18 A New Dairy Industry. 



is then not so irritating to the subcutaneous nerves of 

 the teat and udder. Then, too, a sore and bruised 

 teat may by the wet hand be milked without pain to 

 the cow, while the dry hand may produce restlessness. 

 Lastly, it may be claimed that the wet hand comes 

 closer in imitating the function which nature ex- 

 pected the teat to be used for the sucking by the 

 calf's mouth. 



A method which finds its place between the two 

 just mentioned, and which is extensively practiced in 

 Switzerland and Southern Germany, is to milk with 

 the dry hand, but to apply a small quantity of pure 

 lard about the size of a large pea to the fingers and 

 thumb the application to be repeated with each cow 

 milked. The lard is carried around in a small metal 

 cup fastened to or around the leg of the milk-stool. 



The milker should grasp one front teat and one 

 back teat of opposite sides of the udder so that the 

 emptying of the two halves of the udder proceed 

 simultaneously. Owing to the position of the milker's 

 head, the milking cannot be followed w r ith the eyes, 

 therefore he must be guided by the touch and hearing ; 

 for this reason all loud conversation or other vocifera- 

 tion should be interdicted during milking time, be- 

 cause this gives occasion to interrupt the milking. 

 Apart from the loss of time, the interruptions are not 

 good for the cow because they multiply the nervous 

 irritation, causing the animal to become restless, which 

 should be avoided. Many of the best milkers are 

 accustomed to hum a tune while milking, and this is 



