observer, however, there is a defect. After leaving- the machine on for 

 some time after the milk ceases to flow, the careful milker notices in many 

 cases that the udder is still isomewhat tense and that the cow has not 

 given her usual flow of milk. In some cases, and particularly with some 

 cows, all the milk is removed in a very short time, and there is practically 

 no "strippings." In many cases after removing the machine, the ordinary 

 person would declare the cow to be milked out clean, but a little patience 

 will often enable the milker to get from 3 to 10 pounds, or even more, of 

 "strippings." This, of course, is very bad for the cows. If these "strip- 

 pings" be not removed it tends to cause .the cows to "dry up" much 

 sooner than usual. To overcome this, the manufacturers recommend 

 "manipulating the udder" in order to induce them to "let down" their 

 milk. From close and careful observation on our own herd, we feel quite 

 sure that "manipulation of the udder" does little or no good, and in 

 most cases does harm, although we have followed this plan during most 

 of the year because the makers of the machine seemed so confident that 

 this was very essential. 



Our reasons for thinking that "manipulation" is of little or no value 

 are that close watching of the cows at the time when "manipulation" 

 commences, enables us to see a contraction of the muscles of the abdomen, 

 which muscles are connected with those closing the numerous milk ducts, 

 and so far as we have noted, with very few exceptions, the milk flow is 

 not increased by "manipulation." A gentle pulling downward on the 

 cups tends to secure the last of the milk, but in most cases we have found 

 hand stripping necessary. There was a time when it seemed as if hand 

 stripping would not be necessary. Soon after July 1st, the cows began 

 to fail so much in their milk, although the pastures were excellent, that 

 we were obliged to resort to hand stripping-, and in the case of some cows 

 to milk them altogether by hand, in order to prevent them drying two or 

 three months before they ought. How much these results were due to 

 visitors it is difficult to say. 



Before closing these general observations, we think the whole situ- 

 ation may be summed up in the words of our herdsman, Mr. Wood : — 

 "The machine will milk the cows all right, if the cows will give down 

 their milk." Here we have the whole question in a nut-shell. If the 

 cows in our herd represent the attitude of the majoriy of cows towards 

 the milking machine, as we have it to-day, then we must conclude that 

 it is not altogether satisfactory, as there is no known way of compelling 

 to give down her milk if she will not voluntarily do so. 



As previously stated, we began using the "B-L-K milkers" on Jan- 

 uary 1st, 1906. In order to see whether or not the milk flow and per- 

 centages of fat were affected to any extent by the change from hand to 

 machine milking, we have made a table showing the comparative yields 

 of milk, percentages of fat, and pounds of milk fat given by fifteen cows 

 during the months of December, 1905, when the cows were milked by 

 hand, and the month of January, 1906, when they were milked with the 



