Thc scrious study of l~~~ctcriology (or microbiology) applicll to dairying is ii roiiipnrntivcly rcccnt dcrclopincnt in this country. It. wis oiily with tlic cstnblisliincnt of tlic so-called grndctl inilks und t h uwukcning of interest in liygicnic iiiilk protluction tlint cvcn tlic iisc of thc platc count bccanic ;it. nll widcsprcarl. According to St. John-" In tlic bcgiiitiing wus tlic I'ord," hut in dairy bnctcriology, cwu in iiiy timc, tlicrc wus,~ so fnr as this country is conccriicd, no word nnd 110 cstnblislied study of tlic subject. Wc Iiiirl thcrcforc to nvnil oursclrcs of wlint kno\vledgc csistcd nbroutl and try, in thc first plncc, to tcucli oursclrcs. Apnrt froni tqqdicncations of tlic platc count to milk production, little precisc knowlcdgc csistcd CXCCllt in tlic pioneering work of Frcudciircich, Orln-Jcnscn, Rogers, uiid 13nrthel. This short p u p is cntitlcd I' llcccnt trcnds-" nnd in tlic time nllottccl to nic I will try to indicate ~vliat in iiiy opinion them arc.
Tlic most striking and sntisfnctory udvniicc wliicli lins bccn niudc in rccciit yciirs appears to nic to bc thc risc in tlic usc of stutist,ical mcthod in its npplicntion