Norwich bulletin., 1913-11-08

tMTltfen Specially for The Bulletin
 We had a little talk, some weeks ago. about certain of the rules which various health boards have made for the production of clean milk
 There ts no doubt that clean milk lE more wholesome for adults and less dangerous for babies than dirty m-k The main question is;- What is clean milk
 The health boards of a good many ctt1eS. evidently des pairing of finding szy practicable ready test which u1ASht oe applied to the milk on sale, 1AAe attempted 10 secure II 0y lay szg down minute and often nnickN rules as 70 the conditions under which the dSirytnan must produce it.
 Some cf these rules have seemed to soFne of Us to be worse than Hnicky;- 70 De simply absurd
 1hsre are not onIy rules about the moFt Of p@ilR that must be used but ab0at the way they shall be cleaned; f7zies about the clothes the milkers shall wear. rules about the stables and the managers rules about clustering and white~ssh:ng; rules about strain L-g and cooling etc. etc.
 Most of these rules have been made r the frank country truth is told, by guess and by gosh" rather than from kuo~ledge- Theyhave been evolved from the inner consciousness of the medical gent lenea concerned. or from apparent anA1oE1eS. rather than from experimental test and scientific de- GucLcn-
 Now the only sure way 10 find out is bv as5@rsa-nlTlg. as Toe Allen used to say It occurred to some members Of the stan a. the New York State Agri- cultural Experiment station, some i've yearE ago. that it might be a good idea 10 fad out exactly what influence Cer- tam methods of milking and certain conditions Of the barns had upOn the @erru content oI the milk. How much efrsCt did piastering and whitewashing the stables haysg How much clipping the u6der. etc-s How much brushing or usirg the vacuum cleaner And so on and On-
 The idea waa that careful and re- peated tests of the exact effect of varying conditions along these kindred lines would lay down q foundation of ooserved fact upon which sensible rules might be built
 The results of these tests, extending over a psrlod Of i've years, have now beer published a station bulletin. Some of them are mighty interestin'.
 The bulletin contains a full state Fnsut of exactly what was done as regards the milk. and exactly how it's germ content was tested. Many of these details are technical and compli- cated--too long for me even to sum rna-ize- But the general results are stated in simple and clear language xuch as we all can understand
 There are only three sources from which germs can enter milk from within the udder itself: the utensils and hands Of tho mixer; and the air. ! The latter -wo or these sources were the ones investigated IL was clearly shown. St the sf fE-C-Off, that c big part Of the Ee7Lus which enter milk from the air come from dust and dirt on the coFvts ssecy disturbed in the process i of milking and allow cd to fall into the pail The larger part of this con- tamiraticz can be prevented by using mo&srr milk paIls with small open saEs.
 Some germs are In the pails before ! milking begins. despite the best clean ! ing. The pasis used in the station ex- periments were what is known as -LOy" pSils. and they were cleaned, after every milking. with hot water. sal soda and brush the usual way. after which they were exposed to flowing steam In a steam box for fifteen min utes- Right here a new test was ap- piled fo see what was the effect on these pzils of two treatments Four pals were used Two Of them were covered with a cloth before being put Tn the Ste7m-box and two were left uncovered. After fifteen minutes
 
 taken 10 tine barn with the other dairy uteaSiis. while the two covered ones were Jeff in the steam-box until milk ing time. then taken to the barn. and not uncovered till the miiker was act ually on his stool and ready to begin { milking The results of a six days trial of this scheme on four different cows. showed thar the average content of the pro fected pals was 922 per cc.. while the average germ content of the unpro- I tecteG pails was 2.391 per co. In other 1. words the extra protection given the | covered paiis stopped fourteen out of 1 every twenty germs which would l ofherftse have got into the pais be- | for milking began This is something ! in the way of fact.-something solid ] un which improved methods could be | iufeilixently founded. Next came the question of piastering | and WhiteWashIuE. When the tests began the stables were csiled at tops and sides with planed and matched |