1902 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
827 
MARKETING DAIRY PRODUCTS. 
Edward Van Alstyne’s Experience. 
Cooperative Creamery Experience. 
—As stated in a previous article, I began 
my career as a dairyman as a patron of 
a cooperative creamery; one of the 
finest schemes on paper, where the pat¬ 
rons manage the business and get all 
the profit (?), but one of the most dis¬ 
appointing when put into actual prac¬ 
tice, as is testified by the monuments in 
the form of abandoned creameries scat¬ 
tered all over the State. Particularly is 
this so in the grain and fruit section, 
where farmers have been beguiled by 
smooth-tongued “promoters” in invest¬ 
ing in stock in a $5,000 plant that could 
be supplied for $3,000 for 500 cows, 
where there were not to exceed 150 to 
supply the product, and four-fifths of 
those dry from November to March. 
This is a digression and I must stop, 
though I would “a tale unfold” which I 
feel sure would meet a response from 
many like that of Will Carleton’s 
“School Master’s Guests”; “them’s my 
sentiments, too.” The creamery ran 
about three years, the last year of 
which, from November to March, 1 fur¬ 
nished one-seventh of the entire pro¬ 
duct, and it cost to manufacture the but¬ 
ter nine cents a pound. As I was not 
keeping cows for my health, and the 
manure made was rather expensive un¬ 
der the circumstances, I was obliged to 
look for an outlet for my product else¬ 
where, and as there was no milk depot 
near nor any way to sell the milk ex¬ 
cept to ship it to the city, or make it in¬ 
to butter at home, I chose the latter, 
as I had butter cows and could not af¬ 
ford to sell five per cent milk on the 
general market. The Babcock test had 
just come out. I also wanted the skim- 
milk to feed on the farm. 
Good Butter Wanted. —In my ex¬ 
perience as an officer of and salesman 
for the creamery I had learned some 
things of value. One was that while the 
demand for $1 and 50-cents-a-pound but¬ 
ter was very limited, there were plenty 
of people who were willing to pay sev¬ 
eral cents above the market price for a 
fine article if they could secure it the 
year around. I learned also that the 
most satisfactory way to reach these 
people was through a first-class retail 
grocer, who would take a regular week¬ 
ly supply at one or two cents above 
highest market price, and pay express 
charges, and that a creamery was able 
by proper apparatus and a skilled man 
who made the manufacture of butter his 
business, to take milk or cream, often 
far from what it should be as to qual¬ 
ity, and turn out a good article of but¬ 
ter. I therefore reasoned that with such 
apparatus and attention from some one 
with the entire control of the cow, her 
cleanliness, feed and product, I ought to 
turn out a better article than the aver¬ 
age creamery. The years have justified 
this opinion. I had a couple of rooms 
in the basement of my house, that we 
no longer used, where we had water 
drawn from a spring, and these I used 
for dairy work, with no outlay for 
buildings. 
Requisites for Production. —I was 
able to secure a man to do this work, 
and though I had to pay him large 
wages at that stage of the proceedings, 
it proved a good investment. He was 
morally honest, intelligent and could 
make good butter. He was with me two 
years. Since then I have had a varied 
experience. There were a couple of Cor¬ 
nell boys whose names will always be a 
pleasant memory, and who have since 
obtained positions of prominence an<j 
responsibility; a couple more from the 
same place whose memory, even after a 
brief stay, leaves a bitter taste in the 
mouth as well as whose presence a bad 
flavor in the butter. These are some of 
the unpleasant things that should make 
one hesitate if he contemplates making 
up his product at home, realizing that 
it will add to his cares. One will be very 
helpless unless he is able to take hold 
and do the work himself, as the writer 
has had to do more than once. Getting 
up at 4 A. M. so as to get the dairy work 
out of the way so one can attend to the 
ether duties on the farm, being tied to 
a churn when a dozen duties call else¬ 
where, are not conducive to happiness or 
long life. The last two years this end 
has been taken care of by my son, and 
the dairy has boomed as never before. 
Supplying Power. —After the man 
came the question of power. I decided 
on a kerosene engine as best fitted to 
supply it as well as furnish steam and 
heat for cleansing and tempering. I felt 
very sure that when one has to do any 
amount of dairy business steam is indis¬ 
pensable. I would not, however, advise 
a kerosene engine; while they work 
beautifully when in order they are very 
liable to get out of repair, which is both 
annoying and expensive, and so far as 
economy of fuel is concerned (except in 
this coal-strike year) coal or wood is 
much cheaper. This past year I have 
put in a four horse-power boiler and 
engine, and have run entirely with 
wood, mostly the trimmings from the 
orchards. 
Marketing the Product. —We start¬ 
ed in with about 20 pounds of butter a 
day. I don’t believe it will pay to un¬ 
dertake the manufacture at home of 
less, and it costs us but little more now 
that we are making 75 pounds daily or 
its equivalent in cream. I had only one 
customer to start with, but in various 
ways I soon secured more. Each pack¬ 
age or print had my name and address 
on it. One customer came through a 
shipment to a commission house, apply¬ 
ing to me direct. One came from a no¬ 
tice in The R. N.-Y. of a high scoring 
I had obtained at the State Fair, a cou¬ 
ple through friends in the city who in¬ 
duced their grocer to handle it, so they 
could get their supply that way. I never 
had but one man in a town who handled 
my goods. To him I sent a neat adver¬ 
tising card to hang in a conspicuous 
place in company with “Ferris hams,” 
“Pillsbury flour” and the like first-class 
goods. My local grocer began to take a 
few pounds for his family and ended by 
using 40 or 50 pounds a week for his 
trade at my price, about five cents per 
pound more than he was paying for the 
butter brought in. My trade has stead¬ 
ily grown until I took on a dairy of 20 
cows from another farm, from which we 
had been peddling milk, and now I have 
five or six neighbors who bring me their 
milk, which I make up for them and 
sell the product at a charge of three 
cents per pound. This practically pays 
the cost of manufacturing my own milk, 
takes the work out of their homes and 
makes their butter net them more than 
they could otherwise obtain. I found 
that from June to September I always 
had an increased amount of mijk, and 
at that time the butter trade fell off, 
occasioned by plenty of good butter on 
the market and people going out of town 
for the Summer. This led me to seek a 
cream trade, for while my butter sent 
at such times to a commission house al¬ 
ways brought the top price, after I paid 
commission and express charges it 
makes the price too low to suit or pay 
well. This was much harder to obtain 
than one for butter for reasons men¬ 
tioned in a recent article written for 
this paper. I was able, however, after 
a time to secure the trade of an ice 
cream and soda dealer, which trade I 
have held ever since. This has always 
given me an appetite for selling cream, 
and to-day I have been obliged to let 
much of my butter trade go to supply 
the demand for cream, which pays much 
better and is much less labor. The 
struggle has been to supply our increas¬ 
ed customers and their increased de¬ 
mand, rather than to look for a market. 
General Rut.es. —These are some of 
the rules I have followed: Make a first- 
class article, put up in an attractive 
form, that I was not ashamed to put my 
name and address on. (Anything that 
was not up to standard was put on the 
market at its face value.) Try to sup¬ 
ply what the customer wants. Put it up 
in such form as he finds best for his 
trade. Send it regularly so he can de¬ 
pend on it. Invite his criticism and act 
on it. Then charge a fair price, and 
whenever possible call on the customer 
so as to form his acquaintance. This 
has all taken time and has now and 
then caused trials and vexations of 
spirit, but it has paid, and is to-day 
worth hard cash. 
EDWARD VAN ALSTYNE. 
Columbia Co., N. Y. 
Do You 
Want to makej 
Money 
is 
from your 
Cows? 
If so, run 
their milk 
through 
Am 
an 
Si 
, * ? • ivV ’.' -. Vr *1 
, * 
viSi 
Mm 
Empire 
Cre ^ m Separator. 
It doesn’t come out in the 
form of dollars, but it comes 
in such form as can be turned 
into dollars with the least An 
trouble in the shortest time. 
The Empire has the lightest 
bowl, the fewest parts, turns 
easier and gives better n «=> 
satisfaction than any ^ 
other separator. 
It ^takes a few dollars to huv r* ^ lr 
an 
you 
require 
keep it running, 
and it. pays for 
itself in a few 
months. 
Send for our 
Cow-scnsa book. 
Empire Cream 
Separator 
Company, grig* 
Bloomfield, N. J. 
(Formerly V. S. Butter Extractor Co.) 
COOK YOUR FEED and SAVE 
Half the Cost—with the 
PROFIT FARM BOILER 
With Dumping Caldron. Empties its 
kettle in one minute. The simplest 
and best arrangement for cooking 
food for stock. Also make Dairy and 
Laundry Stovea, Water and Stoam 
Jacket Kettles, Hog Scaldera, Cal¬ 
drons, etc. w Send for circulars. 
D. B. SPERRY * CO* Batavia. 111. 
INPPLEY’S c3Z?,o'» 
Bl STEAM COOKERS 
will cook 26 bushels of feed in 2 hour*; 
heat water In stock tanka 260 feet away. 
Will heat dairy, hog and poultry houses. 
Made of boiler steel; can’t blow up; no 
flues to nistor leak. PRICES 96.00 TO 
946.00; 6 styles and 16 sizes. Sold under 
a guarantee. Endorsed by Experiment 
Stations. Catalogue and price* frte» 
K1PPUSY IUUDWAUKCO., 
Box 22 Grafton, Ill. 
, ON TRIAL 
at your own farm and in your own 
w ay. That’s the way we sell the 
American 
Sep it rut or 
I ne price will suit you. The ma- j 
chine will make you money. Write 
for free catalogue yet to-day. 
American Separator Co.. 
Box 1000 Kainbrlrigft, N. Y. 
IVon Medal at Paris , igoo. 
DeLaIuL 
Cream Separators 
375,000 
Now in 
Daily 
Use 
S avo 
$ 10 .- 
per Cow 
each 
year. 
Send for fret catalogue. 
THE DE LAVAL SEPARATOR CO. 
RANDOLPH & CANAL STS. I 74- CORTLANDT ST. 
CHICAGO. I NEW YORK. 
The Dana Ear Labels 
are always clean and readable. 
Do not make the car sore, will not 
pullout or get lost. Stamped with 
owner’s name, address and herd 
orregistry numbers. 1 supply iO rec¬ 
ord associations with official labels. 
Thousands of practical farmers, vet¬ 
erinarians and breeders use my labels 
exclusively. Sample Free. 
Agents Wanted. Liberal terms. 
C.H.0ana.74 Main St.,W.Labanon, H.H 
THE ECONOMICAL 
FEED COOKER 
Best, simplest, most, durable 
and economical cooker made. 
Cover furnished when desired. 
All sizes. Bend for prices and 
circulars. 
THE TOLEDO PLOW CO. 
West Toledo, Ohio. 
KENDALL’S . 
SPAVIN CURE. 
KENDALL'S 
iPAVIN CLRI 
You Ca.iv Sa.ve Your Horse 
from Spavin, Ringbone, Splints, Curbs and all forms of 
Lameness by a prompt and liberal application of that old reli¬ 
able and well known remedy— 
Kendall’s Spavin Cure 
It has the unqualified endorsement of 
every man who has ever used it. Here 
is a sample of what thousands say for it, 
WORTH $200 TO THIS MAN. 
Astora, Ills., May 22nd, 1900. 
Dr. B. J. Kendall Co., Messrs:—Please send your 
Treatise on the Horse and his Diseases. Your lini¬ 
ment Hayed a horse for me that I expected to 
get $200.00 for. It can’t be beat and I will be very 
thankful for the book. Rcspy, C. A. CREBBS. 
It is a most valuable liniment for family use—splendid for bruises, 
SDrains, lame back, rheumatism, etc., etc. Sold by all druggists at $1; 
six bottles for $5. Our book, “A Treatise on the Horse," mailed free. 
Write at once and address 
DR. B. J. KENDALL CO.. Enosburg Fedls. Vt. 
THE U. S. SEPARATOR 
SHOWS ITS SUPERIORITY 
At the Oregon State Fair this year one of the attrac¬ 
tions was a contest between the different makes of cream 
^ separators, and, as usual, the U. S. 
Beat Everything. Read the follow- 
ing letter and notice particularly the 
;J|jM •; different skimmilk tests : 
fl w Portland, Orf.. , Sept. 19, 1902. 
Vermont Farm Machine Co., 
Gentlemen: —In contest, at our State Fair 
^ r w -ll yesterday The U. S. Separator Beat Every- 
iff ll thing There, leaving only two one-hun- 
U dredths on skimmilk, while the DeLaval, 
JB flk Sharpies and National tied at .06. The 
-'IK— _ Empire leaving .11 and the Reid .12. 
-—..,-77' —- Hazelwood Crf.am Co., 
The above letter is only one of the many proofs we have that 
THE U. S. SEPARATOR SKIMS THE CLEANEST 
Many more are in our catalogues. Write for one. 
■Vermont Farm Machine Co.. Bellows Falls, Vt. 
