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Show . i chines) plugged, and the whole Immersed Im-mersed in a tank of clean water. The water Is then heated to 100 degrees or 170 degrees F. This may be done by setting the tank on a stove; by setting it up and building a tire under it; or by introducing steam from a boiler. To keep the machines sweet and clean they must be taken entirely apart once a week nnd all the parts scrubbed with brushes and hot soda solution. The vacuum line should be cleaned every two weeks by drawing hot soda solution through it, but if milk Is accidentally drawn Into It the pipe should be cleaned immediately after milking. Tails and covers need to be washed and sterilized with stenm or boiling water after every milking. It Is Important that the development of mechanical milkers should not be handicapped by improper methods of cleaning them. USE OF MILKING " MACHINES GAINS Increased Number Being Employed Em-ployed Makes Cleaning Methods Meth-ods of Much Importance. HOT-WATER METHOD IS BEST To Keep Mechanical Devices Sweet and Clean All Parts Should Be Scrubbed at Least Once Every Week. (Prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture.) The Increasing use of milking machines ma-chines In the United States makes the method of cleaning and caring for them an important one. In studies of dairy sanitation the number of bacteria which survive various methods of cleaning and care enables Investigators to determine the relative merits of various systems of cleaning machines. In addition to laboratory observations, the United States Department of Agriculture Agri-culture has tried out methods of cleaning clean-ing and sterilizing mechanical milkers on a number of farms. On 13 farms where only ordinary care was given, the highest bacteria count was more than 2,000,000 per cubic centimeter, and the average was more than a quarter of a million. After the machines had been kept clean and sterilized by the hot-water method, the average of 201 samples showed less than 20,000 bacteria per cubic centimeter, centi-meter, and one sample showed only one thousand. Of course, with careless methods, milk produced by hand milking milk-ing may be badly contaminated ; but the milking machine, being an additional addi-tional piece of apparatus between the cow nnd the consumer, should receive special care. Hot-Water Method Best. Sterilizing milking machines with a chlorine solution has been d.jne on a good many farms, but the tests made by the department have shown that much better results come from the use of the hot-water method. Just after milking, the machines are rinsed with cold or lukewarm water drawn through by vacuum, the stream being broken occasionally by pulling the teat cups out of the water and Immersing them again. This Is done 10 or 12 times. The process Is then repeated with hot soda solution, and the cups and tubing are washed with a brush at the same time. 7 ill! i v-441- K::y. t '''A' ' j ! i ,v - in ih? $ m '-fjl I. i'i, ,& i r Milking Machine In Operation. Then the parts are rinsed by drawing clean water through by vacuum. After this cleaning, the long milk tubes with the teat cups attached are detached from the head of the pall, the air tubes (on inflation types of ma- |