FARM ANIMALS 387 



Dairying means the production of milk and cream 

 and the making of butter and cheese. In the United 

 States the cow is the only animal used in dairying, 

 while in some parts of Europe the goat is also impor- 

 tant. 



To make cows produce plenty of milk they must be 

 of the right breed. They must get plenty of good 

 food, be treated gently, and kept very clean and com- 

 fortable. Milking is still mostly done by hand, but 

 many now use the milking machines, which milk several 

 cows at a time and keep out the dirt, dust, and bad 

 odors which easily get into the milk in hand milking. 

 Milk takes up all kinds of odors very easily. When 

 milk is kept warm, bacteria multiply very rapidly in 

 it. Even if there were only a few bacteria when the 

 milk was drawn from the cow, there may be hundreds 

 of thousands after twenty-four hours. If among these 

 there were disease germs, the milk becomes very dan- 

 gerous, particularly to children. 



The cows and the persons who milk them must be 

 clean when the cows are milked. The milk should pass 

 into the pail through a cloth stretched over the top. 

 The milk should be drawn out of the pail (without 

 taking away the cloth) by a tube (siphon) reaching to 

 the bottom. It should then be cooled and placed in 

 cans which have been well steamed (and not rinsed 

 afterwards). In cities the milk should be delivered 

 in closed bottles. Milk treated in this way will keep 



