Instead of the yoke a soft cushion is also used, which the dairymaids strap over their backs, so that they hang down and rest over the hips and thighs. On this cushion the cans are laid, and fastened with broad hempen straps, that they may not press too heavily upon the body. This band is called the milk-strap. Where the milk is carried home on a hand-cart, neatly-woven baskets are fastened upon little wagons in which the cans are placed. If it is to be carried in casks, the same arrangement is fixed upon a hand-cart. Two wooden floats are laid upon the milk in the buckets, in order to protect it from slopping over. One or more large milk-casks or tubs, in which it may cool off properly, are also used. The size of these tubs is different, as well as the materials of which they are made. Where the cooling is not left to the air alone, but is sought to be effected by hanging the milk-tub into cold water, the vessels are made of metal. The large vase-like jars are also used for this purpose. These hold about thirty cans, or twenty-six quarts. Wooden bowls are used, of different sizes and forms, and earthen pans, rather deeper than broad, Figs. 93 and 94, in which the milk as it cools is set for the cream to rise. A large pot for collecting the cream until there is enough to churn, and wooden skimmers for taking off the cream, are also used. The milker sits upon a common four-legged, and sometimes one-legged milking-stool, and milks either the teats on one side, or one hind and one front teat, the pail being held between the knees. The cows are milked regularly at four or five o’clock in the morning, and at five or six in the afternoon. [Illustration: Fig. 93.] [Illustration: Fig. 94.] In West Friesland, North and South Holland, Utrecht, and other places, it is customary to tie the tail to the leg of the cow, that she may not annoy the milker. Most cows do not resist this, being accustomed to it from the beginning. They also pass a cord around the horns and tie her to a post stuck in the ground during the milking, as in Fig. 95. In many provinces only the unruly cows are tied in this way. [Illustration: Fig. 95.] The milking takes place on the right side of the cow, so that the milker sits on this side. In West Friesland and North Holland there is an exception to this rule. The cows are tied in pairs in the stalls, and one is milked on one side and the other on the other, the milker sitting with his back to the board partition, to avoid annoyance from either animal.