No. 4.] MILK SUPPLY OF CITIES. Gl 



quality desired for invalids and very young children. In 

 many cases health is so precarious that the physician desires 

 to know accurately the precise amount of food consumed 

 by his patient. He therefore writes a prescription for a 

 milk of a certain designated percentage of each of the dif- 

 ferent solids. This is prepared at the laboratory, the milk 

 sterilized if so desired, and then delivered in small bottles. 

 Several problems present themselves in connection with 

 the city milk supply. 



Fikst Problem, — Financial. 



The first problem is in relation to the financial profit of 

 the business. There seems too big a gap between what the 

 farmers receive and the consumers pay, so far, at least, as 

 the Boston supply is concerned. The average price received 

 by the farmers is not over 3 cents per quart, and the average 

 price paid by the consumer is 7 cents. Four cents, 133 per 

 cent more than the farmers receive, is divided between trans- 

 portation companies and middle-men. The sum seems too 

 large. Many formers who keep both a farm and a dairy 

 account, charging the dairy with what is raised on the farm 

 at the market price, find that their milk costs even more 

 than it brings ; and, figuring the cost of milk at the cost 

 to produce hay, ensilage, etc., the profit is not large. 



A practical difficulty in righting this apparent wrong 

 confronts us at the very outset, in the fact that the price, 

 poor as it is, stimulates more production than there is a de- 

 mand for. The milk car furnishes to many farmers a steady 

 and prompt cash market for the farm product, particularly 

 those situated a considerable distance from the city. Some- 

 times this is especially burdensome for the near-by farmers, 

 living on expensive land, and often having to buy nearly 

 all of the feed for their cows ; they have but little if any ad- 

 vantage in the extra freshness of their milk, for it is usually 

 retailed at the same time as that from the longest distance. 

 Morning's milk is sometimes put on the cars the day of 

 production, but usually all goes into the peddler's mixing 

 tank together. 



The present price is enough to produce a surplus, and 



