2 BULLETIN 423^ XJ. S. DEPAETMEKT OF AGEICULTUKE. 



constituted 90 per cent or more of the total farm business. The 

 farms studied in Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois devoted considerable 

 time to general farming as well as to dairying. 



FACTS BROUGHT OUT. 



The following is a brief summary of the more important facts 

 developed by this study: 



The time saved by the use of the mechanical milker increases with 

 increase in the size of the herd. 



With herds of 15 cows or less the average time required to milk a 

 cow by hand is a fraction over 7 minutes; by machine a fraction 

 under 5 minutes. 



With herds of over 50 cows it takes slightly under 7 minutes to 

 milk a cow by hand and but 4.15 minutes by machine. 



With herds of over 50 cows one man with a machine milks on the 

 average about 28 cows per milking as against 17 where the milking 

 is done by hand. 



With increase in the size of the herd the cost per cow of hand 

 milking changes very little, while the cost per cow of machine milk- 

 ing decreases rapidly. 



With herds of 15 cows or less the average cost of milking per cow 

 by hand is $10.91 per year as against $10.45 in herds of 50 or more. 



With herds of 15 cows or less the average cost of milking per cow 

 by machine is $11.77 per year as against $7.34 for herds of 50 or over. 



Although with the average small herd of 15 cows or less it costs 

 more per cow to milk by machine than by hand, it does not follow 

 that the machine is necessarily an unprofitable investment on all 

 farms on which such small herds are kept. On 32 farms having herds 

 of 15 cows or less the use of the mechanical milker was found to 

 effect an annual saving in hired labor of $2.63 per cow through the 

 dropping of hands who had been kept primarily to do the milking. 



SOURCES OF DATA. 



As is shown in figure 1, the dairy industry is very widely distrib- 

 uted over the United States. In its more intensive forms it is, how- 

 ever, confined to areas which are in close proximity to large cities. 

 The extent of these areas is determined by the city market, the trans- 

 portation facilities afforded, and the adaptability of the region to 

 dairying. Thus we have, for example, New York City, which re- 

 quires a large supply of fresh milk for daily consumption. In many 

 sections the rough, hilly country of 'New York and New England is 

 better adapted to the dairy industry than to other types of farming 

 (see fig. 2). Transportation facilities have been perfected so as to 

 enable the shipping of fresh milk from the extreme northern part 



