BUTTER. 299 



for they carry unclean and impure matter directly into 

 the blood and irritate the very source of the milk. All 

 these matters may very easily be ignored or neglected, as 

 not appearing to be proximate elements in this matter of 

 cleanliness, but the experience of every fine butter-maker, 

 of every cheese-maker, and of every person who produces 

 milk for sale, or who sells it, or who manufactures it in 

 any way, all concurrently proves that these errors in the 

 management of the cows are really most serious and have 

 much to do with the very frequent poor quality of butter. 



Then we may consider what may be called the gross 

 instances of uncleanliness, the avoidance of which con- 

 stitutes one of the chief points in the successful manage- 

 ment of the dairy. It can be hardly necessary to particu- 

 larize these, for they are palpable to the commonest under- 

 standing, and any dairyman who will milk a cow fouled 

 with manure from a night's rest in dung and filthy litter, 

 or with hands soiled by the coarser work of the stable, 

 or who goes all unwashed from his own bed to the stable 

 to milk, or who can quietly and contentedly go on milk- 

 ing while a filthy stream courses down into the milk pail, 

 or who will dip his filthy fingers into the milk to wet the 

 unclean teats that he may get a firmer hold upon them, 

 or who never uses a brush or card upon his cows, such 

 a man is totally destitute of that natural instinct of 

 cleanliness without which no teaching can influence his 

 reason, any inore than talking to a blind man can give 

 him an idea of the beauties of a picture gallery. 



Lastly maybe mentioned the chemical changes in milk 

 and cream, which are to be most carefully controlled. 

 Milk, as has been explained, is a most complex and un- 

 stable fluid, and has within it all the elements and nat- 

 ural proclivities for change and decomposition. It does 

 net need to wait even for the omnipotent oxygen to 

 exercise its action. It merely needs to break apart its 

 atoms to produce within itself the aci^ which is at once 



