ange
about in a cold yard, hooking and annoying each other--is of no possible
benefit, unless it be to rid them of the trouble of cleaning the
stables, which pays more than twice its cost in the saving of manure.
The outside cattle, which occupy the yard--if there are any--are all the
better that the stabled ones do not interfere with them. They become
habituated to their own quarters, as do the others, and all are better
for being, respectively, in their proper places.

MILKING.

The manner of milking exerts a more powerful and lasting influence on
the productiveness of the cow than most farmers are aware. That a slow
and careless milker soon dries up the best of cows, every practical
farmer and dairyman knows; but a careful examination of the beautiful
structure of the udder will serve further to explain the proper mode of
milking, in order to obtain and keep up the largest yield.

The udder of a cow consists of four glands, disconnected from each
other, but all contained within one bag or cellular membrane; and these
glands are uniform in structure. Each gland consists of three parts: the
_glandular_, or secreting part, _tubular_ or conducting part, and the
_teats_, or receptacle, or receiving part. The glandular forms by far
the largest portion of the udder. It appears to the naked eye composed
of a mass of yellowish grains; but under the microscope these grains are
found to consist entirely of minute blood-vessels forming a compact
plexus, or fold. These vessels secrete the milk from the blood. The milk
is abstracted from the blood in the glandular part; the tubes receive
and deposit it in the reservoir, or receptacle; and the sphincter at the
end of the teat retains it there until it is wanted for use.

This must not be understood, however, as asserting that all the milk
drawn from the udder at one milking is contained in the receptacle. The
milk, as it is secreted, is conveyed to the receptacle, and when that is
full, the larger tubes begin to be filled, and next the smaller ones,
until the whole become gorged. When this takes place, the secretion of
the milk ceases, and absorption of the thinner or more watery part
commences. Now, as this absorption takes place more readily in the
smaller or more distant tubes, it is invariably found that the milk from
these, which comes last into the receptacle, is much thicker and richer
than what was first drawn off. This milk has been significantly styled
afterings, or