156 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. 4. 



the price of milk should rise much above the value of the butter 

 which could be made from this milk, plus the value of the skim, 

 much of what is now made into butter would be shipped to the 

 city. 



We must take into consideration that certain things must be 

 done to move dairy products from the farmer's door to the con- 

 sumer's table, and that these things cost money. Milk and 

 cream must be delivered by team or auto truck to a central 

 plant, where they are processed so that they will stand ship- 

 ment without spoiling, and so that they will meet the require- 

 ments laid down by city boards of health. If butter and cheese 

 are made, these products must be manufactured. 



After they are processed or manufactured at the plant, dairy 

 products must be placed on the train, transported to market, 

 and there handled by various middlemen to the consumer's 

 door. In many parts of New England milk is loaded on the 

 train directly, and the processing is done in the city. Since 

 the consumer will increase or decrease the amount of dairy 

 products he consumes according to the quality and the price 

 he has to pay, I believe it is important for every dairyman to 

 get the view that he is interested, from the standpoint of his 

 own pocketbook, in making the cost of getting his product from 

 his own door to the consumer's door just as low as possible. 



The system of marketing dairy products which obtains at 

 present requires of the producer the least possible expenditure 

 of thought and effort; in fact, the dairyman is simply and 

 solely a producer. The milk contractor is expected to furnish 

 cans, in most instances to collect the milk from the farmer's 

 door, transport it to the railroad station or the plant, arrange 

 for its transportation to the city, process it and distribute it to 

 the consumer. 



The contractor is expected to take any and all milk offered 

 him, wdiether the quality is good, bad or indifferent, and re- 

 gardless of whether the supply is equal to the demand, or the 

 demand equal to the supply. There has grown up in many of 

 our States, and there is gradually but surely growing up in 

 others, an almost absolute dependence upon the milk contractor 

 to perform all the operations connected with the marketing of 

 milk from the time it leaves the farm until it reaches the con- 



