144 BRITISH DAIRYING. 



The Middleman's Profits. 



A great deal has been said and written about the assumed 

 extravagant profits of the middleman in the milk trade, but it 

 has not always been well said or well written. The middle- 

 man's expenses in a town or city swallow up a larger proportion 

 of the supposed profits than many people are aware of. The 

 trade is a harassing trade at the best. 



The dealer who receives country milk and retails it in a town 

 has only a limited time each day to do the work, and therefore 

 requires more men and horses than he otherwise would. Milk 

 required for householders' breakfasts must be delivered in time, 

 and it has to be fetched from the railway before it can be 

 delivered to anybody. It is said that four thousand horses are 

 required by the trade in London alone, and more hands than are 

 wanted to milk the cows whose milk they distribute. The horses 

 must needs be well fed, and the men well paid, for work which 

 is done while half the world is in bed. All the milk coming 

 in from the country must be sampled and tested as a general 

 thing, and the large dealers have skilled analysts constantly 

 employed for their own protection. 



Milk is so liable to septic infection, to early and rapid decom- 

 position, that great loss in it frequently occurs in hot weather. 

 The only practicable safeguard that can be generally employed 

 is thorough cooling and aeration as soon as the milk is taken 

 from the cow. The utmost difficulty exists in regulating the 

 supply to the demand. One day the dealer has too much milk, 

 another too little, and retail customers are often both unrea- 

 sonable and exacting. Too little is better than too much, 

 within limits ; but if there be always too little the trade falls off. 



Urban Milk Trade. 



Creameries or cheese factories situated in the country lend 

 themselves admirably to the vicissitudes of an urban milk trade. 

 When the demand for milk falls off in London, or in any other 

 large city, the retailer wires to one or more of his farmers to 



