226 THE dairyman's manual. 



any permanent remedy can be fouiid for it. A temporary 

 preventive, and one not at all difficult of application, is 

 to smear the teats of a leaking cow with photographers' 

 collodion as soon as she is milked. A bottle of collodion 

 may be kept in the barn (al ways well corked or it will 

 evaporate very soon), and a small quantity may be rubbed 

 over the teat and on the end of it with the finger. The-^^ 

 collodion contracts considerably as the chloroform evapo- 

 rates from it and practically forms a tight bandage 

 around the teat, w^hich compresses the duct. \Yhen, as 

 is sometimes the case, a cow will lose two or three quarts- 

 of milk a day, it may pay to use this remedy. A rubber 

 band around the teat has been suggested, but it is not to 

 be recommended, as it would obstruct the circulation and 

 cause trouble. 



Spattering of the milk is produced by a ragged edge of 

 the skin at the extremity of the duct of the teat. When 

 it is permanent it will require for its removal the inser- 

 tion of a short plug having the form shown at figure 29, 

 by which the extremity of the orifice will be brought into 

 more even shape. But generally the use of a piece of 

 smooth pumice-stone, rubbed gently upon the edge of the 

 teat before and after milking, will remove the loose scales 

 of the skin which cause the trouble. When the stream 

 of milk is diverted from its course and broken in the 

 manner referred to, it may often remedy the trouble to 

 clear the end of the teat with the finger-nail, by which 

 any loose scale of skin will be removed. The skin. is 

 changed in its natural manner by the flaking off of 

 minute scales or shreds, and as these are worn off or fall 

 off new skin appears under them. It is this continual 

 reparation of the skin tissue which is the cause of the 

 spattering, and when the cause is known the remedy be- 

 comes very simple. If the pumice-stone or finger-nail 

 does not effect a remedy, the difficulty may be removed 

 by applying a little wet carbonate of soda or saleratus to 



