THE ECONOMIC ASPECT OF MILK PRODUCTION 571 



York City has actually provided for grades of milk on a similar 

 basis. 



The profit of the middleman should also receive due considera- 

 tion. The quantity of milk sold fluctuates from day to day and 

 from season to season, and since milk is a perishable product, 

 any surplus must be used for some other purpose or it will go to 

 waste, and this after the expense of bottling, icing, carrying, 

 etc., has been incurred. The profit made on butter churned from 

 surplus milk is consequently small. 



But the middleman can also effect a saving of milk by using 

 proper methods, especially when milk is sold from cans. The 

 careless manner employed in dipping milk causes some of it to 

 drop on the floor or the outside of the can, and this is a total loss, 

 of course. Lane estimates that when one-half of the milk is sold 

 by dippage, 10 per cent, of the amount handled is lost. 



The consumer can aid the producer in properly caring for 

 empty bottles. The bottles should be cleaned first with cold 

 water and then with hot soapsuds. They should be returned in 

 good condition and never used for purposes other than holding 

 milk. The average life of a bottle is variously stated to be from 

 eight to fifteen deliveries. With due care on the part of the con- 

 sumer its period of usefulness can be lengthened considerably. 

 Williams states that the loss due to lost or broken milk bottles in 

 Rochester, N. Y., is at least $10,000 a year. Every dairy has a pile 

 of broken milk bottles which represent considerable loss, whether 

 the breakage be due to accident or abuse of the bottle. The shape 

 and wide mouth of the milk bottle appeal to the householder so 

 strongly that it is not surprising to find it in use at canning time, 

 or for holding paint and varnish in housecleaning time. As 

 many of the purposes to which the handy milk bottle are put 

 render it unfit for further milk distribution, it may represent an 

 almost total loss. The solution of the problem will possibly be 

 found in the use of pulp bottles. These are used but once for 

 milk distribution and are cheaper than glass bottles; they do 

 away with the expense of cleaning, they weigh less than glass 

 bottles, thus facilitating transportation; and they do away with 

 the possibility of disseminating disease through returnable glass 

 bottles. 



2. With reference to what the producer can do to increase his 

 profit, a large field, but one poorly understood by the majority 

 of farmers, presents itself. Marshall says: "If one were to make 

 a close investigation with the idea of determining how many 

 farmers are capable of producing milk profitably and in a pure 

 form, I am certain it would be found that less than 1 per cent, 

 could fulfil the requirements. A man capable of producing milk 



