8 BULLETIN 547, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



on a strictly nonprofit basis, as it is necessary for them to buy the 

 butter fat on a safe margin. The surplus funds thus obtained may 

 be prorated quarterly or annually among the patrons, according to 

 the amount of raw material each delivers; or it may be paid to the 

 shareholders in the form of a dividend on capital stock. In some 

 instances large stock dividends have been paid to creamery stock- 

 holders, but they are not nearly as common as they are among 

 farmers' elevators. 



Privately owned plants generally pay for the milk and cream as it 

 is delivered. This practice has made it necessary for some coopera- 

 tive creameries to do likewise, especially in districts where the 

 cooperative spirit is not strongly developed and the farmers are not 

 accustomed to the cooperative method of distributing the net returns 

 monthly. 



A few creameries have undertaken the marketing of eggs. In 

 such cases an effort usually is made to supply only high-class trade. 

 In order to guarantee the eggs, they are graded and each patron is 

 held responsible for the quality. As the eggs are sold on a quality 

 basis it is possible to obtain higher prices than would be received by 

 the farmers for ordinary ungraded eggs of varying quality. 



At a few cooperative creameries a cooperative laundry is operated 

 in connection with the creamery. The creamery patrons may bring 

 their family washing at the same time that they deliver the milk or 

 cream, and as the work is done at cost the expense is not prohibitive. 



The activities of the farmers' creameries and cheese factories for the 

 most part have been local in character. A few cooperative dairy 

 organizations have been formed to market the output of a number of 

 creameries and cheese factories, but as yet this movement has not 

 become very general. Butter makers, cheese makers, creamery 

 officials, and dairymen have formed a number of State and National 

 associations, which compare with similar associations among opera- 

 tors of elevators. These organizations are primarily for educational 

 and protective purposes and also form a medium for holding contests 

 and exhibits of the various dairy products. 



STORES. 



The cooperative store is an older form of organization than either 

 the farmers' elevator or the creamery. A number of such stores 

 were in existence about the middle of the last century, especially in 

 the New England States. The Lowell Cooperative Association, 

 which was established in 1876, is an example of a store that has been 

 in operation for a long period. The seventy-seventh semiannual 

 report of this store for the six months' period ending June 30, 1914, 

 shows the distribution of about $5,000 as patronage dividends, 

 indicating that the organization is cooperative. 



