The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-06-14
HELPERS OF THE DAIRY
BACTERIA THAT SPOIL OTHERS
 THAT HELP.
Interesting Investigations to Be Un- dertaken This Summer at the Massachusetts Institute
 of Technology.

Boston, June 12.-How to keep, milk sweet for the longest possible period is a problem that has interested housewives on small and dairymen on a large scale ever since milk became a household ne- cessity Only within very recent years, however, has there been any visible hope that a way may yet be found to postpone souring for an indefinite period. without even the necessity of cold storage. Dur ing these recent years the modern science of hacteriology has discovered the secret of this inconvenient phenomenon: the dai- ryman no longer planes the COW for pro- ducing a, substance that will inevitably curdle but curses goodly number of bacteria that get into the milk afterward and sour it by the production Of certain chemical changes.
 These bacteria are so numerous that they have not yet been completely investi- gated. although the subject has been un- der careful investigation in many conti- nentaE laboratories and, on this side of the water, much has been already accom- plished in the laboratories of Wesleyan University, the University of Wisconsin and the Massachusetts Institute of Tech nology. The bacteriologist and the dairy man really work hand in hand in the i'm provement of modern dairy products, for the bacteriologist is gradually finding the scientific why and wherefore of various methods that the dairymen have evolved through centuries of practical experience. But practical experience in the dairy has always given uneven results and the olrect value of the new partnership lies in the gradual elimination of everything except the particular bacteria that are most kindly disposed toward the milk producer. A series of investigations Of milk bacteria, for example, is to be car ried on this summer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that may or may not enable the dairyman to offset the un- friendly efforts of the little micro-organ- isms that sour his milk, but will unques- tionably add much to his Knowledge of these same micro o-organlsms and therefore considerably advance the dairy business toward this much desired achievement.
 Even with the general Knowledge now adays of the universal presence of these bacteria many of them injurious to man kind but greater number doing their work for his direct or indirect benefit, probably few persons outside the ranks of dairymen. and bacteriologists realize how important they are in the marketing of mix, and especially in its evolution into butter or cheese, There are indeed. com paratively few bacteria in the milk until it reaches the air on its way from the COW to the milk pail This little journey is long enough to admit a large number of micro-organisms and the milk Itself is so excellent a place that they increase with marvellous rapidity. The dairyman finds ih them a two-fold character: rough ly speaking, they are a curse to the milk seller and a blessing to the maker of cheese and butter If no bacteria got in to the milk it would probably remain sweet indefinitely, while, on the other hand, except for some of these same bac- teria humanity would probably never