76 STORRS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 
from the cows which were wiped with a damp cloth was 
but 716, making a difference in favor of .the wiping of 
6,342 bacteria per cubic centimeter. A part of this  strik- 
ing difference is, of course, due to the relatively large 
number in the unwiped sample in experiment No. 3, but 
there seems to be no reason why this experiment should 
be omitted from the average since it was in every way a fair 
test. Hven if this experiment were omitted the difference 
would still be very decidedly in favor of the practice of wiping 
the udders. One of the benefits gained by the practice of using 
a damp cloth is the prevention of just such abnormally high 
numbers of bacteria as occurred in experiment No. 3. At the 
same time this practice results uniformly in a much smaller germ 
content than the milk would otherwise contain. ‘The relative . 
value of the numbers given in the averages for the first column 
in the table are strikingly shown by the accompanying diagram. 
Diagram showing the relative value of the above averages for the 
total bacteria. 
Not wiped, | 

Wiped, 
Decrease due 
to wiping, 
While the benefit produced by the wiping is not quite so uni- 
form as in the total number still it is in most cases very marked 
in both the acid and liquefying groups of bacteria and the av- 
erages for these columns show that the practice of wiping the 
udders has a very decided influence in excluding these bacteria 
from the milk. It, perhaps, should be stated here that the 
cows used in these experiments were kept in much better 
condition as regards cleanliness than the average dairy herd. 
The results obtained by these experiments are, therefore, not 
abnormal. On the contrary the differences shown here are 
probably much less striking than would be found if the cows 
were not kept in such good condition. In fact a few experi- 
ments which have been made by the writer in stables where 
the conditions are not as good show this to be the case. 
