less milk is handled, the better will be its condition
when it reaches the consumer. Milk is now largely retailed in glass
bottles which are closed with pulp caps. In some cities the bottling
is mainly done in the country at the bottling station to which the
milk is brought by the farmers; or it may be shipped by the producer
to a distributing company, and all subsequent treatment, as
pasteurization and bottling done in the city.

Milk plants are now generally equipped for the rapid and economical
handling of large quantities of milk in a most sanitary manner. The
bottles as they are returned from the consumer are washed in a
continuously-acting automatic washer which washes, rinses and
sterilizes the bottles without their being removed from the cases in
which they are carried on the wagons. These machines are effective,
if not run at too rapid a rate, so that the bottles are not exposed
for a sufficiently long period of time to sterilize them. The
bottles are then filled and the paper caps inserted by machinery.
The caps can now be obtained from the manufacturers in sealed
tubes in which they have been sterilized so that the contamination
from this source is avoided. The shipping cans are washed and
sterilized with live steam, and in many plants are thoroughly dried,
by passing hot air into them. Under these conditions they then reach
the farmer with none of the musty and disagreeable odor that
frequently is present when the can contains a small quantity of
water, condensed from steam.

The top of the milk bottle over which the milk is poured is exposed
to contamination from the hands of the deliveryman. Trouble from
this source can be avoided if the consumer cleans the lip of the
bottle before removing the cap. The better grades of milk are
dispensed in bottles, the top of which is protected by an additional
cover of paper or tin foil which reaches to the neck of the bottle
and is held in place by a crimped metal band.

=Milk supply of the small cities.= It is true that the quality of milk
supplied to the large cities by the great milk companies is
generally much superior to that sold in the smaller cities and
villages. Many of the smaller places are however, attempting in
various ways to improve their supply. It is evident that methods
will be successful here that can not be employed in the larger
places. A detailed and careful farm inspection by a tactful, capable
inspector, coupled with proper publicity will do