106 STORRS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION 
terially reduced. This operation, however, seems to have 
baffled agricultural inventors. The nervous, sensitive disposi- 
tion of the individual cows, together with the lack of uni- 
formity in the form and size of the udder and teats, has made 
it very difficult to invent a machine which would milk different 
cows Satisfactorily. | 
Aside from the mere matter of reliability and expense, the 
problem of getting satisfactory milkers is a difficult one. The 
demand is steadily increasing for milk which has been pro- 
duced under such conditions that it shall be clean and whole- 
some when it reaches the consumer. It is now a generally 
recognized fact that much of the milk which is sent to our 
cities is not as clean and wholesome as it should be.. Health 
officers and the public generally are insisting upon an im- 
provement of the sanitary conditions under which milk is pro- 
duced and handled. Perhaps. no food product is more easily 
contaminated and injured by unsanitary conditions, than milk. 
If the stables and the cows are not properly cared for, and if 
the proper care and cleanliness is not exercised in the milking 
and subsequent handling, the milk may easily become con- 
taminated with dirt and various forms of bacteria. 
It is difficult to make the ordinary farm help appreciate the — 
necessity for extreme cleanliness in connection with milking 
and the subsequent handling of the product. In fact, it is 
frequently impossible to get help which will exercise the proper 
care for the production of clean milk. This fact, together with 
the cost of milking, has greatly stimulated the inventors of the 
various forms of milking machines, which have given more of 
less promise of success during the past few years. In order 
that milk shall be of the greatest value, it should reach the 
consumer in as nearly as possible the condition in which it is 
drawn from the normal udder of the healthy cow. Much of 
the dirt and bacterial contamination which affects the quality 
of the milk, gains entrance to it during the process of milking 
and before the milk leaves the stable. In many cases covered 
milk pails are used as a means of reducing this stable con- 
tamination. But if the milking could be done by means of a 
machine so that the milk would pass directly from the udder 
into a covered pail, thus excluding all chance for the entrance 
of dust and bacteria and the absorption of odors from the 
stable, the quality of the milk would be materially improved. 
Several milking machines have appeared on the market, but 
these have not proved to be satisfactory in all respects, and 
their use has not become general. Recently, however, a ma- 
chine which gives promise of success, has been developed, and 
