90 The Liung Platfue of Cattle. 



an infected herd, and tlie unfortunate farmer too often 

 unloads his suspicious beasts on the still more unfortu- 

 nate city milkman. Such cows pass through the ordinary 

 channels, and in their course infect cars, ferry-boats and 

 cattle-yards so that ere they reach their destination they 

 have often done most material damage. Thus, when we 

 began our work in New York we traced many outbreaks 

 to cows from infected districts in New Jersey, and others 

 to the infected sheep-house at 60th street, where many 

 fresh cows were kept for sale. This was promptly stop- 

 ped ; but we had then scarcely begun to meet the difficul- 

 ties. 



The fresh cows are mostly sent to the city consigned 

 directly to dealers, or to speculators who in their turn 

 employ cow-dealers to dispose of them at a commission. 

 On their arrival by boat or rail some are sold directly to 

 the milkmen, and the others are mostly sent to dealers 

 stables to be disposed of later. A number of the New 

 York dealers keep their cows in the Union Stock yards 

 at 60th street, and until the present law was enforced 

 they kept them in the sheep-house. 



We must go a step further to show the dangers of this. 

 A great majority of the city milkmen are poor, keeping 

 from one to a dozen cows, and their losses are so heavy 

 that they can rarely get money enough to pay for their 

 cows when bought. The cows are accordingly left with 

 them on trial, and the payments made in installments. If 

 1 cow fails to milk as represented she is rejected and the 

 dealer replaces her by another, taking the first to another 

 customer, or in the absence of a customer back to his 

 own stables, or as was the case formerly in Now York 

 back to the Union Stock Yards. Such cows transferred 

 from city stable to stable in many cases carried conta- 

 gion with them, and when returned to the dealer's stable 

 or stock-yard they infected these places and indirectly 

 all cows that afterward passed through these. Thus ii 



