No. 4.] UNITED STATES DAIRYING. 149 



drivers, including delays in waiting one's turn at the sepa- 

 rator and the incidental wear and tear of wagons and harness, 

 must be very great in the aggregate, and this all falls on the 

 milk producer. Eftbrts should be made to shorten these 

 hauls, and neighbors should co-operate in the* hauling. In 

 like manner the hauling of cream to the gathered cream fac- 

 tories often costs too much, and needs study and saving. 

 One improvement which has been adopted by some is to pay 

 for gathering upon the basis of butter represented by the 

 cream, rather than by cream volume or weight. The exact 

 cost of butter is thus known, and in some cases it may be 

 fair to charge the patrons on one route more than those on 

 another, because of the difference in expense of gathering. 

 Our creamery practice will not be upon a footing satisfac- 

 tory to the producer until cream alone leaves the farm, and 

 this is recognized as a commercial raw material, to be sepa- 

 rated or ' ' raised " by any method convenient to the farmer, 

 sent away when or as often as the owner desires (so long 

 as it remains sound), shipped in the most convenient and 

 economical manner to any creamery preferred, and there 

 sampled, tested and paid for according to its condition, qual- 

 ity and butter value, in the same way one would sell a load 

 of grain or a lot of wool. The cost of making a pound of 

 butter is still too great at most of our creameries. With 

 butter at forty cents a pound, four cents for making and 

 selling did not seem exorbitant, although a ten per cent tax 

 on the selling price ; but with the latter reduced to twenty 

 cents and less, the cost of manufacture, remaining the same, 

 absorbs twenty per cent or more of the gross receipts. This 

 is a problem which should be vigorously attacked by cream- 

 ery managers. At first glance it is hard to see how this cost 

 of manufacture can be much reduced except by greatly in- 

 creasing the quantity of butter made at one place. If that 

 be the best solution of the difficulty, let us accept it and act 

 accordingly. 



Seventeen years ago I advocated the union and co-opera- 

 tion of butter producers in New England and the east gen- 

 erally, under the creamery system, as a matter of economy, 

 efficiency and general progress in dairying. I am now pre- 

 pared to advocate co-operation among creameries themselves, 



