246 STATE BOARD OP AGRICULTURE 



Without commenting upon these cases at this point, I will pass on to two 

 cases which have come under my observation recently. The tirst case oc- 

 curred on the farm of Mr. A, located not far from Lansing. He runs a 

 milk-wagon and supplies milk to about three hundred patrons. Fourteen 

 •healthy looking cows furnish the milk. Up to the time of the trouble they 

 had been pastured on a low piece of land adjacent to the Red Cedar river, 

 a branch of the Grand. There were marshy places along the shore to 

 which the cows had access and in which, from the appearance, they were 

 in the habit of passing a portion of their time. Through the middle of the 

 pasture was another marshy strip and a very small stream. The remainder 

 of the pasture was good firm meadow land, and contained a large number 

 of shade trees. At milking time the cows were driven through a long lane 

 to the barn, in which they remained during the milking hour only. 



This barn was located near the house, and the part in which the cows 

 were milked was on the west side. One door communicated with the barn- 

 yard on the south and another with the backyard by passing through a 

 small open shed. Along the west side were numerous windows. The 

 east side came in contact with the main floor of the barn and a silo which 

 had just been renovated and tarred. The floor of the stable was rough and 

 only partly made of boards, being that part where the cows stood, and a 

 dung sink; the remainder was covered with stones. 



The milk-house where the milk was cooled in cans was a frame building 

 about ten by twelve feet. It stood iu the barnyard about four rods south 

 of the stable. There was one door which opened to the north, but no win- 

 dows. Matched lumber had been used to cover the inner walls and the 

 ceiling. On the floor was a layer of sawdust about one foot deep which 

 had been placed there the winter before. Back from the middle of the 

 milk-house was a large wooden tank which was filled with water from a 

 well two hundred feet deep and pumped by a windmill. 



The barn floor and milk-house floor were occasionally covered over with 

 a layer of lime to purify them. 



As soon as the milk was taken from the cows it was strained into cans 

 which were carried to the milk- house when the milking was over, and 

 placed in the water tank to cool; during the cooling the milk was stirred. 

 The milk was again strained after cooling and was then ready for distri- 

 bution. 



These were the surroundings and methods of management at the time 

 the trouble appeared. It was the fifteenth of September when Mr. A 

 first observed it, but it was noticed by three of his patrons on Friday the 

 eleventh of September. No complaints were heard on Saturday, but on 

 Sunday, the thirteenth, there was a universal cry of trouble. 



Suspecting that his cows had eaten some plant which would produce 

 this condition in the milk, Mr. A immediately turned his cows into a 

 higher pasture of wheat stubble in which there was a young growth of 

 clover, and awaited an abatement in the trouble. Monday passed but 

 there was no check in the progress of the disease in the milk and his 

 patrons were leaving him. 



Tuesday morning a sample was brought to the bacteriological laboratory. 

 This sample was not ropy at the time, but ropiness became apparent by 

 the next morning. There seemed no doubt about the cause of it Tuesday 

 morning; consequently a plan of extermination was laid out which will be 

 considered a little later. 



