40 MODERN DAIRY PRACTICE. 



be made of wash-goods, and that they be often aired and 

 washed. The milking is certainly so important that due 

 attention ought to be paid to all circumstances in connec- 

 tion with it. 



The observation of constant and strict cleanliness and 

 the wearing of proper clothing on the part of the milkers 

 would furthermore help to raise their moral and social 

 standing. Here is not, however, the place to dwell on this 

 side of the question, and I shall only call attention to the 

 motto at the beginning of this part, which expresses what 

 the Swiss think about this matter. 



Wash-water for Milkers 7 Hands. The milker must 

 be particularly careful to clean his hands previously to 

 the milking. They may easily come in contact with the 

 milk during the milking, and thus cause a direct in- 

 fection. After having milked a cow he ought to care- 

 fully rinse his hands in clean water.* I have found a 

 bad practice in this line in many places viz., that the 

 water used for washing the hands is not changed; no 



* This may seem an unnecessary precaution to many, but at 

 least in case of sick or diseased cows in a herd the direction given 

 should be strictly followed. Nocard and Mollereau (see Bang, Re- 

 port 14, Copenhagen experiment station, 1885, p. 15) have called 

 attention to the fact that the milker may often be the cause of carry- 

 ing contagion from one cow to another. They give the following 

 experience: " A cow was sent to Paris by rail and as she came 

 from the car she was milked by a milker from a neighboring stable, 

 where inflammation of the udder for a long time had appeared. 

 Hardly six weeks after she had been placed in a previously healthy 

 herd it was noticed that her udder was caked; the milk became 

 unsalable, and the disease soon spread to the majority of the other 

 cows in the stable. It was ascertained that the disease did not ap- 

 pear in the stable from where the cow came." W. 



