Yol. LXII1. No. 2828. 
NEW YORK, APRIL 9, 1904. 
*1 PER YEAR. 
A WOMAN'S STRENUOUS DAY. 
ON A LIVELY DAIRY FARM. 
Burnt Pies, Agents and Horse rakes. 
Living on a large dairy farm nestling among the 
rocky hills of the lower Adirondacks we find a great 
amount of work to do, and I shall endeavor to give 
an account of the work a farm wife is usually called 
upon to perform day by day. In the wee small hours 
of morning—4:30—we awake, and as we dress in the 
distance can he heard the merry click of a modern 
hydraulic pump which works away day in and day 
out at the spring at the foot of a neighboring hill. 
With the clear sparkling water which our little pump 
forces right to our door I make a hasty toilet, for i 
know that by this time our prized herd of Jerseys 
have been stabled, and I must do my share in the 
milking, which means usually 10 cows night and 
morning. This task per¬ 
formed I must then clean 
up the milk pails and 
aerator, for if, as is some¬ 
times supposed, water goes 
into them with the milk it 
must also he used liberally 
over them to cleanse them 
when milking is done. 
Then the chicks must be 
fed, and by this time I 
must think of preparations 
for breakfast. After eat¬ 
ing we wash and put the 
dishes in place again, and 
we are then ready to wash 
the empty milk cans which 
have been returned from 
the factory, for on a dairy 
farm where the farmer’s 
income depends so largely 
on the returns from the 
butter or cheese factory, 
extraordinary cleanliness 
must be observed. 
It being Saturday, which 
means baking day on the 
farm, I hurry to the house 
to prepare the good things 
for the Sabbath, which is 
truly the farmer’s day of 
rest. With the assistance 
of my youngest sister, who 
lives with me, we gradual¬ 
ly produce a tempting ar¬ 
ray of pies, cakes and 
bread, when we are inter¬ 
rupted by the arrival of an 
agent who, with his sil- 
very-tongued oratory, gets us interested in his wares 
and forgetful of our baking. We are startled by an 
exclamation from sister: “Something’s burning!” On 
rushing to the oven a cloud of black smoke tells its 
own story, and we feel wrathy enough to throw the 
peddler out of doors bodily and the burnt pie after 
him. We just nicely recover from this misfortune 
when a meat peddler comes along, and from him I 
purchase a roast for Sunday. Soon after this one of 
the neighbors dropped in, and of course that inter¬ 
rupted my work for a short gossip, but gave me a 
chance to rest a spell. I next mopped our large piazza, 
dug potatoes and prepared them for dinner, and after 
dinner made a dish of potato salad and put away the 
cleaned dinner dishes. 
Now comes a call from the barn, and on answering 
it I find myself invited to drive the horse to unload 
hay with the horse fork, which I did with as good 
grace as possible, knowing that considerable work 
still awaited me at the house. Returning to the house 
I comb hair and clean up and sit down to rest, when 
another agent appears on the scene, this time with 
stereoscope and views and as I was looking them over 
I was called to the barn again to help unload. I then 
started for the field with the horse to do some raking, 
for it was necessary to help the men when I could, on 
account of the rainy Summer and scarcity of farm 
laborers. On my way I met three ladies coming to 
make me an afternoon call, but I excused myself and 
sent them to the house to visit with my sister, ex¬ 
pecting to finish my raking in a short time, but as 
the field was large and the horse very slow I did not 
finish until four o’clock and coming from the field 
I met my friends returning, which you may be sure 
was a disappointment for me. It is now time for 
milking again, so I went after the cows half a mile 
distant, then ate my supper, and after changing my 
dress for milking I milked my usual number of cows, 
washed the pails and aerator once more, and having 
once more made a change of toilet sat down at seven 
o’clock to take a much-needed rest. Shortly after I 
retired to dream of burnt pies, pack peddlers, horse- 
forks and afternoon callers all in an endless confu¬ 
sion. MRS. J. o. 
Jefferson Co.* N. Y. 
HOW TO MILK A COW. 
The proof of the pudding is said to be in the eat¬ 
ing, and the proof of the value of the cow is in the 
quality and quantity of the milk that she turns out. 
Yet we believe that her true value may not be known, 
or at least considerably lessened by improper milking. 
If a man comes to you to hire out, and you ask him 
if he is a good milker, quite naturally he will say 
“Yes,” and yet good milkers are scarce even among 
the bosses themselves. Milking is one of the most 
important jobs on the farm, and it is also a never- 
ending one; 365 days in the year, and an extra one 
this year for good measure. As the dairyman’s in¬ 
come is so largely dependent upon the amount of milk 
he makes the operation of milking ought to receive 
more attention than it does. The hands and clothes 
of the milker should be clean and free from the dust 
that accumulates upon garments while feeding hay 
and grain, which if not removed is quite likely to 
work into the pail while milking. If the cows are 
kept in a cleanly manner, and well bedded with 
rather coarse litter, such as cut straw, bog hay or 
shavings, they will be reasonably clean. We do not 
like sawdust for bedding (although sometimes we 
have to use it), especially frozen green sawdust which 
will chill the cow that lies upon it, and sticks all 
over her body ready to fall into the pail unless the 
cow is very carefully brushed. 
When sitting down at the cow do so gently. Hit¬ 
ting her with the corner of your stool and yelling, 
“Get over there, you old 
rip,” may not be under¬ 
stood literally by the cow, 
but the impression you 
have left in her head as 
well as upon her hips will 
not make the cow “fall all 
over herself,” as the boys 
say, to give you an extra 
quantity of high-quality 
milk. Rub the udder 
gently for 10 seconds to 
remove any dust, either 
with the hand or a damp 
cloth, which will take up 
any dust, but do not use 
a wet rag. Before starting 
to milk, if the cow is not a 
hard one* work the milk 
to coming into the teat, so 
that you can start with a 
full stream. If the cow is 
a hard milker omit the lat¬ 
ter, as she will start more 
easily before the teats are 
pressed full. See- that your 
finger nails are short, so 
that in no way will they 
irritate the cow. 
Fig. 125 shows what we 
believe to be the right po¬ 
sition while milking. No¬ 
tice that the pail is direct¬ 
ly under the udder, and is 
held perfectly level. The 
milker can draw a full 
stream directly downward 
without pulling or twist¬ 
ing the teats or udder. If 
the cow lifts her foot the left arm is right there to 
protect the pail. Fig. 126 shows one incorrect posi¬ 
tion while milking. The milker is too far away from 
the cow, so that the pail must be held at an angle, 
and if the cow lifts her foot but a little it will hit 
the pail with the usual result. The milker must pull 
hard and sideways to get the milk into the pail, and 
you can generally find considerable wasted milk upon 
the outside of the pail, the milker’s trousers and on 
his boots. Fig. 127 is another incorrect position. The 
milker uses only one finger and thumb, which he pulls 
over the cow’s teat. He is quite apt to have the filthy 
habit of occasionally dipping his fingers in the pail 
and wetting the teat. Do not tolerate this at all. 
Milking can be done more easily and better with the 
dry hand. We usually milk crossways; that is, one 
hand on opposite corner teats. This is not so tire¬ 
some a way as where both hands milk the two near¬ 
est and the two farthest teats at the same time, as it 
does not tire the arms so much when both are not in 
JERSEY COW BRIARCLIFF DOLLY. Fig. 124 . See Page 310 . 
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