138 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



tirely supplanted by cows. The history of the development of 

 the cow and the uses of her products is an interesting study.. 

 To-day dairying is a most important branch of agriculture, and 

 the most important branch of dairying is the supply of milk for 

 consumption. There have been many ways of producing milk, 

 and as many of getting it to market. One custom, which is not 

 even now entirely extinct, was for the dairyman to drive his 

 cows from house to house and milk into each customer's vessel 

 as much as he required. Of course this simple system had the 

 advantage of getting the milk, to the consumer while fresh, and 

 the usual forms of adulteration were not easily practiced. But 

 the objections to it are so evident, it does not seem that any one 

 inteligent enough to have a cow would continue to follow it. 

 From the primitive method of producing and marketing milk, 

 the industry has slowly advanced to its present condition. Small 

 towns are now furnished with milk largely by cows kept by the 

 residents, one family having one or two cows which supply them- 

 selves and a few of their neighbors. This town milk is supple- 

 mented by the product of a few near-by dairies. The system is 

 as simple as possible, every one knows just where his milk comes 

 from and how it has been produced. The milk business of large cities 

 is of necessity quite different. Many dairies are found in the vicinity 

 of every city and their owners or tenants drive in each morning 

 to serve their routes, but the territory within drawing distance 

 of the market is not capable of supplying all the milk needed, 

 and it has been gradually extended. It is now a common prac- 

 tice to. ship milk by rail one hundred miles or more. New York 

 city draws its supply from points 350 miles distant; special milk 

 trains are operated on almost every road entering that city, and 

 the amount of milk they carry in a year is almost incomprehen- 

 sible, — the daily receipts are little less than one million quarts. 

 In some respects the present system of supplying milk to 

 cities is most admirable. Necessarily the milk is older than 

 that served in towns and villages, as it has to come greater dis- 

 tances, but for this reason it receives special care and, although 

 it is twenty-four to thirty-six hours old at the time it is served, 

 it is frequently in better condition than newer milk which has 



