220 APPENDIX D 



Monopolistic Methods. It was also brought out that, in certain 

 instances, dealers entered creamery districts offering the producers 

 higher prices until such time as the dealer could secure control of 

 the local creamery, when the prices paid producers would be re- 

 duced to make up for the higher prices previously paid. 



The above has been quoted in order to indicate some of 

 the considerations involved in detailed investigation of the 

 economics of milk production. There never was a time when 

 economic pressure required so much as now that the farmer 

 consider carefully the actual cost of milk production. For 

 every dairy farmer there are two problems: to detect, by 

 means of individual records,* the poorest cows in his herd 

 and dispose of these; then, by means of accurate farm ac- 

 counts, to determine the costs after the poorest milkers have 

 been eliminated. These costs, as we have remarked, vary 

 so much by time, locality, and individual farm conditions 

 that general figures are impossible. The important figure 

 is the local figure, but it is, as yet, rare to find dependable 

 statements even among those producers who claim to keep 

 systematic accounts. Hence it is that a number of agricul- 

 tural experiment stations have undertaken to ascertain 

 accurately the costs in their respective localities. These 

 figures are most useful when they not only make possible a 

 comparison between efficient and inefficient farm manage- 

 ment but also distinguish between ideal and practical condi- 

 tions. It must be borne in mind that the average farmer 

 cannot humanly be expected to take up at once the methods 

 of the scientific expert of the experiment station. 



To quote here the diverse figures obtained in different 

 investigations under various conditions would confuse rather 

 than illuminate. The reader will be best enlightened by 

 consulting the most recent results from the experiment sta- 

 tion in his own State. One of the most thorough experiment 



* Cow-test associations assist the individual dairyman in doing this, 

 or he may make his own tests. 



