266 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



barns through the State. I have been through a great many, 

 so 1 think T know the condition, and I know that this barn 

 is in better condition than about eight out of ten ordinary 

 farm barns. 



Question. When did you get these samples? Night or 

 morning? I suppose that woukl make some difiference with 

 the amount of dirt? 



Mr. Stocking. These samples on these papers were 

 taken from milk samples selected in the morning. Of course, 

 there would be naturally a greater amount. 



Question. Should you think that the milk would have 

 been cleaner than that if it had been milked into a strainer? 



Mr. Stocking. We took the milk from one cow, milked 

 into an open pail, and then a sample was taken from the milk, 

 and then the rest of the milk was strained through a strainer 

 that was used in the milking, and two thicknesses of cheese 

 cloth and then another sample taken, and the two tested in 

 the same way. The result showed that while a great deal 

 of dirt was taken out of the strainer after the milking, yet a 

 good deal of the finer part, a large part of that, went through 

 and was collected in the milk. Of course, the coarser parti- 

 cles of dirt were kept out by the strainer. 



Question. Was any special attempt made to have the 

 cows perfectly clean when they were milked, or any atten- 

 tion paid to the dress of the milkers? 



Mr. Stocking. As I said before, the cows simply had 

 the ordinary care. The milkers wore white duck suits and 

 they used cloths to rub ofT the sides of the cows, but they 

 were not groomed in any special manner. 



Question. They did not take water and wash the cows' 

 legs off? 



Mr. Stocking. No, nothing of that sort. We wanted to 

 see the efifect of the use of the covered pail. The results 

 that we got were rather unfavorable to the use of the covered 

 pail. 



