1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
267 
A BOTTLED-MILK DAIRY. 
BOTTLES AND CANS COMPAKED. 
Advantages and Disadvantages. 
From Cow to Bottle. —Our town sup¬ 
ports six milk routes of various sizes. 
The average price the year ’round for 
milk is five cents per quart; the average 
price of milk furnished outside of that 
made on the home farm, is 23 cents per 
can of eight quarts and one pint, for six 
months of the year, and 27 cents during 
the remaining six months. Until two 
years ago, the milk was delivered from 
large cans, and a quart measure was 
used in every place for measuring, unless 
the customer preferred a small quart 
can, in which case, the customer was 
supposed to keep the small cans clean. 
But many failed to keep them even half 
clean, so that it was always a safe pro¬ 
ceeding to wash them thoroughly before 
refilling. 
Our route is second in size of any run 
in this town ; it would easily take first 
place if we could command a little more 
capital for needed improvements and 
modern appliances, and for extra help. 
A Family Affair. —Now each member 
of the family has some part of the work 
connected with the route to do each day. 
This place is literally a farm worked by 
home people. What I should like to ask 
The R. N.-Y. is, Does it pay for a man 
so to run a farm and business with only 
a little occasional outside help ? Do the 
children gain or lose by the experience 
thus gained ? We began to use the glass 
bottles because, no matter how clean, 
pure and rich the milk might be, it must 
be bottled, because the other routes 
bottle theirs. We have customers we 
have held for 20 years. Our bottles are 
all high-grade, marked with name of 
farm, farm owner, and of the town. 
Each and every customer is supposed to 
return bottles spotlessly clean. As a 
matter of fact, we wash at home 160 or 
more bottles per day. Some bottles re¬ 
quire to be washed sometimes four or 
five times each, to remove the specks of 
dried soapine or other washing powders 
used by the customers in their efforts to 
cleanse the bottle. I would much rather 
have every bottle returned simply rinsed 
than to have any preparation of powder 
used upon it. 
We lose many bottles by the other 
route taking them when left outside for 
us, and we often have bottles returned 
to us by utter strangers, who have ob¬ 
tained them through their milk dealer. 
All breakage by the customer is charged 
a fixed rate, but there are occasionally 
people who will slide in a badly-cracked 
bottle where the children do the deliver¬ 
ing and collecting, to escape paying. 
Bottles Are Popular. —We make use 
of the large-necked bottles, as we find 
them easier to wash than those made 
with narrow, tall necks, although the 
latter show up the cream to a greater 
depth than the former. But if the milk 
is of good quality, the cream will show 
up all right, no matter what sized bottle 
is used. We carry extra bottles on the 
wagon for use where an extra quantity 
of milk is desired, and for use when we 
get our milk from a dairy, that is not 
delivered until after we leave for town. 
This supply is bottled at one regular 
place on the route, so cream has ample 
time to rise before delivery. Customers 
prefer bottled milk because it is in a 
handy-sized package, that will set in a 
small space in ice-boxes, can be carried 
to picnics, or when traveling, lying on 
its side without any danger of spilling, 
if a good quality of cap is used. I have 
had bottles laid in the ice-box on the 
sides for 24 hours without finding a drop 
spilled. 
Customers find that they can turn the 
regular amount of cream for their cof¬ 
fee, out of a bottle, with no trouble of 
setting milk and skimming; in fact, 
some of our customers turn cream off 
into a separate dish for morning use, as 
soon as the milk has been delivered. 
Milk delivered in good glass bottles has 
a richer appearance than when turned 
into crockery. This reason alone has 
sold a poorer quality of milk for a rival 
dealer, before we were making use of 
bottles; customers often bought an extra 
quart of us, and then would tell us that 
they found on trial, ours to be the richer 
in every way than that secured from 
their regular milk dealer. But they 
liked the bottle, finding it so handy in 
many ways. As one friend remarked, 
“ When we take a quart, please deliver 
it in two pint bottles, then husband and 
I can each have one-half of the cream.” 
Some people have been known to turn 
their coffee into the bottle, while one 
girl said that she turned fine grains into 
the bottle to soak. Didn’t I bless that 
bottle when I reached it at cleansing 
time I Friends and foes alike are very 
indifferent about promptly returning 
bottles, never seeming to realize that it 
is a constant loss of income to us to have 
so many kept back. Often a gross have 
to be purchased for the want of perhaps 
three bottles, which, if bottles had been 
returned every morning, would have 
been unnecessary. Having our own 
named bottles, we always have to order 
in gross lots. 
Caps Are Expensive. —I have known 
a customer, even if sharply looked after, 
to get the best of us, and get an accumu¬ 
lation of 10 or more bottles before re¬ 
turning them. Milk sold in bottles 
weighs more for a given quantity than 
if sold in a can, so in case of an extra- 
large route, it would require the use of 
an extra horse, and stronger wagon, for 
pulling the load. As a bottle holds an 
exact quart, a can will turn even full, 
eight quarts and half a pint, which, if 
delivered in a quart measure, would not 
yield eight quarts, because one is ex¬ 
pected to run over measure in the quart 
cup, while in the bottle, customers get 
just the quart for which they pay. I do 
not know whether this slight advantage 
defrays the cost of the caps used or not. 
In my opinion, milk should sell for a 
higher price when delivered in bottles, 
to help defray the cost of caps, of loss 
from breakage, stolen bottles, and for 
the large amount of time required to fill, 
cap and load the supply for the day. 
A Bio Job. —It keeps two people hus¬ 
tling to fill and cap the load, every morn¬ 
ing, the best part of an hour ; but after 
once loaded, it can be quickly and easily 
delivered, while it is in handy form for 
delivery by child help. It takes more 
time to unload, requires more space for 
storage of empty bottles, than it does 
for cans. It takes the cream off several 
hours of each day for the wife to keep 
the bottles washed ready for the route, 
while there are still the same number of 
big cans to be washed every day. 
Any person thinking of going into the 
retail milk business will do well to con¬ 
sider that it means constant hard work 
upon the head ones of the firm, to keep 
it in working order, for nothing will 
cause more loss of trade, than a badly- 
washed can or bottle. Sundays require 
nearly as much time on milk work as 
week days. Our route keeps husband 
and three children busy delivering until 
noon Sundays, while the wife has to neg¬ 
lect her own work, in order to keep 
bottles clean, and cans, pails, etc., in 
thorough order. A good deal of time is 
required to keep the books, make out the 
bills, and collect the money due. The 
wife of this firm is the one who does this 
work. 
Caps cost, on an average, $40 or $50 per 
year, for a route the size of ours. They 
must be kept in large quantities, for 
sometimes express companies fail to get 
caps ordered, home in time. It is very 
little fun to run out of caps, and find 
Sunday at hand, then perhaps, Monday 
is a legal holiday, so one must wait until 
Tuesday noon for his caps, which must 
be had at once. Each dealer is accom¬ 
modating, and has helped the other out 
by the loan of caps when they failed to 
come on time. In the event of a bad tip- 
over or runaway, the loss on broken bot¬ 
tles would be large. We have had sev¬ 
eral bad tip-overs in blizzard time when 
using tin cans, but have so far been for¬ 
tunate since using glass bottles, s. w. 
A New Zealand farmer recently sold a pure¬ 
bred Tamworth sow which weighed, dressed, 536 
pounds; the pork was said to be of excellent 
quality. 
A Deadwood Dairy.— I run a small dairy, and 
sell butter at 20 cents a pound in Summer and 25 
cents In Winter. The price Is kept down by the 
sale of large quantities of oleomargarine. Near¬ 
ly every boardinghouse and restaurant In our 
mining camps uses oleomargarine. In a town of 
5,000 population, one firm handles 700 pounds 
weekly, another 800 pounds. One copy of The 
R. N.-Y. made me 85. It was the one containing 
the short articles on the good points of the Short¬ 
horn cow, and enabled me to sell a Short-horn 
cow for 85 more than I otherwise could. The 
worst Winter ever known here. Snow in the 
hills six feet deep, while in the farming country, 
it all drifts into the valleys. MaDy farmers are 
shipping hay from Nebraska. J. h. w. 
South Dakota. 
Sanitary Milk Pail.— Reading The R. N.-Y. 
called my attention at various times to the sub¬ 
ject. I told the tinner that I wanted a cover 
shaped like an ordinary slop-bucket cover. He 
said it would have to be pressed. He could not 
make it. My eyes wandered up and down the 
shelves full of kettles, teapots, pans, etc. They 
finally rested on some wash-dishes. I had him 
show me the largest one he had. He did not 
“tumble.” I placed it on a 12 -quart milk pail. 
It fitted exactly. The tinner caught on. He cut 
a hole in the bottom, and covered It with wire- 
cloth. In milking, the milk spatters too much, 
but it is better than an open pail. With a Geo. 
Scott stall and a covered pail, the milk is clean. 
Tip the pail so that the milk will collect on one 
side of the cover, then it does not spatter so 
much. If this sort of cover is patented, let them 
bring suit for infringement. The law ought to 
allow a man to cover his milk pail with a wash 
sh with a hole in the bottom, if he wants to, 
without being liable for damages. 
Ohio. GKO. M. BARBER. 
PRICE OF FEEDS. 
City bran, per ton.17 00 @17 50 
Spring bran, 200-lb sacks, per ton.16 75 @17 00 
Spring bran to arrive.16 25 @16 50 
Middlings, as to quality, per ton.... 16 00 @18 00 
Sharps, per ton.18 00 @19 00 
Red dog, per ton...17 00 @17 50 
Linseed oil meal, to arrive and spot...24 00 @ — 
Cake.23 00 @ — 
Cotton-seed meal.2100 @ — 
Brewers’ meal and grits, per 100 lbs.... 95 @ 1 05 
Hominy chops. 75 @ 80 
Coarse meal, western. 83 @ 85 
Some Facts aboot 
A Cream Separator. 
(Saves Endless Work.) 
Vinton, Iowa, January 10,1899. 
“About one year ago I purchased an * Alpha-Baby’ 
No. 2 after giving It a thorough test and finding that 
with the same quantity of milk we were able to 
produce three pounds more butter per day than we 
were getting by the old method. This was with the 
milk from 12 cows. I am satisfied our separator has 
paid for itself the first year, besides saving an end¬ 
less amount of work for Mrs. Austin and her help in 
the house, in that there were a great many less pans, 
etc., to wash and keep clean. I feel that I cannot 
recommend the‘Alpha-Baby’too highly to any one 
in the dairy business.” 8. B. Austin. 
(Big Difference in Results.) 
St. Mary’s, O., June, 1898. 
“We have finished our test of the ‘Baby’ separator. 
We made the tost from six milkings. The milk was 
well mixed and carefully divided. The half skimmed 
by the separator made 11 pounds and 8 ounces of but¬ 
ter. The other half was set in crocks in the old way, 
and very particular care taken of it. It made 8 
pounds and 12 ounces. This is almost unbelievable, 
but my wife is willing to state the same under oath. 
We sell butter at 16c. to 20c. per pound, so that the 
separator will make us a net profit of 30c. a day over 
the old way. It will more than pay for itself inside 
of one year, with our seven cows. Calves and pigs 
are doing very well on the skim-milk.” 
F. W. Neddermann. 
(Any Kind of Cream.) 
No. Grafton, Mass., 1898. 
“The Dairy Turbine ‘Alpha' De Laval separator 
which I purchased ir September, 1896. is giving per¬ 
fect satisfaction. I have separated with it from 40 to 
80 cans of milk per day ever since. Some days the 
temperature of milk is as low as 65 and 58 degrees, 
but the samples of skim-milk show only from .01 to 
.02 of 1 per cent of butter-fat. There is no trouble 
in making the cream of any desired thickness that I 
may wish, which is a great benefit to me, as 1 can 
supply cream at any price that my patrons desire. 
Had I purchased one of these machines several 
years ago, It would have saved me a good many hun¬ 
dreds of dollars.” 8. L. Davenport. 
(De Laval Superiority.) 
Webster City, Iowa, January 19,1899. 
“About eighteen months ago the creamery to 
which we had been hauling milk shutdown. Our 
product was about 400 pounds of milk per day, and 
we had very poor conveniences for making butter, so 
concluded we would try a cream separator. Being 
entirely ignorant as to the merits of the different 
machines, we thought the proof of the pudding was 
in the eating, so tried a Sharpies, U. S. and an 
‘Alpha-Baby’ side by side. After a thorough test of 
six weeks, we bought the ‘Alpha-Baby’ No. 2, even 
though it cost more than either of the others. Our 
reasons for making such a decision were, first, that its 
capacity was more than advertised; second, it run 
with much less power; and, third, it is of better 
mechanical construction and less liable to get out of 
order. 
“At the time of selling milk to the creamery we 
were being paid for only 3.3 pounds of butter from 
109 pounds of milk. After purchasing the ‘Baby,’ 
we weighed 200 pounds of milk, which was separated 
and churned, and the product was eight pounds of 
butter, cows being on grass without grain.” 
C. D. Carpenter. 
TEST IT. 
A Babcock tester is a 
good- thing—one of the 
best — but butter yield 
under average conditions 
is better. Try a Shar¬ 
pies Hand Separator 
that way and you win 
every time. The butter 
quality is better, too, 
and the machine is sim¬ 
ple and durable, easily 
understood, easily 
washed, no repair bills 
etc. A Trial Free. 
Send for Catalogue, 
No. 25. 
Branches : 
Toledo, O. 
Dubuque, la. 
Omaha, Neb. 
P. M. SHARPLES, 
West Chester, Pa. 
St. Paul, Minn. 
San Francisco, Oal. 
Top Price Butter. 
The kind that a fancy private 
trade demands, is colored with 
Thatcher’s Orange Butter Color — 
the color that does not contain 
any poison. Send for a sample. 
THATCHER MFG. CO., Potsdam, H. Y. 
SEND FOR NEW 1899 CATALOGUE . 
THE DE LAVAL SEPARATOR CO., 
Randolph and Canal Sts., I 74 Cortlandt Street, 
CHICAGO. NEW YORK. 
STOP THE WASTE. 
The old-fashioned milk pan, or oven the 
improved deep setting creamery does 
not get all the cream out of the milk. 
Since centrifugal separators cost too 
\ much money, what shall you do! Why, 
USE THE AQUATIC 
CREAM SEPARATOR. 
it gets all the cream, ..tops all waste 
and does it cheaply. Adapted to one or 
more cows. Made in sizes up to 40 
cows. Their uso improves the quality 
of the butter. Prl e *5 to $ 11 . Full 
particulars and catalogue f reo. We want 
agents everywhere. These separators 
are good sellers. Write at once. 
AQUATIC CREAM SEPARATOR CO. 
119 Factory Sqr., Watertown, N. Y. 
THE COWY 
ODOR 
which is so objectionable to 
mostpeople, can all be taken 
out of milk by using the 
Champion 
Milk Cooler 
, and Aerator. 
/ONT.nAVL It produces a perfect flavor In the 
Cm ID milk, butter and cheese. Takes out 
L— lUUK all odorsof feed stable, etc.Simple 
t>|4«| —anybody can use It. Send for 
MILr\ free book “MILK.” 
Champion Milk Cooler Co, 
Milk Dealers' Supplies. 39 Railroad St., Cortland, N. Y 
WHAT THE PRESIDENT SAYS 
ABOUT 
THE IMPROVED U. S. SEPARATOR. 
Brattleboro, Vt., Feb. 27th, 1899. 
It gives me pleasure to say that the dairy machinery 
bought of your company two years ago, including a No. 5 
Improved U. S. Separator and a Pony Power, is working well 
and giving entire satisfaction. 
The Improved U. S. Separator is doing all and even more 
than was claimed by your agent. The separation is perfect, it 
runs easily, without noise or friction, and it is easy to manage 
and care for. Of all the separators placed upon the market, 
there is none that excels the Improved U. S. in my opinion. 
G. W. PIERCE, President Vt. Dairymen’s Ass’n, 
gi Write for our latest Illustrated Catalogues. 
VERMONT FARM MACHINE COMPANY, 
Bellows Palls, Vt. 
