DAIRY MEETING. 169 



cells about 1-200 of an inch in diameter. These cluster in 

 groups around small milk ducts which unite with each other to 

 form larger ducts or canals that all open into a common reser- 

 voir in the lower part of the gland just above the teats. The 

 milk is manufactured in the gland cells from the blood with 

 which the udder is abundantly supplied. The milk passes from 

 the milk reservoir through ducts that extend to the lower end 

 of the teat. These ducts are closed at the lower extremity by 

 bands of muscle and elastic fiber, which act as valves, and there 

 are other similar valves just under the reservoirs, at the base 

 of the teats. These valves serve to retain the milk in the udder 

 until the calf or some substitute of the calf forces it out. 



DISEASES OF THE UDDER. 



These may be divided into those that are purely local and 

 affect no other part of the cow and those general diseases in 

 which the udder is only one of the organs affected. In the first 

 class of diseases we include warts, sore teats, obstructed teats, 

 teat fistulas, bloody milk, torn or cut udder, congestion of the 

 udder. In the second class we include milk fever, cow pox, 

 tuberculosis, and simple and contagious garget. Both lists 

 might be somewhat extended but we can only briefly consider 

 each of these, and depend upon you to ask questions about any 

 points that we omit or fail to make clear. We need say little 

 about warts on the cow's udder; they do not seriously injure 

 her although they are sometimes very unsightly and if they 

 bleed at the time of milking they are decidedly objectionable. 

 They are easily removed. It is only necessary to use a little 

 grease on them after each milking and they will entirely disap- 

 pear within a few weeks and leave scarcely a perceptible scar. 

 Sore, cracked teats may, when we have the combination of a 

 nervous cow and a quick tempered milker, cause serious results 

 such as the cow's foot in the pail and the milking stool on the 

 cow's back, in consequence of which the milk may be held up 

 and the cow prematurely dried. Sore teats are frequently 

 caused by exposure to sun and wet, in the early summer when 

 the skin is soft, or to the cold and wet, in late fall, or the teeth 

 of a sucking calf. These sores are liable to bleed when the 

 cow is milked and they heal slowly because at each milking they 



