Milking. 1S9 



or sponge and warm water until clean, and to finish by 

 wiping them with a dry cloth. The milk seems to flow 

 much more easily after this ablution, and no fear need then 

 be apprehended of a deposit showing in the pail or of a 

 disagreeable taste in the milk. Indeed, I prefer to go even 

 further than this, and add a small quantity of some harm- 

 less disinfectant to the water, such as a trifle of 

 permanganate of potash, which thoroughly purifies the 

 teats and removes any unpleasant smell. This may 

 appear fastidious to some folk, but the rapidity with 

 which the fluid changes colour shows that the disinfectant 

 is by no means unnecessary. When teat and hands are 

 clean, a few drops of milk may be advantageously 

 squeezed into the palms, and no unpleasant consequences 

 nsue; it acts as a lubricant, and makes the operation 

 easier not only for the milker, but for the milked. Other- 

 wise dry milking from the first is preferable. Goats 

 should not be milked with very cold hands any more than 

 with dirty ones ; some of these animals are very sensitive 

 in this respect and do not "let down" their milk so 

 freely as when the hands are warm. Another point to 

 observe is not to use soap or soda in washing the teats. 



c., tvhen MilKjng. 



Milking may be performed either from behind the 

 goat or at the side. In Malta and some other places 

 abroad where the goats have generally long rather than 

 spherical udders, the former is the plan adopted. It can 

 only be practised properly, however, with goats that have 

 such udders, but even then it does not commend itself to 

 me as being so cleanly or so convenient as side-milking. 

 Most milkers kneel down to the work ; but in this position, 

 when the operation is protracted, it becomes an exceedingly 

 tedious, not to say painful, process. It is far better to sit 

 on a low stool and have the goat on a raised bench about 



