MILKING THE IMPROVED MODE. 267 



The HOURS of milking should be regular, and it 

 is of the utmost consequence that the cow's udder 

 be perfectly drained of milk to the very last drip- 

 ping, the habit of leaving milk in the udder being 

 in the end greatly injurious. The last milk, more- 

 over, is always the richest, according to the re- 

 mark of an experienced Cheshire dairyman, " each 

 succeeding drop which a cow gives at a meal, excel- 

 ling the preceding one in richness." A cow in full 

 milk cannot be well drained under twenty minutes 

 by the best hand. The udder should be kept well 

 trimmed, and with it the teats should be perfectly 

 clean before milking. The tail also should be free 

 from dirt, and every risk avoided of fouling the milk. 

 Upon the continent cows are curried, dressed, and 

 clothed like horses : without going to that extreme, 

 they may be rubbed with wisps and kept clean, 

 that their appearance may be creditable to the family 

 mansion. 



A careless or unskilful mode of milking never fails 

 to produce irritation and unsteadiness in the cow, 

 with a thickening of the skin of the teats, whence 

 proceed chaps and cracks exceedingly difficult to heal, 

 from the necessity of constant handling. The follow- 

 ing mode of performing the operation, which I have 

 extracted from the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, 

 appears so rational and practical, that I earnestly 

 recommend it to my readers concerned in the Dairy : 

 " These effects may be, and are, almost entirely 

 avoided by the more scientific plan of milking, 

 adopted in other parts of the country, where, instead 

 of drawing down, or stripping the teats between the 

 N 2 



