l88 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



MERITS OF BUYING MILK ON THE BUTTER-FAT 

 AND PER CWT. BASIS VERSUS THE QUART 

 BASIS. 



E. L. Bradford, Auburn. 



This discussion relates principally to the dealer buying of 

 his patrons and incidentally to the consumer buying of the 

 dealer. I suppose most of the small milk dealers ("milk men") 

 buy their requirements by the quart, in addition to what they 

 raise themselves. The larger dealers ("shippers") buy in this 

 state in the following ways : 



1st. A comparatively small amount of milk, west of Port- 

 land, is bought for the Massachusetts market by the can or, 

 what is the same thing, by the quart. Whatever the test, it is 

 all the same, so long as it clears the law in the market where 

 sold. 



2nd. In another section of the state the value is based on a 

 price per hundred pounds of milk of a certain test, with two 

 cents a "point" or "tenth" added or substracted as the test 

 varies from the given standard. In still other sections prac- 

 tically the same method prevails, except that a price per lOO 

 pounds of milk is established for a minimum test of 3 per cent 

 and then 3 cents a "point" is added as the test goes up from 3 

 per cent. In some cases this 3 cents a tenth stops at 4.2 per 

 cent. That is to say, the farmer gets no more for 100 pounds 

 of 4.3 per cent or 5 per cent milk than he would for 4.2 per cent 

 milk. 



3rd. More generally, however, in the State of Maine the 

 practice is to set a price per 100 pounds of milk, including the 

 fat; and an additional price per pound of fat. 



It is quite true that the fat gets paid for twice under this 

 plan — once by the pound and once by the one hundred pounds. 

 But this works no injustice, and saves the cost of casting out 

 the fat in order to pay the per cwt. price for the skim-milk 

 only, instead of for the total weight of the milk. It is well to 

 note in this connection that in some sections the dealer docs 

 cast out the fat before computing the per cwt. price. 



Thus there are in Maine three general methods of buying 

 milk. The second and third methods differ mainlv in that the 



