100 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



daily. Could this milk be delivered at one station, 8, or at 

 most 10, teams would cover the city easily. The volume 

 somewhat exceeds 5,000 quarts daily, and farmers drive 

 from 2 to 6 miles, those farthest away starting at 4 a.m., or 

 earlier. To suggest uniting this product and its distribution 

 by one representative of the producers would be a hazardous 

 step. There's a good-sized chip on the shoulder of the aver- 

 age American farmer that we call " personal liberty " or 

 " the right to do as I please under the law." This chip is 

 the rock of offense. Other industrial interests have united 

 to cut expenses, why should not the farmer ? If the milkmen 

 of my city should unite, as they might, and through an agent 

 and his assistants deliver the daily supply, the net saving 

 would exceed 1 cent per quart, $50 per day, while every milk 

 man would save from five to nine hours daily, himself and 

 horse, beside the wear and tear of vehicles, harnesses, uten- 

 sils, etc. If railroads must unite to cut expenses of adminis- 

 tration, if corporations must merge that more economy be 

 enforced, if all the business of this nation is to be conducted 

 through union of forces, how long can the producer of farm 

 products contend with his neighbor in the disposal of the 

 same ? The trend of the age is towards concentration, the 

 saving made possible by uniting. So long as farmers refuse 

 to follow this path, so long will they, as individuals, be at 

 the mercy of contending forces. 



There is a tremendous loss yearly to the individual result- 

 ing from failure to so organize his work as to make \hc most 

 of every hour. The successful manufacturer feels the ne- 

 cessity for this, and in every way possible seeks to perfect 

 some system to reduce cost of manufacturing. 



Some day this will extend to the farm, and then we will 

 realize the loss because of disorganized method^^. We lose 

 for lack of a system of rotation, because acres under the plow 

 are not contiguous, in the waste resulting from method of 

 handling dressing, from failure to keep daily record of pro- 

 duction per cow, or test for per cent of fat. "We lose by 

 misapplication of plant food as well as by failure to apply 

 in right quantities or at the right time. We lose by not 

 conserving moisture in the soil, — a good dust mulch is a 



