Connecticut western news., 1910-01-13
CIRCULAR LETTER
 ID DA|RYMEN
SENT OUT BY POTTER AND AvERILL
Reporting Operation of the Laws Dur ing the Year 1909 and Advocating Sanitary Improvements for the Ben- citing of Dairy Stock.

SantarY improvements TOT me ben-
 citing of Dairy Stock.
 A circular letter, signed by Hubert F. Potter, dairy commissioner and ;Heman o. Averill, commissioner of domestic animals, was issued under date of Jan 1, 1910, "To the Farmers and Dairymen of Connecticut It is as follows:
 This circular letter is sent to you in antici ation of more or less general iu- spection of the condition surrounding the production and handling of milk which an awakened public sentiment is de- manding. We believe that instruction is better than destruction and we ask you to read this letter carefully, to then examine your stables critically and if you find any conditions that you would have to apologize for to the inspector. we recommend that you, of your own free will and accord, correct the evil be- fore the inspectors visit.
 We are anxious to secure results rather than court cases.
 'Cleanliness is next to Godliness' is trite saying which applies to the stable and its occupants as forcibly as to the home and tine home-makers. In manag- ing and successfully conducting the bus. mess of dalryiug at the present time Godliness is virtue that is very desira- ble, but cleanliness is a practice that is absolutely necessary in the stable and in handling of milk.
 It has come to be recognized that bo. vine tuberculosis is primarily q stable disease. that 1t is very rarely communi. cated from onG animal to another while i'll the pasture, and that this terrible scourge will never be eradicated from the herds il this state until more sani. tary conditions and practices are intro
 luced into a majority of the stables where COWS are keut.
 As more than one-half of the life of the dairy COW is spent in the stable and as many babies md invalids are depend ent upon cows milk for their entire nourishment and a. milk enters very largely into the diet of nearly every per son in tho state, i5 is the right and the Iuty of the state to insist that the COW which produces milk to be sold either as whole milk or its product, shall be well
 lousel all care d for.
 The essentials for favorable environ ment for the COW are light, cleanliness and good ventilation. Light is cheap but efficient germicide, the sun shining directly upon the germs of tuberculosis will destroy their vitality and power to do harm in less than one hour. Diffused )r reflected light will accomplish the 5ame result in a longer time. The health and we'll being of the COW demand that as much light as possible be admitted into the staLle. Additional windows in the stables to admit more sunlight, more whitewashed walls and ceiling to reflect the light, better ventilation and greater cleanliness in the stables to provide a sufficiency of pure air for the cattle con- fined therein, will do more to keep them healthy and make them profitable than all the patent feeds and medicines in the market.
 large percentage of COWS affected with tuberculosis, cough and raise, but unlike the human they do not eject the germ-laden sputum but swallow it and as it is thoroughly mixed with the food in the processes of digestion the germs are found very uniformly distributed throughout the faeces.
 Dr. Schroeder, Supt. of the Experi. ment Station of the U. 5. Dept. of Agri- culture, Bureau Animal Industry, has found that nearly all tuberculous cattle eXpel virulent tubercle bacilli in their faeces. He has also ascertained that not more than two per cent. of the milk regularly sold by dealers is entirely free from COW manure and that samples contained as high as one part of cow dung to every four hundred parts of milk.
 A wise regard for the comfort and health of the herd and of the milkers who spend much of their time in the s able, should of itself be sufficient req sou for keeping the stable and COW clean. There is. however, another interest that the producer of milk must consider and that is the demands of the purchaser and the health of the consumer. Cows kept in filthy stable must inevitably be- came more or lest soiled by lying in the filth and it is impossible for even a clean man to milk a COW whose Hanks and udder arc soiled and not let more or less of the filth get into the milk. We believe that germs of tuberculosis are more lik, ly t) get into the mil, ill this