]STew York Agricultural Experiment 'Station. 767 



conditions. As before, the two groups of samples showed little 

 difference in the bacterial content of the milk examined. The average 

 results differed by only 240 germs per unit, with the advantage, if 

 any, in favor of the milk produced before the whitewashing and 

 repainting. These results were so close that no one would be justi- 

 fied in assuming that the data show whitewashing to be an unsani- 

 tary practice and calculated to increase the germ content; on the 

 other hand, they offer no support for the common notion that white- 

 washing of the stable is an important sanitary practice with a strong 

 influence upon the quality of the milk. 



The results from this whole series of tests upon the effect of barn 

 conditions suggest that the importance of barn construction has 

 been considerably overestimated and that within rather wide limits 

 the condition of the stable exerts no measurable influence upon 

 the germ content of the milk produced within it. 



Another dairy practice strongly recommended 

 Clipping cows where clean milk is desired is the clipping of the 

 flanks, udders and part of the tails of the cows. 

 Theoretically, this seems a most excellent practice, well adapted to 

 facilitate easy and thorough cleaning of the cow before milking, 

 and the results from the tests of the practice made in our stable were 

 decidedly surprising to the investigators. There are some difficul- 

 ties in making a test of this kind since it is impossible to alternate the 

 cow on both sides of the experiment in short periods as it requires 

 considerable time for the animal to return to an undipped condition 

 after she has been clipped. Care was taken, however, to make the 

 test under conditions as nearly alike as possible except for the factor 

 of clipping and it is believed that the results are reliable. In a 

 preliminary experiment, the germ content of the milk from two cows 

 was determined for six days, after which the udders and flanks of the 

 cows were clipped and bacterial counts again made of their milk for 

 a similar period. In this test the general averages appear to show 

 that clipping increased the germ content of the milk, but as the major- 

 ity of the germs on this side of the test came from one cow on one 

 particular day, too much weight can not be placed on the results. 

 If this particular observation be omitted, the results incline slightly 

 to the other side of the test, that is, in favor of clipping. 



In a later test, 22 samples were collected in the regular way from 

 the milk of each of four cows from which bacterial cultures were 

 made and plates counted as in the other tests. The udder, the flank 

 up to the hip joint, and the tail above the brush were then clipped 

 on each of the cows and a few days later, 24 samples from each cow 

 were collected and tested as before. The average germ content of 

 the 88 samples of milk from the undipped cows was 204 per unit, 

 or, excluding the normal udder content as determined by the strip- 

 pings, 133 germs per unit. After clipping, the general average was 

 320 germs per unit from the clipped cows, or excluding the aver- 

 age udder content, 208 germs. These quite extensive measure- 



