SOURCES OF INFECTION IN THE STABLE. 37 



apparent from the investigations reported. If the skin is 

 smooth and shining, even a little uncleanliness is easily 

 discovered, besides which a cow well taken care of does not 

 lose her hairs so often, and they are not so loose that they 

 easily rub off during the milking.* In cleaning a cow we 

 ought not to have our attention mainly directed to the 

 upper parts of her body, as is usually the case; but her 

 lower parts must first of all be kept properly cleaned, since 

 it is from these parts that hair and other impurities prefer- 

 ably fall into the milk. 



If the more tender lower parts of the cows cannot be 

 carded, they must be brushed and washed so much the 

 more frequently. The tenderness of these parts will, how- 

 ever, disappear as the cow becomes accustomed to their be- 

 ing cleaned. If these parts of the bodies of the animals are 

 badly soiled, they can only be cleaned again with a good 

 deal of trouble, through repeated moistening and washing 

 with soap and water. If it becomes necessary to wash the 

 udder it should be done rapidly, and the udder must then 

 be well dried with a dry rag, as it will otherwise easily take 

 cold if exposed to draught, etc. 



In summer-time the cleaning of the cows is often neg- 



* Aside from the purely bacteriological aspects of the question 

 there is a no less important advantage in carding and brushing cows 

 in the resulting increased feeling of well-being of the cows, which 

 may find expression in a larger production of milk and fat. Dietzch 

 (" Die Kuhrnilch," p. 21) states that "it has been found by experi- 

 ments that cows kept in a clean condition gave, on an average, 1 liter 

 (quart) of milk daily more than the same cows in a dirty condition. 

 Backhaus (Journal f. Landwirtschaft, 41, 333-42) also found an ap- 

 preciable increase in the milk-yield of cows on two different experi- 

 ments. Cf. the German adage, Out geputet ist halb gefuttert (" Well 

 cleaned is half fed "). W. 



