Show SWEET MILK in the sultry days when every housekeepers soul boul Is IB more or less tried by the tendency of the milk to lurn luf D the department of agriculture at washington cornea comes very opportunely to the front with a bullet bulle tinel lne on milk fermentations no other article of food probably bears bean so 90 close a relation as aa does milk to the health of the community especially when we con eider that it forms the principal part of the of that large fraction of the population the young children the Import importance therefore of keeping the supply not only pure but in good normal condition will be denied by none some of the results of the very carel ul til investigations of the depart ment men though made primarily in the interest of farmers and dairymen are of universal interest milk which is composed of eighty seven per cent of water and thirteen per cent of solids is found to be one of the bestif best of mediums for the gation of various low forms of plant life known under the general name of bacteria many of these then forms are so wi es proad and numerous that it is hopeless to try to keep them out they may all however be kept within jim aties while those producing abnormal fermentations in milk may be alto gether prevented preveat ed by proper care milk fermentations are of many kinds the most common one being known as sour milk others such as aa bitter milk slimy ferme ferine tati gatlon olo alkaline fermentation etc are not of as an frequent occurrence souring once regarded as a characteristic of milk itself is now generally admitted to be a fermentative process produced by organisms which get in after the milking is in done one of the singular results of investigation is the fact that the special forms of bacterial activity producing lactic acid and thereby sour milk become commod around dairies but are not elsewhere in nature lister Jj lster following up the researches of pasteur found that sterilized milk exposed to the air in different pla cesin his laboratory in a barn in the open air etc would ferment after a while tut taut not sour and that souring was rare except in milk diree direct t from a dairy all organisms producing fermentation in milk are of exterior origin from the air the nali kerso hande hand the hair bair or udder of the cow or the vessels used this makes plain the prime nee of cleanliness in all the operations of the dairy ote 01 e should make as careful a tollet toilet Is says a dairyman 4 for the milking yard as for the supper table s in the support of this the statement to is made that if the udder of the cow he be carefully cleaned and the milk drawn into a glass tube made free from germs by best beat and which can be closed so sa as to keep all enfil air from the milk it Is easy to get milk so free from bacteria that it will remain unaffected fox two weeks even though kept in a warm oven in ordinary usage however bacteria will be always present to some degree care in handling and erp in cooling the milk immediately after milking gj and in keeping it cool will reduce the increase to a minimum some milk which was allowed to stand four days in a cold place was then examined and the quantity of bacteria per quart care fully estimated placed then for seven hours in a warm room the organisms were found to have increased a hundred fold concerning the action of thunderstorms upon milk it has not been found that electricity is of ef itself capable of souring milk bacteria however certainly grow most rapidly in the warm sultry conditions usually precede a thunderstorm so that the storm and the souring occur together dairymen find no difficulty in keeping milk which to is cooled as soon as an drawn from froin the cows and kept cool milk submerged in cool water is not affected by thunder |