36 



seriously impair her health, but far more often this is iu conjunc- 

 tion with too close confinement. 



Dairy Cattle need Pure Air. — I have been in stables where in 

 winter weather the air was so warm that a coat was superfluous. 

 The cows were standing huddled together in stalls so low that my 

 head bumped the joists above. The mangers were tightly closed 

 in front, and there was only a few feet between the cows' tails and 

 the side of the building. I computed the air space in one of these 

 stables and found only 240 cubic feet per cow. If a cow only 

 requires four times as much as a man, this is equivalent to shutting 

 a man in a room 6 feet long, 2 feet wide and 5 feet high. He must 

 not only sleep in such a room, but spend the entire winter there 

 eating, drinking and never leaving it. To complete the comparison 

 we must add to such confinement the drain to the system due to 

 maternal functions, which are very severe in the good dairy cow. 

 Is it any wonder that cows kept in this condition are alarmingly 

 subject to tuberculosis? Is it any wonder that the trouble has 

 rapidly increased? The wonder is that we have gotten off so 

 easily for so transgressing nature's laws. The remedy for this evil 

 lies in rational stable management. We must give our cows more 

 fresh air and sunlight. We must clean up the filth, disinfect the 

 old stables, provide proper ventilation, and put windows into dark 

 stables. 



The State has learned a lesson from the wholesale slaughter of 

 tuberculous cattle, but there is still need of a carefully planned 

 system of inspection which aims at the improvement of stables 

 and seeks to make the conditions in which cattle are kept favorable 

 to overcoming the encroachments of disease. 



Three things are necessary for a healthy stable : — 



1. Cleanliness (filth is the harborer of disease). 



2. Pure air (foul air is a menace to health). 



3. Sunshine (the best germicide) . 



Care of Milk. 



One of the most important points in successful dairying is neat- 

 ness and care in the handling of milk. During my study of 

 the creameries in the State I have been struck by the degree of 

 interest which individuals are manifesting in the crusade against 

 slovenliness in the care of milk. The management of nearly every 

 creamery is considering some means of securing increased care of 

 the cream brought in by the gatherers. Some of these by dint of 

 constant hammering away, and repeated visits to dairies have 

 accomplished much in securing a better order of things. Others 



