THE FARMER AND THE PARCEL POST 101 



the milk. It is true that the skimmed milk is still 

 available for the farmer's use, but the price of skimmed 

 milk does not exceed, as a rule, a quarter of a cent a 

 pound. Thus, for twenty-five pounds of milk the 

 farmer at most could not get more than thirty cents. 

 A cow giving twenty-five pounds of milk will require 

 fully twenty cents' worth of food per day. Add to this 

 the care of the animal, interest on the investment, de- 

 preciation and charge of shipping, and the farmer 

 comes out in debt every day. 



If, however, the farmer could secure, through the 

 parcel post, a clientele for his butter or his cream, he 

 would be able to pay expenses and even make a small 

 profit. The retail price of good creamery butter in 

 Washington averages about thirty-five cents the year 

 around. Creamery butter is only 82 per cent, butter- 

 fat. Twenty-five pounds of milk would make almost 

 one and a quarter pounds of butter, and this, at the 

 price mentioned above, would bring a gross income of 

 about forty-four cents for the twenty-five pounds of 

 milk, and still leave the food value of the milk for the 

 farmer's use. 



Inquiring further as to what result had come from 

 his visit, he said that he had found a paper package 

 guaranteed to be acceptable to the parcel post, which 

 could be had in large quantities at a very cheap rate, 

 probably not over three or four cents for a gallon pack- 

 age. A gallon of cream, however, is too much to send 

 to any individual customer other than a restaurant or 

 a hotel. The maximum cream package for general use 

 among families would probably not hold over four 

 pounds. Cream properly chilled and sent promptly by 

 parcel post, and on arrival placed in cold storage, can 

 easily be kept two or even three days without pasteuriza- 



