New York Ageicultukal Experiment Station. 59 



germ content of the milk. While the present publication pre- 

 sents observations upon some other economic aspects of milking 

 machines, it is principally concerned with influence of the 

 machine method of milking upon the flow of milk. 



PREVIOUS WOEK. 



The milking machine appears to have first gained an extensive 

 foothold in Australia/ and McMillan^ states that the Hawkes- 

 bury Agricultural College at Richmond, IST. S. W., has used such 

 machines continuously in its dairy since about 1902. He gives 

 the comparative yields of eight cows during two-week periods 

 in which they were milked by the machine and by hand, re- 

 spectively, but these results do not show that the machine exerts 

 any influence on the flow. He also states that after using the 

 machine for nine years on some cows through five lactation 

 periods no objectionable results were evident. 



The earliest studies of milking machines at an American 

 experiment station were probably those made at Guelph,^ Canada. 

 The " Murchland," a suction, non-pulsating machine, was tried 

 in 1895 but soon pronounced a failure. In 1898 the " Thistle "■* 

 a combined suction and squeezing machine, was tested and re- 

 jected because of the difiiculty of cleaning it. During 1906 the 

 Burrell-Lawrence-Kennedy machine was studied, and comparisons 

 made between yields from cows milked during alternate periods 

 by the machine and by hand. The number of cows ranged from 

 5 to 15 during the different periods and tlie test periods were 



iWicken, P. G. Milking machines. Jour. Dept. Agr. W. Aust. 13: 301-3, 

 1906; cited, from Expt. Sta. Rec. 17: 1182. 1906. 



Suter, P. H. The milking machine. Jour. Dept. Agr. S. Aust. 8: 658-61, 

 1905; cited from Expt. Sta. Rec. 17: 180. 1905. 



2 McMillan, J. G. Machine vs. hand milking. Agr. Gaz. N. 8. Wales. 22: 

 859-68, 1911; abs. in Expt. Sta. Rec. 26: 274. 1912. 



3 Dean, H. H., and Edwards, S. F. Milking machines. Ont. Dept. of Agr. 



Bui. 159. 1907. 



4 Harrison, F. C. Machine-drawn milk vs. hand-drawn milk. Cent. Bakt., 



II Abt, 5: 18a-189. 1899. 



