124 WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
There is probably no moist substance so susceptible of taking up 
foul odors as milk, cream and butter. Those who have experienced 
the odor from a skunk in the vicinity of the milk room^ need no 
reminder on this point; but they should also understand that the 
milk should be removed from the odors of the stable as soon as 
possible after it is drawn. Cows should be kindly and gently 
treated, particularly while milking. Professor Arnold gives such 
good advice upon this point that I quote from him: 
“A cow carries her milk from one meal of her calf to another, or 
from one milking to another, held firmly in little reservoirs distrib¬ 
uted all through the udder. The valves which open and close the 
passages from these reservoirs to the teats are under the control of 
the will; but like the muscles which close the neck of the bladder, 
they are naturally and constantly kept closed, and are only relaxed 
and opened by a special effort of the will. At milking time, these 
valves, by a relaxation of the cords which control them, are opened, 
and the milk let down in a flood upon the teats. This relaxation 
does not last long. After a little, the special effort to hold open 
the valve ceases, and they instinctively close again, shutting off the 
flow from the reservoirs to the teats, and retaining in the reservoirs 
any milk which may not have passed out. The habit of not “giv¬ 
ing down ” consists in shortening the time of relaxation, thus stop¬ 
ping the flow from the reservoirs to the teats before the milk is all 
drawn. The circumstances which tend to make a cow shorten this 
period of relaxation are rough treatment, fear, grief, solicitude, 
loud noises, in short anything that attracts attention and makes a 
cow uneasy. The circumstances which induce a prolonged relaxa¬ 
tion are comfort and quietude, and freedom from disturbance and 
excitement, together with the relief which the flow of milk occa¬ 
sions. When a cow has from any cause acquired the habit of short¬ 
ening the time of “letting down,” it is very difficult, and some¬ 
times impossible to overcome it. The best way is to avoid all occa¬ 
sion of disturbance, and observe well those which promote pleasure 
and quiet for the cow, and to milk as rapidly as possible consistent 
with comfort, with a view to getting the milk before the “ letting 
down” ceases. Milking rapidly does not mean jerking sharply or 
moving with hasty or irregular motions in the presence of the cow. 
Such a course would counteract the very thing aimed at. The mo¬ 
tion of the milker should not be such as to attract her suspicions, 
