482 POULTRY CULTURE 



A cream and egg route is simply an organization of farmers 

 for the purpose of providing an economic means of marketing 

 their cream and eggs. There are three ways in which these 

 routes can be organized. Where a number of farmers live 

 together in a comparatively small community it is usually 

 found most economic for each farmer to take his turn collecting 

 the cream for his neighbors and carrying it to the creamery 

 or shipping station. For instance, if six farmers were living 

 somewhat near together and cream were collected three tinies a 

 week, each farmer would collect the cream and eggs every two 

 weeks. If there were only three in a community, each farmer 

 would collect the cream once each week. 



When farmers do not live in thickly settled communities, 

 but are scattered out along the road, it is best to hire the farmer 

 on the end of the route furthest away from the creamery or 

 shipping point to collect the cream and eggs. At the end of the 

 month each farmer along the route would pay his share of the 

 .cost of collection, according to the amount of butterfat and 

 eggs shipped. 



Where farmers are so situated that a "belt line" route can be 

 organized, it is economy to have the cream gatherer located at 

 the creamery or the shipping station. He would then leave his 

 home in the morning, collecting the cream on one road going 

 out and collecting on some other road on his return. Since it is 

 necessary to collect cream and milk and eggs three times a week, 

 the route man collects Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays in one 

 direction, and Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays in some 

 other direction. In this way he would be busy e^ch day in the 

 week and would be collecting cream and eggs on both outgoing 

 and returning trips. With a horse and buggy and fair roads he 

 could make a circuit of twenty-five to thirty miles a day. 



COOPERATIVE MARKETING 



The Egg Circle 



By uniting several egg producers in an association more can 

 be accomplished in these essentials. One very successful egg 

 company has a large incubator house with 12,000 eggs capacity, 

 where early chicks are produced for the members at a low cost. 



