56 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



and make a proportionate discount from the farmers' bills ; 

 hence it is popularly known in the language of the trade 

 as the "charge-back," though this is an incorrect use of 

 language. The account properly stated would be : — 



cans at cents (the sale milk price), ... $ 



cans surplus at cents (the amount realized from 



butter less 4 cents per pound for making), 



Total, 



The amount of money the farmers receive would be 

 the same in either case ; the latter system of accounting 

 would remove the unpleasant allusion to a discount. As 

 there is more or less popular mystery connected with the 

 amount of the surplus, and as there is a natural repugnance 

 at having a bill discounted, many farmers are much dissat- 

 isfied at this surplus discount or " charge-back." 



The price to be paid by the contractors for what they can 

 sell and five or ten per cent more is adjusted by a commit- 

 tee of the contractors and of the producers, each March 

 and September, for six months from the first of April and 

 the first of October. 



The milk is bought delivered at the local railroad station, 

 the contractors transporting it and caring for it in transit. 

 This is different from the custom prevailing in some other 

 States, where milk is bought delivered at the city railroad 

 station, the farmer paying the freight. 



As milk is taken from many railroad stations at different 

 distances from Boston, to fix a price for each station would 

 be a long and tedious task, unless the Xew York custom of 

 a uniform price for all distances were adopted. 



Here a series of lines has been drawn about the city, and 

 a series of discounts from a theoretical Boston price has 

 been agreed upon. All negotiations relative to price relate 

 to this theoretical figure, and when that is determined, each 

 farmer can apply the discount for his own station, to ascer- 

 tain the price he is to receive. 



On the accompanying map I have drawn the lines for the 

 purpose of illustrating this discount. The first line is 17 

 miles from the city, as measured on the lines of transpor- 



