The Cow 319 



spread out behind and before. In the udder, 

 as in the pail, cream always rises to the top. 

 As fast as the milk is secreted, specific grav- 

 ity begins to work, setting the fats of it above 

 the watery parts. This is the reason close 

 .stripping is so essential to big butter-yields. 

 It is also the reason that, as the calves get 

 old enough to eat grass, they are suckled all 

 round — that is to say, have their mouths 

 pulled quickly from teat to teat, so as to 

 draw away the low milk, and leave the cream 

 for the pail. 



Sis Cow does not stomach this robbery of 

 her calf. She knows intuitively how much 

 more nourishing and heartening is her cream 

 than mere milk. So, when milking proper 

 begins, at first she gives down freely enough, 

 then all at once the flow checks — milk as 

 she may, the milker gets but a faint white 

 frothy trickle. Then it is strategy meets 

 strategy. The calf, which has been pulled 

 ofF and either roped or turned outside the 

 cow-pen, is fetched back and allowed to 

 suck a bit. Sis Cow spreads her feet, moos 

 content, and licks her baby, seeming to thrill 

 happily at his vigorous hunchings. In a 

 twinkle he is dragged off, and there is the 

 milker, quart-cup in hand, intent to fill it 

 with the precious strippings, and save them 

 for her churn. Plain milk, she holds, is 



