~Effect of bacteria in wash water.~ An important factor in contamination may be the wash water that is used. Much carelessness often prevails regarding the location and drainage of the creamery well, and if same becomes polluted with organic matter, bacterial growth goes on apace. Melick[170] has made some interesting studies on using pasteurized and sterilized well waters for washing. He found a direct relation to exist between the bacterial content of the wash water and the keeping quality of the butter. Some creameries have tried filtered water but under ordinary conditions a filter, unless it is tended to with great regularity, becomes a source of infection rather than otherwise. ~Changes in germ content.~ The bacteria that are incorporated with the butter as it first "comes" undergo a slight increase for the first few days. The duration of this period of increase is dependent largely upon the condition of the butter. If the buttermilk is well worked out of the butter, the increase is slight and lasts for a few days only, while the presence of so nutritious a medium as buttermilk affords conditions much more favorable for the continued growth of the organisms. While there may be many varieties in butter when it is fresh, they are very soon reduced in kind as well as number. The lactic acid group of organisms disappear quite rapidly; the spore-bearing species remaining for a somewhat longer time. Butter examined after it is several months old is often found to be almost free from germs. In the manufacture of butter there is much that is dependent upon the mechanical processes of churning, washing, salting and working the product. These processes do not involve any bacteriological principles other than those that are incident to cleanliness. The cream, if ripened properly, will contain such enormous numbers of favorable forms that the access of the few organisms that are derived from the churn, the air, or the water in washing will have little effect, unless the conditions are abnormal. BACTERIAL DEFECTS IN BUTTER.