consumer. The one
thing needed to perfect it is some method
for Graduating disease among the cattle
in the districts from which the supply
comes. The city's Board of Health can
not inspect the cattle in an upstate
county, let alone any in Massachusetts or
Pennsylvania. AS a matter of fact.
tuberculosis prevails among the cows
throughout the regions from which the
milk comes. Just how many of them
have it, is not yet ascerts ined, but the
best authority says about 6S cows in 600
are afflicted throughout the State of New
York. The steady increase in the num-
b Of deaths among the people from
uubercular consumption is due in OF eat
part to this fact, but the State boards of
health are afraid to make thorough work
of removing the cause.
Because of the attention given to the
condition of the cattle by the agents of
the New York buyers, the percentage of
diseased cattle among the herds tributary
to New York is undoubtedly smaller
than it is in the general run of cattle
Probably not more than six cows in a
hundred are contributing germs of ,uber-
culosls to the milk supply of the city. If
is not unlikely that the people will some
time give sufficient attention to the mat
ter o nave even this evil eradicated.
Carlsbad Water