8 BULLETIN 639, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
COLLECTING AND HANDLING MILK IN THE COUNTRY. 
The milk dealers in Detroit obtained their supplies of milk and 
cream either from individual farmers direct or through country 
receiving and cooling stations. The smaller dealers usually gathered 
their supplies near by, mainly because they could not afford the 
investments in country receiving stations, through which the larger 
dealers collect the most of their supplies from the more distant areas 
of production. (See fig. 1 and Table IV.) Most of the supply 
which came from neighboring territory was gathered from farms 
by means of wagons or motor trucks owned by the city dealers. Con- 
siderable quantities of both milk and cream were also shipped directly 
to the city by farmers who lived near railway stations or crossroads 
milk-shipping platforms. There was keen competition for all ute 
plies of milk or cream directly accessible to the city. 
In order to obtain milk from many farmers who lived too far from 
railroad stations or shipping platforms to make direct shipping prac- 
ticable, it was necessary to establish facilities for collecting milk ~ 
enough at one place to permit more economical transportation to the 
city plant. Farmers generally do not consider it advisable to make 
daily trips for delivering milk when the shipping station is more 
than 5 miles away. An additional advantage of the country receiving 
and cooling stations was that milk could be cooled to the proper tem- 
perature before it was shipped to the city; furthermore, the inspec- 
tion and buying of milk according to quality was expedited. When a 
farmer watches the sampling of his milk and the making of sediment 
and butterfat tests he understands better the justice of paying differ- 
ent prices for different grades of milk. It often happens that dairy 
products can be manufactured more economically in the country 
than in the city, and for that reason the larger milk companies fre- 
quently operate country milk plants, where the surplus not required 
for market milk trade may be converted into other products. 
Table IV shows the quantities of market milk obtained through 
country stations during June, 1915. 
TABLE IV.—WMilk obtained through country stations during June, 1915. 
l 
| Number Number of gallons 
| do ofstations received monthly. Bh Sue 
Number of wagons operated by dealers. | dealers.) which Po shipped 
_ milk was From From eee 
|received.| stations. farms. ¥ 
: rs OS ost ted ode ee he! as eee i Poe 7G) res ee Ree ae mem err ey lSee Se 2 
OD ee ee ee eee ee a ee 11 74 356, 224 239, 005 59. 8 
a Es 150 si353 os se ee eet eee Sea 2 51 1, 002, 606 153, 257 86.7 
