1910.] The Organisation of the Milk Supply. 813 



coloured label, so that at a glance the customer can tell the 

 age of the milk. When the empty bottles are returned to the 

 depot they are placed in a tank of hot water and soda and 

 cleaned out by an electrically-driven brush. They are then 

 rinsed in cold water, dipped in a solution of Condy's Fluid, 

 again washed, and then removed to the bottling room ready 

 for refilling. 



In the year 1908 new machinery was installed and has 

 proved most effective and economical, A wide-mouthed 

 bottle, which is fitted with a new wood-pulp disc each time it 

 is sent out, has superseded the old type, and has been found 

 satisfactory. A specially constructed and improved milk van 

 has been provided for the Society's use by that progressive 

 railway company, the North Eastern. To meet the require- 

 ments of the medical profession, the Society now manufactures 

 and sells milk specially soured with pure cultures of lactic 

 acid bacteria, and a considerable business is being developed 

 in this commodity. The Society is now dealing with about 

 400,000 gallons of milk per year, and has a turnover of be- 

 tween ;£ 20,000 and ,£25,000. 



The Eastern Counties Dairy Farmers' Co-operative Society 

 is an offshoot of the Eastern Counties Dairy Farmers' Asso- 

 ciation, which was formed to protect the interests of the dairy 

 farmers of Essex. It was found that to enable the farmers 

 to obtain substantially better prices for their milk, a closer 

 form of combination was required, and the co-operative 

 society was formed with fifty-two members, each of whom 

 took twenty £1 shares, on which 10s. per share was paid up. 

 The Society commenced business by selling its members' 

 milk on commission, but as it grew stronger it adopted the 

 method of making contracts with the retail dealers on the 

 one hand, and with its members on the other. The annual 

 turnover has steadily increased until in igoS it reached a 

 total of ,£36,832 in milk alone, representing an average price 

 of 8Jd. per imperial gallon on approximately a million 

 gallons sold, and a net profit of ^700 was made. The 

 average price paid to the members for milk was S^ w d. per 

 imperial gallon. The contract prices varied according to the 

 distance from Stratford, from is. yd. to is. 8d. per barn gallon 

 in winter, and from is. 3d. to is. qd. in summer. The earn- 



