1894 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
THE PROSPECT. 
Tdk R. N.-Y. always did believe in business organ¬ 
ization among farmers. Unless a farmer can deal 
direct with his customers he is at the mercy of middle¬ 
men and dealers so far as prices are -concerned. This 
is particularly true of milk and butter. Milk being 
such a perishable product must be handled and sold 
quickly. It cannot be stored like grain or potatoes. 
For this reason and because of a lack of organization 
among producers, milk has always been a favorite 
product with dealers who are enabled to regulate 
prices without consulting the farmers who are usually 
forced to take what is offered them. This condition 
of affairs is very bad for the individual milk producer. 
Unlike the wheat or potato grower, he cannot store 
and hold his crop for a rise in price—he must sell at 
once and take what is offered him. This is a case 
where nothing but organization can help the farmer— 
organization that will enable him to control the surplus 
milk and thus fix a price on what the market demands. 
The most successful organization of the sort of which 
we know is the United Milk Producers’ Protective 
Association of Philadelphia, the members of which 
send milk to Philadelphia. The following brief his¬ 
tory of this organization is prepared by Mr. Wm. 
Bishop, a member of the Executive Committee : 
t t t 
SiNCK general farming has become comparatively 
unremunerative, farmers have tried organization in 
different forms ; many of these have, for various rea¬ 
sons, failed; a few have been successful. As many 
have been interested in these attempts, the following 
brief history of the United Milk Producer’s Protective 
Association of Philadelphia and description of its 
methods is given. Some years ago, the farmers along 
the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad first organ¬ 
ized, and soon afterward, those shipping over the 
Wilmington and Northern Railroad, to resist the 
steady decline in the price of milk caused by the per¬ 
sistent efforts of wholesale dealers in Philadelphia. 
These organizations still exist. A little later, about 
10 years ago, the dairymen along the lines of the 
Pennsylvania Railroad in New .Jersey and the North 
Pennsylvania Railroad in Pennsylvania formed as¬ 
soc ations to ccfiperate with the others, but not being 
prepared to take care of milk at home, as soon as it 
became plentiful and a surplus came on the n arket, 
they could not withstand the opposition and suc¬ 
cumbed. Associations were afterward formed on the 
Schuylkill Valley Division of the Reading Railroad 
and Schuylkill Valley Division of the Pennsylvania 
Railroad. These associations, now existing, acted in¬ 
dependently. The dealers, however, combined to 
make their own prices (excepting for the few mem¬ 
bers of these associations) gradually driving them 
down until the beginning of the year 1891, when some 
of the dealers getting their supply from New Jersey 
forced the price down in the middle of winter, with 
the price of feeds unusually high, to cents per 
quart. Tne Philadelphia quart is “ dry” measure— 
2/^ pounds milk or about 1 1-7 quarts liquid measure. 
The farmers pay the freight, generally one-half cent 
per quart. Tnis left the farmer about three cents per 
quart net. The dealers freely expressed their opinion 
that the wholesale price for milk would never again 
reach four cents per quart in Philadelphia. In the 
early summer, the shippers in New Jersey, and about 
the same time, those on the North Penn. Railroad 
again formed organizations and in the fall set their 
own price for milk. The dealers made a bitter fight, 
but were forced to submit; predictions were dire, 
however, of what would be, the coming spring, when 
the market became fiushed. 
t t t 
In the meantime the associations were not idle; they 
strengthened their organizations, and prepared for the 
time to come. A basis of cooperation between them 
was agreed upon to make the price of milk, take the 
surplus from the market, and transact such other busi¬ 
ness as concerned them all. The following general 
associations now cooperate in what is known as the 
United Milk Producers’ Protective Association of Phil¬ 
adelphia : The Pennsylvania Milk Producers’ Protec¬ 
tive Association ; the Wilmington and Northern Milk 
Producers’ Protective Association; the Reading-Schuyl- 
kill Valley Milk Producers’ Protective Association ; 
the Baltimore and Ohio Milk Producers’ Protective 
Association ; the Milk Producers’ Protective Associa¬ 
tion of the North Penn, and Its Branches; the New 
Jersey Dairymen’s Protective Association. The mem¬ 
bers of these general associations form local associa¬ 
tions in cheir respective neighborhoods, which elect 
directors, in proportion to their membership, to trans¬ 
act the busines of the general associations. We have, 
therefore, the United, the General and Docal associa¬ 
tion. The fundamental principle underlying the or¬ 
ganization is that every member shipping a good, 
marketable article shall receive the full price for his 
milk. The United Association meets in Philadelphia 
the last Saturday in each month, and sets the price 
of milk for the coming month. It also determines the 
rate of assessment necessary to meet the deficiency 
caused by surplus milk the preceding month. Mem¬ 
bers of this association started a creamery, to which 
all of our milk not needed in the market might be 
sent, thus enabling us to maintain our price. The gen¬ 
eral associations also meet monthly, and carry on the 
business of a dealer in milk, place their agents and em¬ 
ployees on the platforms where their milk arrives, buy 
the milk from the farmers and sell to dealers or others 
who want a constant supply in bulk. What is not needed 
in the market is sent to the creanaery and charged to 
it at the regular wholesale price. To these associa¬ 
tions is given nearly the entire control of the organi¬ 
zations, such matters being referred by them to the 
local associations as need local attention on applica¬ 
tion. The creamery is used to get as much as possible 
from the surplus; the deficiency is reported to the 
United Association, and, inasmuch as every one is in¬ 
terested in having the price maintained, every member 
pays his assessment in proportion to the amount of 
milk shipped. t J | 
That this organization has been a success is shown 
by the financial statement. During two years the 
association handled 15,615,941 quarts of milk and paid 
New Jersey members $627,896 29 or a little more than 
four cents a quart. After paying all commissions and 
charges there is a net gain to members of the associa¬ 
tion of nearly one-quarter cent per quart or $43,475 in 
all. In other words this sum would have gone to the 
middleman but for this organization. Another thing 
—the loss from sour milk has been very light, and it 
has not been necessary to keep milk at home, because 
all surplus could at -once be taken to the creamery 
and made into butter. The association has also been 
able to set the price at which milk was sold. These 
facts show the value of organization among milk 
farmers. While such organization is peculiarly useful 
for the producers of this perishable milk, it may be 
made equally useful for other farmers—if they will 
only cooperate. t t + 
Thk problem of heating some of our farm houses is 
a difficult one. Most folks enjoy the old fashioned 
fireplace with its roaring fire of logs, but too much of 
that heat goes up the chimney—wasted. The beauty 
of steam, water and hot-air heaters is that there is 
little waste of heat—it can be distributed over the 
house into various rooms. Mr. J. S. Babb, of West 
Virginia, sends us a suggestion that might be utilized 
by some ingenious farmer. The plan is shown at Fig. 
22. It is an old-fashioned wide fireplace, with metal 
boilers at the sides connected with suitable pipes for 
letting in water and releasing steam or hot water. 
These pipes may run to different rooms into radiators 
like those used in ordinary steam or water heating. 
In fact the only new thing about this plan is the loca¬ 
tion of the boiler in the fireplace. We think this 
arrangement could be made cheaper than the ordinary 
steam or water heater and it would be a great saving 
of fuel. ^ I J 
In the last issue of the Experiment Station Record, 
M. A. Hubert of the French Experiment Station at 
Grignon, France, publishes a brief summary of the 
results of the most reliable French investigations on 
the production, care and use of farm manure. It may 
be called a special plea for barn manure as against the 
use of green manuring or chemicals. The chief propo¬ 
sition is that nothing should be used for direct manur¬ 
ing that can be fed to animals. In other words, the 
feeding value should always be considered. The 
chemical changes that take place in the manure pile 
are explained at considerable length. Speaking of 
absorbents, it is stated that fine peat has twice the 
absorptive power of wheat straw and is the best sub¬ 
stance for retaining moisture. The use of plaster, 
kainit and similar substances is not commonly recom¬ 
mended by European scientists. The favorite plan 
57. 
seems rather to be that of using large quantities of 
litter and taking pains to keep the piles sheltered and 
well packed down. These piles are usually built over 
a cistern in which the drainings from the pile are 
held, to be pumped to the top of the pile from time 
to time. In regard to the fermentations that take 
place in the manure piles it is claimed that these are 
simply a “ continued digestion” really “a prolonga¬ 
tion of the digestive functions.” That is to say, the 
microbes which induce the needed gas fermentation 
in manure are derived from the intestines of the 
animals. In the intestines of recently slaughtered 
animals are found ferments presenting the same char¬ 
acter as those of manure, and also the same mixtures 
of gas. Thus the manure fermenting is about the 
same thing as a continuation of the digestion in the 
stomach. The object of this is to show that manure 
from animals is more valuable than an equal amount 
of vegetable matter not fed. It would be interesting 
to compare with this the value of the “artificial 
digestion” in compost heaps of straw, muck, potash 
and bone or blood. Is it really true that vegetable 
matter acquires certain manurial properties by “pass¬ 
ing through an animal ?” 
t t t 
Anothkk route from the West to Europe is opened 
up. A consignment of fiour from Nashville, Tenn., 
has been shipped by way of Charleston to Liverpool. 
The jetties being constructed in Charleston harbor 
have deepened the water so that vessels of heavy 
draught now enter the port. It is said that steamships 
carrying 10,000 bales of cotton have loaded there and 
crossed the bar safely this season. There is no reason 
why many of the foreign shipments now made from 
New York should not be made direct from these South¬ 
ern ports. J J t 
It is a custom of many city restaurants to make dis¬ 
plays of quarters of beef, carcasses of mutton and 
lamb, poultry, vegetables, and other substantials and 
dainties which they intend serving up to their cus¬ 
tomers, in their windows and outside their doors. 
These are generally fixed up in fine shape, and are 
very attractive advertisements. Sometimes they are 
decorated with fiowers, rosettes of paper and other 
ornaments. A carcass of mutton hanging outside a 
door had the stump of the neck encircled with a stand¬ 
ing ruff of fringed tissue paper, very artistically ar¬ 
ranged, which completely hid from view the unsightly 
and bloody neck. It made a great difference in the 
appearance. Some say that a mutton is a mutton, but 
appearances go a long way, and the difference between 
high and low prices is often caused by a little care in 
fixing up produce which makes a great difference in 
the looks. 4 . X ^ 
t t t 
Just now the trade in agricultural chemicals is re¬ 
ported quiet. The demand for potash salts has de¬ 
creased, buyers seemingly awaiting developments as 
to the probable future demand. The demand for sul¬ 
phate of ammonia has improved, and, as supplies are 
not excessive, the market is firm. Transactions in 
dried blood are more active on account of an increased 
demand from the South, although there has been little 
change in prices. There is a very light supply of fish 
scrap, and it is held at full prices. Trade in tankage 
is steady and increasing. Nitrate of soda is firm in 
price, with little change in the condition of the mar¬ 
ket. We are informed in a bulletin just issued by the 
Bureau of American Republics that deposits of nitrate 
of potash have been found in the republic of Colombia. 
The CO ,t of shipping from Colombia to New York will 
be much less than from Peru or Chili, and if these 
new deposits are as large as reported, the price of 
nitrogen in fertilizers must be largely reduced before 
many years. t t t 
BUSINESS BITS. 
IX many sections back from the ocean the use of salt on Krass, grain 
and similar crops often gives excellent results. We have often ex- 
plained why this Is so, Tne Ueltoy Salt Co., of Ueltoy, N. Y., sells an ex¬ 
cellent article to those who want It. 
Many farmers who grow ensilage tlnd trouble and delay In secur¬ 
ing proper seed. .Mr. K. W. Capham, Clayton, Uel,, has a la'ge 
crop of white ensilage corn that he Is willing to sell direct to fanners. 
He Is using The It. N.-Y. as a middleman to reach them. Now there 
Is a chance for you. 
Fakmeus who have carried hundreds of bushels of grain over 
plowed Helds and scattered It In Hatfuls, will apprec'ate the clever 
device of the “ Wheelbarrow ” seeder. It is manufactured by O. K. 
Thompson & Sons, Ypsllantl, .Mich. T/iey will send free a Utile book 
which Illustrates and describes the tool. 
Ueadeus of The R. N.-Y will receive matters of Interest pertain¬ 
ing to special fertilizers as bone phosphate, nitrates, sulphates or 
muriates, kalnlt, unleached hard-wood ashes, etc., for grain crops 
weak la the early spring also for fruit orchards and gardens, by ad¬ 
dressing Janesville Fertilizing Works, lanesvllle, Wls. Ask for their 
folder. 
A iiAHSH or otherwise uncomfortable bit Is often the cause of 
spoiling the disposition of a good horse. The Imperial HU and Snap 
Co., of Racine, Wls., manufactures and sells direct to farmers a bit 
which Is humane and will at the same time stop the most vicious 
horse. Another good feature of the bit is that it will prevent horses 
from Blde-pulllng and cure them of the habit. 
