804 
THE RURA.I> NEW-YORKER 
June 28, 
Milk 
A CITY IN THE MILK BUSINESS. 
The dairymen who supply the city of 
Brockton, Mass., with milk are up 
against a hard proposition, tough com¬ 
petition and a mighty legal battle. The 
city of Brockton conducts a farm where 
its paupers are kept, and where for 
some time a dairy business has been 
conducted. For a number of years this 
city farm has carried on a small milk 
route of from 150 to 160 quarts daily. 
This milk was sold in direct competition 
with the farmers who also sell milk in 
the city. Last February the barn on 
this city farm was destroyed by a fire. 
The overseers received .$0,000 in insur¬ 
ance. Notwithstanding the fact that 
this sum of money ought to have been 
enough to equip a new barn, the Brock¬ 
ton city government pushed through a 
measure appropriating $15,000 more for 
immediate use in rebuilding. Thus with 
the insurance money a fund of $24,000 
became available for putting up and stock¬ 
ing a new dairy building. It became 
known that the object of the city farm 
was to continue in the dairy business, 
probably increasing it, and using this 
city building as a club to force the 
dairymen into closer and even more 
costly inspection of their dairies. The 
milkmen saw what was coming, and 
prepared to meet the occasion. They 
claim that using this large sum of money 
to put up a city barn was not a legal 
investment under the circumstances, but 
that the whole scheme was illegal and 
unfair. Here were men who made their 
living at producing milk; they paid taxes 
to support a city government. They 
were obliged to pay their share of this 
$15,000 tax for the city dairy building. 
Then the city used the money which 
they had paid as taxes to develop a busi¬ 
ness which would enter into the meanest 
kind of competition with the very men 
who had made that building possible. 
Here is a proposition which is sure to 
come to many of our dairymen in the 
future. Efforts will evidently be made 
by the local authorities in many cities of 
medium size to go directly into the dairy 
business. The capital and outfit needed 
to equip and conduct such a business will 
come out of the taxpayers, and these 
taxpayers will then find themselves face 
to face with a double competition, their 
own money being used unfairly against 
their own bus'ness. 
One chief object of this city farming 
is to compel milk producers to submit to 
an extravagant and expensive sanitary 
system for conducting their dairies. 
These Massachusetts milkmen thoroughly 
understand the subject, and they in¬ 
tend to put up a battle to protect their 
rights. Before the measure was passed, 
the city solicitor of Brockton gave it 
as his opinion that under their charter, 
municipal corporations had no legal 
right to go into the business of buying 
and selling merchandise, or of production 
or sale of any necessity as a matter of 
profit, lie says the Supreme Court of 
Massachusetts has decided that the Leg¬ 
islature cannot authorize cities or towns 
to engage in the sale of fuel to their 
inhabitants, and there is no reason why 
the same argument will not apply to 
the sale of milk. In spite of this opin¬ 
ion the city government of Brockton 
went ahead and voted the $15,000 for 
the dairy barn. The local discussion has 
brought out many interesting facts and 
figures about the cost of producing milk, 
and the general condition of the milk 
business. The vital principle, however, 
which is at stake is whether a town or 
city can legally engage in direct com¬ 
petition with milk producers. If it can, 
one can easily see what will happen in 
the future in case such a city government 
concluded to squeeze the farmers who 
furnish its milk supply. While this 
is a local fight, it is one which concerns 
the entire business, country wide, of pro¬ 
ducing whole milk for consumption, and 
dairymen everywhere will be sincerely 
thankful if their brothers in Brockton 
will fight this principle down to the very 
foundation. 
One reason why the amount of milk 
now’ produced is well taken care of, is 
the fact that condensed milk is well 
off the market. There may be considered 
a slight shortage of condensed milk at 
present. It is a very excellent time to 
make good money on condensed, for the 
original cost of milk to dealers is almost 
the lowest and the condensed product 
is in quick demand at good prices. There 
is big money in condensed under such 
conditions. We may look for a good 
deal of milk to be turned over to the 
condenseries, and those who have the 
outfit are in shape to come pretty near 
doubling their money if they are in line 
tor marketing. I do not mean by this 
that it is advisable for a co-operative 
creamery to put in a $6,000 or $10,000 con¬ 
densing plant and equipment. There is 
too much risk in the business for that 
now. It is a market easily overdone by 
beginners. H. H. L. 
Most of the butter in this vicinity is 
made in creameries. The milk is sep¬ 
arated at home and the cream is gathered 
by the creamery operator and made into 
butter. There are some New York City 
firms building milk stations here along 
the Northern Central It. R., but they 
have not got into operation yet. 
Dairying is the principal occupation of 
the farmers here, and most dairies are 
kept in very good shape; they are im¬ 
proving rapidly. The principal breeds 
here are the Jersey and Holstein ; farmers 
are beginning to realize the importance 
of a purebred sire at the head of all herds. 
Bradford Co., Pa. M. A. T. 
Goats for Milk and Meat. 
Does it pay to keep goats for their 
milk if I have pasture for them? Milk 
is high at 10 cents per quart. We have 
to do something to lessen the high cost 
of milk and meat. I keep pigs to help 
me out on the meat question. c. s. B. 
Short Beach, Conn. 
There would seem to be a real future 
for the milch goat in this country in 
supplying families who are favorably 
situated, but who cannot afford to keep 
a cow. with needed milk. The common 
backyard goat gives but a small supply 
of milk, not having been bred for that 
purpose, but the milking breeds, such as 
the Saanen and Toggenburg, imported 
from Switzerland, are capable of giving 
a large quantity in proportion to the 
size of the animal; a small Toggenburg, 
weighing about 100 pounds, at the Geneva 
Experiment Station having given 1,845 
pounds in one year. This milk weighs 
10 pounds to the gallon._ Goats prefer 
to browse upon wild hilly land, and 
are cheaply kept, it being reliably esti¬ 
mated that four goats can be kept upon 
tbe same feed required to support one 
cow. If strict attention Is paid to 
cleanliness in stabling and milking them, 
tbe milk has no undesirable flavor and 
it may be used for all household pur¬ 
poses, being specially adapted to infant 
feeding. With the increasing cost of 
living there is little doubt that this 
hitherto neglected animal will be utilized 
in this country and that the better breeds 
will displace the common goats where 
milk is required for household use. 
M. D. B. 
AILING ANIMALS. 
Abscess. 
I have a mare with a bruised shoulder, 
and had it lanced. What can I do for 
it? c. R. 
Ohio. 
Open the abscess freely and then inject 
some tincture of iodine; afterward pack 
tbe cavity full of oakum saturated in a 
mixture of equal parts of turpentine and 
raw linseed oil. Renew the dressing 
once daily and the cavity soon will fill 
up. A. S. A. 
Horse Rejects Grain. 
I have a horse that works well, looks 
well and appears to be in good health, 
but he will not eat oats or ground feed ; 
eats a little hay and some roots. I have 
had his teeth filed. but that does 
not seem to help. What can I do for 
him? J- C. 
Connecticut. • 
The teeth are out of condition tn a 
majority of such cases; but if you have 
had them attended to by a graduate vet¬ 
erinarian there may be some other cause. 
What it is we cannot say without making 
an examination. Possibly the horse was 
accustomed to corn before you bought 
bim. Feed ear corn. A. s. A. 
Sore Neck. 
I have a horse on trial which seems 
to be sound outside of sore on top of 
neck which was caused by collar and 
hames not fitting properly. What treat¬ 
ment would you advise? J. F. 
Pennsylvania. 
Cut a strip of new canvas four or five 
inches wide and long enough to reach over 
neck from one hame ring to the other hame 
ring. Sew a snap hook into each end 
of the strip, so they may be snapped 
into the hame rings. Tj lace this on the 
neck. covering tbe sore place, before 
putting on the collar. The protective 
strip may be padded if thought neces¬ 
sary, or in bad cases. Keep it clean and 
dry. Paint the sore places once daily 
with a mixture of two ounces of tincture 
of iodine and six ounces of extract of 
witch hazel. See that the collar fits 
and do not cut off the mane when the 
skin under it becomes sore. A. s. A. 
Unsound Hocks. 
I have a colt three years old that is 
spring-jointed on the hind legs, and his hind 
knees are big, but he is not lame. What 
can I do? M. L. 
The colt is deformed from birth, and 
such a condition is incurable. We take 
it that the hocks are crooked, or “sickle¬ 
shaped” and this is a most common and 
objectionable conformation. It subjects 
a horse to bog spavins, thoroughpins and 
curbs. Treatment will not prove worth 
while. a. s. A. 
Pneumonia. 
I would like advice in regard to a pig 
which died, age two months. We are 
feeding to three of this size two quarts 
of whey from cheese factory and two 
handfuls of middlings scalded, three times 
a day. Bowels of dead pig were much 
inflamed, also lungs; most of left lung 
very purple. Some others seem stiff 
across the kidneys. Could you give 
cause? Is it pneumonia?. I have fed 
Epsom salts, charcoal and three drops of 
turpentine to prevent them getting worse. 
New York. P. L. ii. 
Pneumonia may have been present and 
due to exposure to wet and cold ; or it 
may come from dust in bedding. It 
should be remembered, however ,v that the 
lungs may become discolored after death 
and so a post-mortem examination has 
to be made immediately after the animal 
dies. Substitute sweet skim-milk for the 
whey and add limewater at the rate of 
one ounce to the quart. Let the pigs 
have free range on grass. Stiffness often 
indicates rickets due to lack of exercise 
and malnutrition. A. s. a. 
Hygroma. 
I have two cows with swellings on the 
knee as large as a teacup. Is there 
anything I can do to remedy it, as they 
are valuable cows? The swelling is quite 
soft with no soreness. c. V. g. 
Rhode Island. 
Prevent bruising of tbe knees on in¬ 
adequately bedded stall floor or on 
edge of manger. That is the cause of such 
serous abscesses or cysts (hygroma) of 
the knee. Paint with tincture of iodine 
each other day; but stop for a few days 
if the skin tends to become sore. If 
this does not suffice the sacs will have to 
be opened for evacuation of serum and 
then packed once daily full of oakum 
which has been saturated in a mixture 
of equal parts of turpentine and raw 
linseed oil. The popular home treatment 
in such cases is to run a tape seton 
down through the sac and pull the tape 
back and forth several times a day to 
cause serum to flow out. The tape may 
he rubbed with tincture of iodine daily. 
It is better to have the sac opened by a 
veterinarian. A. s. a. 
Grubs. 
What causes grubs in the head in 
sheep and what is the matter with sheep 
that cough a great deal? What would 
be the remedy for these diseases? 
West Virginia. H. w. M. 
The grubs are the larvae of the sheep 
gadfly (Oestrus ovis) which deposits its 
young larvae (not eggs) in the nostrils 
of the sheep in fly time in Summer. 
There is no cure for the grubs, which 
find their way into the upper passages 
and sinuses of the head; but the flies 
may be kept away by smearing pine tar 
on the sheeps’ noses at time of fly 
attacks. A good plan to manage this 
without much work is to place salt in 
large augur holes in a squared log and 
smear pine tar about the holes so that 
it will daub tbe noses of sheep licking 
the salt. Cough is merely a symptom 
of irritation. Often it is due to gadfly 
grubs; or to noxious gases in badly ven¬ 
tilated stables, or from dust, or it may in¬ 
dicate catarrh from exposure. It usually 
subsides without treatment. In severe 
cough give a dessert spoonful of glyco- 
heroin three times a day. A. s. A. 
Colt With Worms. 
My young colt evidently had worms. I 
was told to give it smoking tobacco. I gave 
as directed a heaping tablespoonful twice 
a day in grain and finished a 10-cent 
package. A marked improvement began 
very soon after. Hair that had started 
toward his ears turned back. Instead 
of drinking four or six quarts of water 
in 24 hours he would drink 20; besides 
he would eat twice as much. Was this 
change caused by the tobacco? I know 
the worms made a short stay after I 
began feeding it. C. H. 
Tobacco is a common and favorite 
remedy for worms, and we have no doubt 
it had the effect mentioned by our corre¬ 
spondent. A. s. A. 
Wtikn you write advertisers mention 
The R. N.-Y. and you'll get a quick 
reply and a ‘‘square deal.” See guaran¬ 
tee editorial page. : : : : 
SHARPIES 
MECHANICAL 
| MILKER 
J The March of Mechanism J 
e a 
O NCE perfected, a mech- * 
anical device inevitably £ 
I overcomes every barrier j 
M against its use. The inven- 
* tion of the reaper swept 
g away ten centuries of the 
I scythe. 
Mechanical progress is | 
I swift and certain. 
Men have milked by hand 
since the dawn of husbandry. 
I Yet in four years over 2,000 i 
■ Sharpies Milkers have been 
installed. This is prophecy of 
g the new era in dairy science. 
That such progress should 
I be made in so short a time is 
■ largely due to the universal 
! confidence of the dairymen 
i in the Sharpies product. For 
B thirty-two years the name of 
s Sharpies has stood for correct 
• principles and sturdy quality. 
The elimination of the 
* drudgery of hand-milkingwill 
| effect a great economy 
b of labor in the dairy and on 
B the farm. 
Cows are more contented 
p when milked by the Sharpies. 
I The milk flow is greater, and 
| teats and udders are kept in 
I perfect condition. 
There is a dairy near you 
* in which a Sharpies Milker 
8 is working successfully. Let 
“ us tell you how you can in- 
5 spect it. 
Illustrated Booklet on Request. 
f The Sharpies Separator Co. 
West Chester, Pa. 
Branch Offices 
Chicago, 111. San Francisco, CaL 
Portland, Ore. Dallas, Texas 
Winnipeg, Can. Toronto, Can. 
Agencies Everywhere 
Hearing a Watch Tick 
While Turning the 
EMPIRE 
Cream Separator 
AT FULL SPEED 
When a dear old lady, with 
beautiful silvery hair, held one 
ear close to an EMPIRE, running 
at speed, as this young woman is 
doing, she heard a watch tick at 
her other ear. Then she said: 
“Your EMPIRE is fine! Father 
and I went to housekeeping with 
the EMPIRE. Our children now 
own dairy farms. They love their 
modern EMPIRES even more than 
father and 1 loved our old machine. 
You deserve the compliments 
EMPIRES receive” 
Bless her kind heart! We don’t deserve 
compliments any more than others who 
put their heart into their work and give 
value for what they receive. EMPIRE 
quality is the result of more than a gen¬ 
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Are you planning to buy a separator? 
Or to exchange your present machine in 
part payment for a new one. Won't you 
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the EMPIRE custom. 
If a free trial of EMPIRE quality seems 
necessary, don’t hesitate to ask for it. 
Properly adjusted and cared for (and 
what could be easier) the EMPIRE 
starts under the weight of its crank and 
runs so quietly, you can hold one ear 
close to the EMPIRE and hear a watch 
tick at your other ear. 
SEPARATORS 
frora $25 to $150 
Write for Catalog 112 
EMPIRE CREAM SEPARATOR CO. 
Bloomfield, N.J. Chicago, 111. 
Portland, Ore. Toronto, Ont. Winnipeg, Man. 
■tfJ 
