MILK AFFECTED BY DAIRY PRACTICES. 79 
small as compared with the amount which would be caused by 
the same operation upon cows which were not so well kept. 
No doubt the difference due to this operation would be even 
more striking in the average Connecticut dairy. 
It is evident that the practice of brushing just at milking 
time should be avoided, but if the brushing were done long 
enough before milking so that the dust would have a chance to 
settle it would result beneficially to the germ content of the 
milk, 
REJECTING FORE-MILK. 
It is a common practice in dairies where special effort is 
made to obtain milk with a low germ content, to discard more 
or less of the fore-milk. It has been found by various experi- 
menters that the first few streams of milk normally contain de- 
cidedly more bacteria than the main part of the milk. This 
has led to the practice of discarding from two to four jets of 
milk from each quarter of the udder before the regular milking 
is commenced in stables where a special effort is made to keep 
the bacteria content of the general product as low as possible. 
BACTERIA IN FORE-MILK. 
The experiments in Table No. 24* were made to determine 
the amount of milk necessary to be discarded in order to re- 
“move the surplus bacteria usually found in the fore-milk. 
The method of making these experiments was as follows: 
The flank and udder of the cow were carefully wiped with a 
damp cloth. The first two jets of milk from each quarter were 
then drawn into a sterile flask held in a horizontal position. 
The next two jets from each quarter were then drawn into the 
milk pail, another sample was then drawn into a sterile flask 
_in a similar manner to the first, this sample including the fifth 
and sixth jets from each quarter. Two more streams were 
then drawn into the pail and another sample taken, this pro- 
cedure being continued until four samples were obtained. A 
fifth sample was also taken from near the end of the milking. 
It will be seen by looking at Table No. 5 that the first two 
streams of milk from each quarter of the udder contained in 
each case decidedly higher numbers of bacteria than did the 

* The actual work of these experiments was done by H. D. Edmond, a graduate 
student in dairy bacteriology. 
