1910.] The Organisation of the Milk Supply. 815 



sent me by the manager. " It is not easy to state what is 

 the increase in the price of milk due to the existence of this 

 Society, but I believe that milk which at the time of its forma- 

 tion would frequently have been sold for is. yd. per barn 

 gallon in the winter months, and is. 2d. in the summer 

 months, would now make as much as is. 8d. and is. qd., and 

 it is generally admitted by the farmers of Essex that this is 

 largely due to the competition introduced into the wholesale 

 trade by the Society." 



One of the largest customers of the Eastern Counties 

 Dairy Farmers' Co-operative Society is the Industrial Co- 

 operative Society at Stratford. This is an interesting instance 

 of the complete elimination of the middleman, the milk being 

 sold direct from the organised producer to the organised 

 consumer. 



The Nidderdale Dairy Society is the name given to a York- 

 shire co-operative society, the main business of which 

 consists in the supply of fresh milk direct to consumers 

 in the town of Harrogate in Yorkshire. The milk 

 received from the members is delivered from house to house 

 by the Society's employees, or is sold at a shop which has 

 been opened. A considerable retail trade in cream, butter, 

 cream cheese, eggs and bottled milk is also carried on. In 

 1908 the total sales of the Society amounted to £y,y$i, and 

 made a net profit of ,£209, the average price paid to its 

 members for milk being about 8d. per gallon. 



The Yoxall Co-operative Dairy Society (Staffordshire) 

 bought 199,557 gallons of milk during 1908, for which 

 ,£5,028 was paid. Milk was sold to the value of ,£3,990, and 

 cheese £"2,690, leaving stock in hand £37. Whey was sold 

 to the value of ,£68 ; the bulk of the cheese made was Derby 

 or Leicester cheese. Last spring some utensils were acquired 

 for the manufacture of Stilton cheese, and the outlay has been 

 fully justified. They were bought primarily to deal with the 

 milk which the cheese vats could not hold. The result of 

 the manufacture of Stiltons has been that the Society has 

 made a larger margin of profit on the manipulation of the 

 surplus milk than they made on the bulk. The cheeses pro- 

 duced are bought by leading families in the district and by 

 some wholesale firms. The situation of the factory, however, 



