32 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Creameries of this character were established in Orange 

 County, N.Y., some years ago, and so long as they were con- 

 ducted on the plan for which they were built, exerted a 

 salutary influence upon the milk business of the connty, which 

 is very large. (Tliis one county sends as much milk to New 

 York daily°as the whole supply of the city of Boston.) But^ 

 through negligence and mismanagement the manufacture of 

 butter' and cheese at these creameries has largely ceased, and 

 they have become merely milk depots, with a decided tendency 

 to "half skim," and sell cream, then sending the partly 

 skimmed residue to market as whole milk. This procedure 

 increases the surplus, lowers the standard and demoralizes the 

 trade, doing exactly what the creameries were originally 

 organized to" prevent. This is no argument against co-opera- 

 tio^'n in the milk business, but should serve as a warning against 

 abusing a system good in itself. 



The" best example of a proprietary establishment of this 

 kind in the country is what is known as "The Alderney 

 Dairy " in the city of Washington. Its owner, Frauk K. Ward, 

 began on a small scale, peddbng milk from a few co^vs of his 

 ow°n, but soon saw that the business was one which promised 

 profit only by being conducted on a large scale, and with great 

 system and economy. He bought out routes, made contracts 

 with producers, and gradually enhu-ged his operations until he 

 possesses one of the largest milk-depots in America, and 

 almost monopolizes the best trade of the city of Washington 

 in milk and its products. No amount of surplus annoys him, 

 as the capacity of the Alderney Dairy is ample for storage, and 

 for making butter and cheese. His business is now so thor- 

 oughly systematized as to be conducted upon very small 

 ma'^-gins, and he is enabled to supply consumers at very 

 mod^'erate rates, while at the same time he pays the producers 

 more than they can elsewhere obtain in that vicinity. This 

 establishment has many interesting features, and is in its way 



a model. 



In the general system of city supply, on the largest scale, 

 there is ample room for co-operation. In this case both pro- 

 ducers and consumers should be included. Their interests are 

 mutual, and they should be brought into harmonious and 

 profitable relations. It is unquestionably practicable to en- 



