12 THE MARKETING OF WHOLE MILK 



wagons and sent on its way toward the homes of the con- 

 sumers, where it is delivered sometime during the forenoon 

 of that day. A part of it, however, is delivered to stores, 

 in which case the consumers get it sometime during the 

 day or even the following morning (Wednesday). The 

 major portion of the evening's milk in these instances is 

 not over forty hours old; the morning's milk is about 

 twenty-eight hours old. The age is not much different in 

 the case of very large cities, where the milk is received and 

 bottled at country plants. The principal difference is that 

 the milk is hauled to the city in refrigerator cars during 

 the late afternoon or evening of the day on which the 

 morning's milk leaves the farm of the producer. ^ 



Contrast this with butter, which is often held for eight 

 or ten months before being consumed, or with cheese, 

 which is held even longer. Perishable fruits and vegetables 

 are of course also marketed in as short a time as possible 

 after production, and the consumer doubtless receives 

 those products which are grown near our large cities 

 within twenty-four or forty-eight hours of the time the 

 producer starts them on the road to the city. Large 

 quantities of these perishables, however, are now brought 

 to our cities from distant producing centers. In such 

 cases a week or more often elapses between production 

 and consumption. The less perishable fruits and vegeta- 

 bles, — citrus fruits, apples, potatoes, — are often stored 

 during the better part of a year. As regards some of the 

 non-food products the period between production and 

 consumption of the raw material is very much extended. 

 Wool, for instance, often takes the better part of a year 

 to move from producer to manufacturer; another year is 



' Milk Dealer's Letter No. 7, Sept., 1914, U. S. Dept. of Agr.; Wisconsin Bui. 

 285, Marketing Wisconsin Milk, p. 28. 



