1905.] Co-operative Dairying in England. 



and in such a case the milk is taken to the Society's depot and 

 pasteurised or put into cold storage ; or it may be sold for 

 separation ; or, if the Society happens at the time to have an 

 outlet for cream, it may be put into the hands of a firm with 

 separating plant to be separated for the Society. The Society 

 has recently installed at its depot refrigerating, cold storage, 

 pasteurising, and separating plant on up-to-date lines, and will 

 henceforth be able itself to deal with its own surplus milk. 



When it is necessary for the Society to purchase milk to 

 make up the amount named in its various contracts, it either 

 purchases from other wholesale dealers, or (if its representative 

 knows in advance of the necessity of buying) telegraphs to one 

 of the many cheese factories which, during the summer, sell 

 their milk whole, provided they are offered a certain price for it. 



The onus of cleansing the churns fall upon the retail dealer 

 who receives them, or upon the Society when they have been 

 consigned to the representative at Stratford, after which they 

 are returned to the farmer, who, as a rule, supplies the churn in 

 the first instance, though, occasionally, the retail dealer supplies 

 them, and, in one instance, the Society does so. 



The increase in the price given for whole milk, owing to the 

 competition introduced into the wholesale trade by this Society, 

 is considerable. Milk that formerly would have fetched 

 is. /d. per barn gallon in the winter months, and is. 2d. in the 

 summer, now makes as much as is. 8d. and is. 4d., respectively. 



Such, then, is the procedure at two of the largest and most 

 representative dairies at present at work on co-operative princi- 

 ples in England. There are others, as will be seen from the 

 appended list, and perhaps a few words about a typical cheese- 

 making dairy might usefully be added here. 



The Scalford Dairy, Limited, near Melton Mowbray, was 

 established in 1903 for the co-operative production of Stilton 

 cheese, and represents an attempt on the part of the more 

 enterprising of the Leicestershire farmers to help themselves 

 by combination against the competition of the ordinary trading 

 concerns in the county. The Society became the tenants of 

 a disused malting-house, belonging to the Duke of Rutland, 

 who had the building put into thorough repair after carrying out 

 the necessary alterations, and the scheme was taken up with the 



