The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-02-01


 farmer and his man joined and contin-
 ued to work until the proper condition
 of things was brought about. The yaro was drained and covered with clean sand, loads of manure were removed from the stable floor and cafted orr to | the fields. The dealer agreed to put In | a cement floor the next week, Whlch the farmer promised to keep clean. The
 ceiling walls were scraped again ana again and floods of water poured on them from a hose until the boards as sumed something of their natural color
 The windows were washed and shades
 were put up.
 1 The cows, while out in the pasture,
 were groomed until the dirt was remoN-
 ed; and the long hairs were clipped
 from their Hanks and about the udders.
 Some of them were washed thorughly
 with soap and water. When the cows
 returned to the freshened barn they
 stood quietly in the pleasant coolness
 When few days later, the farmer had
 put sheathing paper all over the build
 ing and WhiteWashed the walls and had
 the cement floor completed, the cows or
 their own accord returned to the barn at midday, fding it cooler and more agreeable than the pasture.
 i The report says that the dairy room
 was on par with the conditions at the
 stable and that a kindred reform was | instituted there It adds:
 With clean pals. clean cows and clean barn. the farmer felt that his
 working clothes were too dirty to be
 worn al milking and when he put on a
 clean suit he realized that his hands
 must be clean too so he washed them
 before each milking. The result of this
 labor showed immediately in the i'm
 provement of the milk. In samples sent to the laboratory where millions of bac- teria had been present there were now only a few hundred. Since that time the barn has been WhiteWashed twice a week and all utensils and hands and suits have been in prime condition. These facts have been verified by fre- quent inspection. The pride and grati- fication of the farmer at the very great reduction of the bacteria which the milk showed was most encouraging. The majority of the suggestions adopt ed were not matters calling for great expense, but simply requiring cleanli ness, care and a certain amount of ir- telligence.
 Milk from carefully groomed cows in clean stables, when taken under the best precautions now possible, cooled immediately to below 40 degrees F., and kept at that temperature during trans portation by proper icing and sent by express trains to the city, although handled with every precaution against contamina ton, contains when it reach es the consumer from 10000 to 100000 bacteria in each teaspoonful This for the best milk.
 Now what of the worst milk? Dur ing last summer the milk sold in the groceries of the tenement districts con tained as shown by the examination made by the bacteriologst from 4000,- 900 to OO,00o,00O in each teaspoonful and just such milk as this was fed last summer to many infants in New York
 The germs which cause various infec- tious diseases, such as typhoid fever, scarlet fever, diphtheria. tuberculosis, etc., live and some rapidly multiply in milk. Every year a number of out breaks of these diseases occur which have been traced to milk contaminated by ignorant or careless nlillSmen, who have infected their milk by their dirty hands or the dirty water or in other careless ways.
 If milk is transported very long dis tances great precautions are taken to preserve it while if transported from counties hardly any attention at all is paid to it. Thus it comes about that some of the very worst milk deliv- cred in New York is brought from the nearest places. The worst conditions were found along the line of the Har- em road. From the observations made ast summer it appeared that fully 10 per cent of the milk carried by the Harlem road during the hottest months vas never iced at all during transpor- ation and much more was iced but very slightly Milk handled in this way in lot weather is often so changed that t is unfit to be sold
 The Health Department of the State md city should have the right to in- 'pect farms and demand hose things which are necessary in order to pro- luce a wholesome milk and to exclude contagious disease
 Milk certification at the present time eems to be a solution of some of the difficulties in this problem. It seems to ,e necessary to have a third party, of some body of persons who tand between the dealers and the pub ic, and who are able to give some sort f an assurance to the public that milk as been handled and produced under proper hygienic conditions. Such an as- urance is now provided in certificate ssued by the County Medical Society which is given in two forms. This so- iety has appointed a commission to ass upon the milk supplied by differ mt dealers. When they find it possible 0 assure themselves that milk is pro- , uced under wholesome conditions they rant to such dealer permission to mploy label, Inspected by the Milk Commission of the Medical Society of he County of New York. The conditions of this are that the ealer promises that his farmers shall <, )ok to their personal cleanliness, that hey shall not have or come in contact l 'ith contagious diseases, that they hall not use milk from sick cattle, that , heir milk shall be obtained in a clean- / way, be properly cooled and quickly ( transported to New York and shall not ,