514 THE CONTROL OF THE MILK SUPPLY 



purchased animal, in which case the test may be delayed a month 

 or so.^ 



2. The Housings of Milk Herds 



Present conditions. — There can be little question that much of 

 the polluted milk finding its way on to the market at the present 

 time is due to the bad housing of milch cattle. The evil conditions 

 existing in these places are well known. Lack of ventilation and 

 light, uncleanliness, unsuitable storage of milk, and the proximity 

 of the byre to other buildings, are conditions which abound. In 

 some cases horses are stabled with milch cows, which is open to 

 serious objection. Often there is overcrowding of the cows, and 

 bad drainage and bad floors are in many districts the rule rather 

 than the exception. Two or three illustrations will be ample, and 

 they shall be selected from recent Government reports: — . 



" I found that no heed had been paid to providing anything 

 approaching the 800 cubic feet per cow which the regulations 

 prescribe. Most of these cow byres indeed seemed to contain as 

 many cows as could be crowded within their four walls. Some have 

 no ventilating openings whatever, others are provided with a few 

 air shafts insufficient for the purpose. Often byres are badly paved 

 and drained, and have no convenient supply of water. Almost all 

 are imperfectly lighted. The superstition that a cow kept in foul 

 air and in the dark is a ' better milker ' is here still prevalent ; the 

 risk run by persons who consume milk from cows so kept is 

 unheeded." ^ 



Again : " The greater number of the cowsheds [in the district] 

 have a brick, or partly brick floor, the surface of which is irregular 

 and often dilapidated, allowing the liquid manure to settle in small 

 pools, and to soak between the bricks. The liquid manure which is 

 not absorbed in the cowsheds finds its way by means of an open 

 brick gutter passing at the rear of the beasts' stalls to the farm 

 midden, where the dung and litter is deposited to remain until 

 cleared away, as may be convenient. The usual arrangement is 

 for the cowsheds to occupy one, two, or three sides of a square, the 

 partially enclosed space forming the midden. Some [cowsheds] 

 are built wholly of wood. Few of these buildings could be 



^ For further particulars respecting the value, and methods of use, of 

 tuberculin, books on general bacteriology and veterinary medicine may be con- 

 sulted. Much interesting matter on this subject may be found in the Trans. 

 British Congress on Tuberculosis, 1901, vols, i.-iv. ; The Year-Book of the 

 Department of Agriculture, U.S.A., Washington, 1901, pp. 581-592 (D. E. 

 Salmon) ; and official reports issued in Germany, England, and America. 



^ Twenty-Eighth Report of Local Government Board, 1898-99 (Medical 

 Officer's Supplement), p. 104 (Sanitary Condition of Alnwick Urban District). 



