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CLEAN MILK PRODUCTION AND HANDLING 



needs to be made between apparent and real dirtiness. Bacteria 

 cannot rise from a moist or wet floor, neither will they long 

 remain floating in a damp atmosphere. Therefore, if a stable 

 floor is not so dirty as to allow pieces of filth to be picked up by 

 the cow and carried to the pail, a floor which is apparently very 

 dirty, but moist, may be of less consequence than a thoroughly 



Fig. 87. — Typical and inexpensive well-made Southern cow stable. Note the open 

 corn crib construction of south side (left) and ventilation loft at right. Owned by Mr. 

 Van Dyke, Hope, Arkansas. (Photographed by author.) 



dry and apparently cleaner condition. Fine, dry dust adheres 

 to the hair of the cow as she lies in her bed and is with difficulty 

 removed by hand or brush before milking. A stable atmos- 

 phere filled with dust from old hay is bad. 



Flies are filthy things at best. They breed in the manure 

 and carry portions of it on their bodies wherever they go. A 

 fly swimming in milk or lying in a strainer soon becomes 



