10 BULLETIN 639, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
and neither the buildings nor the equipment had been specially pro- 
vided for the milk-station business. In some cases the investment 
was larger than necessary when neither milk skimming nor dairy 
manufacturing was done. Table VI shows the daily expense of 
maintaining and operating the stations included in Table V. 
TABLE VI.—Average daily expense of coliecting and handling milk at country 
Stations during June, 1915. 
Gallons handled daily. | Deprecia- 
tion and 
Labor and Routecosts| Total AvernEe 
supplies | ofcollect- | station _ malon 
inplant. | ing milk. | expenses. handled. 
Station number. 
Cooled. Skimmed. 
dp ee een ee LG Se soe S004 = se ee $1.07 $0. 013 
Chime. wepeee ter IDA A et ees ope 5 10:| ries oe 1.06 008 
5 Ee ges ay se | ye ce a iy ne oe 1.10 006 
Seas Ft or BA a: 226 A pebe vert cee 1323 |) sees e 1.62 007 
5a kee Rae E ers iy g ERAS wie i ee Be 2.19 006 
G Seis 8 E 9 BS? loners sae 3 160 Pirie. Bo. 2.34 006 
Cee EH Pats | Vl a aE Gy 6s aie gee geet 1.24 002 
reeteee et care AGbalbee tee ks DA th ott. sees 3.06 . 006 
a eer ipa ct eee i me 3. 53 | $4.50 9.56 -012 
Weiser tie oes. S44 sek ta 4 2.87 | 3. 20 8.09 009 
(Ge aan Seraea ae $7009 :[o2 ee neee Cf (Yl ace he 3.70 003 
IDiepomaee i. # 760 720 2.87 13. 87 17.54 01 
Bue taaarem, rae 738 830 3.53 10.08 14. 48 009 
ren: dine: A ODT eerse. sats e 3.97 | 4.05 10. 13 . 005 
ey Mieke 5 earns 1, 404 1, 155 ty | Bye 4.81 001 
Rivetpe ease DEGGIE OLE L a | BGS (02 sesso os 8. 18 . 003 
Average... 769 901 2. 48 | 7.14 5.64 007 
The average cost per gallon of milk for operating the stations 
varied greatly. When surplus quantities of milk and cream were 
manufactured into butter, cheese, etc., at country stations, the operat- 
ing expenses were increased. Some stations, however, show higher 
operating expenses than others, because the cost of collecting the 
milk in the country was included in the statement of expenses. 
COST OF COLLECTING MILK AT COUNTRY STATIONS. 
The prices paid for milk were usually based upon its delivery 
f. o. b. the city plant. The cost of transportation, therefore, must 
be deducted in order to obtain the farmers’ actual net returns. In 
order to get sufficiently large supplies at some stations the milk 
dealers had established “ milk-collecting routes” for collecting milk 
and cream from farmers living as far away as 10 miles. At 19 
country milk stations there were 843 patrons, of whom 503 had their 
milk delivered by paid route men. 
The farmers’ share of the costs of country collecting averaged 123 
cents a hundredweight and varied from 8 to 18 cents a 10-gallon can. 
In addition to the amount paid by the farmer, the milk dealers were 
sometimes obliged to pay the route men a bonus of from $2 to $3 a 
