94 THE COMMON SENSE OF THE MILK QUESTION 



milk to the consumer, somewhat in detail. Let us, 

 then, take an imaginary journey to a typical cow 

 stable, watch the milking operation as it is carried on 

 there, and then follow the milk along some part at 

 least of its journey. It is late afternoon in the early 

 summer and Farmer Jackson's cows are driven across 

 the yard into an open shed to be milked. There is 

 dirt upon the hind quarters of some of the cows, 

 thick, hard cakes of dirt matted in the hair, while all 

 the animals are very dusty. We observe that the 

 yard also is very dirty and pervaded by a strong odor 

 of manure. In the middle there is a big heap of 

 cow dung and straw from the stables, upon which 

 fowls are scratching and over which flies are swarming. 

 Many more flies are buzzing around the cows as they 

 stand in the shed, and tails are going in a constant 

 swishing motion, whisking them off. It is not a very 

 clean sight, this typical farmyard ! 



Presently, along comes Bill, the farmer's man, pail 

 in either hand, to milk the cows. He is a slow-moving 

 fellow, is Bill, bronzed by his outdoor life, strong as an 

 ox, and just as stolid and indifferent to all the world 

 outside as the ox is. As he comes out of the farm 

 kitchen, he lingers on the step a moment and rinses 

 one of the pa;ils with hot water, which he then pours 

 into the other pail, rinsing it in the same way. He 

 throws the water away and comes down the yard and 

 stops a moment at the well, not far from which is a 



