10 



BULLETIN 639, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



and neither the buildings nor the equipment had been specially pro- 

 vided for the milk-station business. In some cases the investment 

 was larger than necessary when neither milk skimming nor dairy 

 manufacturing was done. Table VI shows the daily expense of 

 maintaining and operating the stations included in Table V. 



Table VI. — Average daily expense of collecting and handling milk at country 

 stations during June, 1915. 





Gallons handled daily. 



Deprecia- 

 tion and 



interest on 

 building 



and equip- 

 ment. 



Labor and 

 supplies 

 in plant. 



Route costs 

 of collect- 

 ing milk. 



Total 



station 



expenses. 



Average 



Station number. 



Cooled. 



Skimmed. 



cost per 



gallon 



handled. 



1 



77 



124 



172 



226 



317 



382 



447 



465 



779 



842 



1,009 



760 



738 



1,907 



1,404 



2,662 





$0.17 



.36 



.20 



.39 



.59 



.74 



.27 



.59 



1.53 



2.02 



1.00 



.80 



.87 



2.11 



.91 



2.55 



SO. 90 

 .70 

 .90 

 1.23 

 1.60 

 1.60 

 .97 

 2.47 

 3.53 

 2.87 

 2.70 

 2.87 

 3.53 

 3.97 

 3.90 

 5.63 





SI. 07 

 1.06 

 1.10 

 1.62 

 2.19 

 2.34 

 1.24 

 3.06 

 9.56 

 8.09 

 3.70 

 17.54 

 14.48 

 10.13 

 4.81 

 8.18 



$0. 013 



2 







.008 



3 







.006 



4 







.007 









.006 



6 







.006 









.002 



8 







.006 



9 





84.50 

 3.20 



.012 



10 





.009 



11 





.003 



12 



720 

 830 



13.87 

 10.08 

 4.05 



.011 



13 



.009 



14 



.005 



15 



1,155 



.001 



16 





.003 











Average 



769 



901 



.94 



2.48 



7.14 



5.64 



.007 



The average cost per gallon of milk for operating the stations 

 varied greatly. When surplus quantities of milk and cream were 

 manufactured into butter, cheese, etc., at country stations, the operat- 

 ing expenses were increased. Some stations, however, show higher 

 operating expenses than others, because the cost of collecting the 

 milk in the country was included in the statement of expenses. 



COST OF COLLECTING MILK AT COUNTRY STATIONS. 



The prices paid for milk were usually based upon its delivery 

 f. o. b. the city plant. The cost of transportation, therefore, must 

 be deducted in order to obtain the farmers' actual net returns. In 

 order to get sufficiently large supplies at some stations the milk 

 dealers had established " milk-collecting routes " for collecting milk 

 and cream from farmers living as far away as 10 miles. At 19 

 country milk stations there were 843 patrons, of whom 503 had their 

 milk delivered by paid route men. 



The farmers' share of the costs of country collecting averaged 12£ 

 cents a hundredweight and varied from 8 to 18 cents a 10-gallon can. 

 In addition to the amount paid by the farmer, the milk dealers were 

 sometimes obliged to pa} 7 the route men a bonus of from $2 to $3 a 



