SOURCES OF INFECTION IN THE STABLE. 35 



gutter; the udders of a number of the cows were also dirty. 

 What made the matter still worse was the fact that the 

 stalls were lower than the barn-yard outside, where the 

 manure-heap was placed. As a consequence the liquid- 

 manure gutter was always full of urine. Only a couple of 

 months after the herd came in from pasture, these sad 

 conditions had conquered all the efforts of the farm-hands 

 to keep the animals clean to such an extent that the hind 

 quarters and parts of the udders were covered with a thick 

 manure-crust, and the tail formed one solid, sticky mass. 

 How impure the milk from this farm must have been may 

 easily be imagined. I cannot give any exact data to what 

 extent it was mixed with impurities, as I was not able to 

 examine it closely ; but, judging from the large quantity of 

 slime gathered in the separator bowl when the milk was 

 separated, it was as one would expect from its antecedents. 

 Conditions similar to those given above, although not 

 carried to such an extreme, may be found on other of our 

 " dairy farms " i.e., on farms where they try, at least in the 

 stable, to maintain a high standard of cleanliness. What 

 can then be expected of the cow-stables in the places where 

 they do not try at all to follow the fundamental principle 

 of modern dairying strict cleanliness ? The poor ani- 

 mals are kept in such places in undisturbed peace through- 

 out the winter, uncarded and uncleaned; they are further- 

 more often confined in darkness for several months, as the 

 very small windows are often wholly snowed or frozen 

 over. Cow-stables where such bad conditions exist are 

 still found in many places; and still people wonder that 

 the milk coming from these primitive stables is of poor 

 quality, and that the products made from it do not keep 

 well. 



