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CITY MILK SUPPLY 



country milk plants have multiplied ; some have been created by remodel- 

 ing old creameries while others are new, being designed and built for the 

 special purpose for which they are used. There are several advantages 

 in the country milk plant system. As a rule it is not necessary to invest 

 so much money in country as in city plants; usually from $2,000 to $20,000 

 according to the character of the building and its equipment is enough. 

 However, if a contractor buys his milk in several widely separated dis- 



FIG. 39. Country milk plant at Harvard, Illinois. 



tricts it often is more economical to concentrate his business in a single 

 city plant than to maintain several country plants. Labor difficulties 

 are less likely to occur, for the men in the country can live more comfort- 

 ably on their wages than men in the city can on theirs and it is more 

 difficult to foment strife among employees scattered in small numbers 

 in several plants than it is to do so in a large plant with many on the pay- 

 roll. Dairymen dealing directly with the plant managers get on more 

 harmoniously than they do with officials living in the city whom they 

 seldom see. The country milk plant effects a desirable concentration of 

 country business for either by a system of auto truck collection or of 

 having dairymen haul directly to the plant, the unsatisfactory practice 

 of leaving a few cans of milk exposed on the platform of little way sta- 

 tions to be picked up by milk trains is abolished. Country plants facili- 

 tate the grading of milk which is becoming a powerful factor in improving 

 dairying. 



The Item of the Surplus. It is the opinion of many that surplus 

 milk is better handled in the country than in the city. The production 

 of milk is at the maximum during June and decreases gradually through 



