The north Mississippi herald. (Water Valley, Yalobusha Co., Miss.) 1888-1929, 1919-12-12

Approach of warm weather adds to
the dairyman's problem Of keeping
milk from souring. 1t is commonly
known that bacteria in milk produces
changes which spoil it and therefore
every means should be taken to re-
duce the bacteria content Of milk as
much as possible. This can be done,
first, by producing milk under clean
conditions, second, by producing,
handling and by keeping it in steriliz-
ed utensils, and third by cooling it
and keeping it cold.
Dirty milk utensils, and even those
which apparently are clean but which
have not been sterilized, contain vast
numbers of bacteria which are added
to milk or cream when it comes in
contact with them. 1t is true that
even when milk is produced under
clean conditions it will contain few
bacteria, for when such milk is
placed in unsterilized utensils or is
run through an unsterilized strainer
cloth of the separator, large numbers
of bacteria are added, which are apt
to spoil it quickly. When dairy uten-
sils are sterilized by steam most of
the bacteria and all disease germs are
destroyed, and therefore milk and
cream in these utensils will keep
sweet much longer. Sterilization of
utensils on farms is neither difficult
nor expensive if the simple steam
sterilizer designed by-dairy specialists
of the United States Department of
Agriculture is used
For Smaller Or Larger Farms.
This sterilizer is designed to be of
greatest use to those who have one,
two or three 10-gallon or smaller cans
with similar number of pals and a
strainer cloth, but it can be used to
advantage where large number of
cans are required. In its construction
are needed first roasting pan of stan
dard size GO inches long, IA inches
wide and inches deep), close fit
ting insulated cover to fit over this
pan. and box with removable top
to fit over the cover.
To make the cover, take a sheet Of
heavy galvanized iron and cut it large
enough to allow it to project y inch
over the edge of the pan. Bend the
edges of the sheet so as TO form a
shallow box with sides % of an inch
high. Then cut out cover for the
shallow box thus made. Cut hole
1K inches in diameter in the center
of both the cover and the box. Iron
braces should be placed crosswise on
the box to strengthen it. Then fill
the shallow box with paper or ashes
tos sheets, after which the top of the
box is carefully soldered on. Solder
a round, galvanized-iron pipe Az
inches long and / 1s inches in diam
eter in the hole in the center of the
cover.
The box with the removable cover
previously referred to should also be
made of galvanized iron. This box
should be II inches high and large
enough to fit on the cover just
described The complete cost Of this
outfit should not be more than SO and
if a soldering outfit is available it can
be made at home, or any timer can
do the job.
Using the Sterilizer.
To sterilize cans, the roasting par
should be placed on two burners Of
cook stove or an especially bull,
brick furnace. The pan should be
filled with water to the depth of one
inch and the cover placed over it. Al
soon as the water heats sufficiently
steam will come out of the outlet pipe
and as a rule it takes less than fifteer
minutes to develop enough steam fol