58 Report of Department of Animal Industry of the 



considered a success though many find them both troublesome 

 and expensive and there are wide ditterences in quality among 

 (the various makes. It is probable that the various milking 

 machines now on the market are likewise of unequal efficiency. 



The studies of milking machines at this Station were begim 

 in 1906 with a Globe machine, which was found to be unsuc- 

 cessful in practically eveiy particular. This was replaced in the 

 spring of 1907 by the Burrell-Lawrence-Kenuedy milker, which 

 has been in constant use since that time. The results given in 

 this bulletin are those obtained with this latter machine. 



Since the accurate study of a milking machine requires that 

 it be under observation for a considerable time it is manifestly 

 impossible for this Station to test all of the various makes which 

 are upon the market. On the other hand all milking machines 

 fall into one of two general classes: (1) Those which me- 

 chanically force the milk from the teat after the manner of hand 

 milking, and (2) those which depend upon the action of a vacuum 

 producing an effect similar to that of the mouth of the calf. 

 The machine which was used in these studies was a representa- 

 tive of the latter class, ^^^ile the basic principles involved in 

 the operation of these machines are few they are not identical 

 in the two types and accordingly the results here obtained may 

 not all apply to machines of the other class. 



While some representatives of the teat-compressing milkers 

 are in use in this country all of the tests of milking machines 

 thus far reported, with the exception of those of the " Murch- 

 land " and " Thistle " at Guelph, have been made with the same 

 class and make of milkers as that used in these studies. There- 

 fore the results obtained here and at the other experiment sta- 

 tions are fairly comparable. 



In Bulletin 317^ were presented the results of our studies of 

 the effects of methods of handling milking machines upon the 



1 Harding, H. A., Wilson, J. K., and Smith, G. A. Milking machines: Ef- 

 fect of method of handling on the germ content of the milk. X. ^^ Agr. 

 Exp. Sta. Bui. 317, 1909; also N. Y. Agr. Exp. Station Ann. Rpt, 28 (1909) : 

 56-95. 1910. 



