108 MANAGEMENT OF DAIRY PLANTS 



SYSTEMS OF MILK AND CREAM PURCHASE 

 AND DELIVERY 



Frequent delivery of the raw product to the creamery is 

 one of the principal prerequisites for the manufacture of a 

 desirable product. It has always been customary to make fre- 

 quent deliveries to a whole milk plant. There the milk is 

 usually delivered daily during the summer season and from 

 three to four days a week during the winter season. Such 

 frequent deliveries are made because the producers realize that 

 they will sustain a financial loss if the deliveries are less fre- 

 quent, as milk containing a high degree of acidity cannot be 

 properly skimmed. The older milk is also more variable in 

 quality and therefore less desirable as a feed for calves. 



The attitude of the producer in reference to frequency of 

 delivery is somewhat different in the gathered cream territories. 

 This is brought about partly by the manufacturer who some- 

 times in his greed for more business informs producers that it is 

 unnecessary to make daily deliveries when selling cream. His 

 statement is partly true, inasmuch as the cream does not deteri- 

 orate as readily as does milk. But cream absorbs odors more 

 readily than milk, and because it has less bulk than milk cream 

 is often left in the kitchen or in the cellar, places where the 

 milk is very seldom kept, and it will therefore soon acquire 

 undesirable flavors. If the frequency of delivery had not been 

 lessened by the introduction of the hand separator, dairying as 

 a whole throughout the United States would have gained in 

 profit and prestige. 



The system of organization of territory may for convenience 

 be considered under the' heads of: The individual system, the 

 cooperative system, the route system, the station system, the 

 local agent system, and the cooperative selling system. 



The Individual System of Delivery. — Under this system 

 the producer delivers his own milk or cream to the creamery 

 in person or ships it by rail. 



I. Delivering of Cream in Person. — At many local cream- 

 eries the producers deliver their own milk and cream and for 



