870 
The low-testing milk producer forgets that when * 
he turns a certain amount of fodder into milk, he « 
irets 150 pounds of milk containing 4.5 pounds of % 
fat. whereas, the producer of rich milk by turning 
about the same amount of fodder into milk through 
a different machine, gets only 100 pounds of milk 
containing 4.5 pounds of fat. 
Apparently, Borden's method is very nearly cor¬ 
rect. but there remains one important debatable 
point between producer and dealer. That point is 
simply the price allowed for each constituent in 
the milk. It affects the producer of all grades of 
milk and they should work together to better their 
conditions, and not separate into classes to quarrel 
among themselves. Whether it is more economical 
to produce rich milk or poor milk, may he a ques¬ 
tion that deserves the serious study of milk IFO- 
ducers, hut that is an entirely separate question 
from the value of a quantity of milk of »ue composi¬ 
tion compared with the value of the-»ame quantity 
of milk of a different composition. 
it T-t Ofotinn IT. C. TROY. 
Cornell Exp. Station. 
An Experience in Jhio. 
O,, page 745 you ask for fa-ta In aollins milk by 
,l,o fat test, or on a f»t CO0™ 1 also print an 
article this subject by Morse. Mr. Morse 
it scorns, advocated se«"S •»' 1,10 fat test 
wars ago. ltt ,li' way this would benefit the 
dairymen, when -eh selling means less money to 
them, we c.um ,L understand, unless as Mr. Morse 
seems to in*' r 51 would build up the herds to greater 
product -*• tTitii the beginning of this year. May 
I xve .old milk by measured gallon; receiving 13 
C( '. p > for May. June, July and August, 15 cents for 
,. nainder of the year, year including the 12 months. 
Some dairymen would lie able to get 14 and 10 cents. 
This price was paid for undelivered milk, buyers 
doing their own hauling. Prices paid for delivered 
milk, city railway stations, two to 2cents more, 
freight deducted by buyers. This year, beginning 
May 1, we had to contract on butterfat basis, prices 
to be paid as follows: 
May, June, July and August. Milk testing: 
3.5 3.6 3.7 3.S 3.0 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 
$1.20 1.20 1.32 1.35 1.39 1.42 1.45 1.49 1.52 1.59 1.59 
Balance of year, eight months: 
3.5 3.0 3.7 3.S 3.0 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 
|HE rural NEW-YORKE] 
V^ter and hence less food materials, am^ requires 
•fess feed per 100 pounds to produce Doubtless 
lUfiny of your Holstein friends vvo^fa still be dis¬ 
appointed if prices were based ojift total solids; how¬ 
ever, this would be fair to np concerned. 
Ohio Exp. Station. S c. c. iiayden. 
They Are All Thinking About It. 
The majority believe that the price paid is either 
too low, or the price of everything we buy to pro¬ 
duce this milk hr too high. The facts of the case are 
between the people who buy farm and dairy produce 
and those we buy food stuffs, etc., from; they get us 
coining and going. There ought to he a way that 
tie farmer could control a fair price in either direc¬ 
tion. The idea of the sliding scale in paying for 
milk by the test most of the farmers around here 
like, where they get the right test. Some of their 
tests seein to be rather low. Mine usually stays 
from 3.0 to 3.7, seldom any lower for Holstein 
grades. Before the fat test on the sliding scale of 
a rise or drop of three cents on each one-tenth, if 
one’s cows tested 3.8 he got a stated price for any¬ 
thing below, 10 cents less; for anything above no 
more than the 3.S test. That was too good a thing 
to those who had poor testing cows, and not good 
enough for the one who had high-testing cows. But 
under the sliding scale if one gets the right, test it 
is right, provided they pay enough to begin with. 
I came to New York from Wisconsin two years ago 
this Fall. There I sold milk to creamery and got 
separated milk hack. It did not cost so much to 
produce milk there, and we did not get as much for 
it They paid by the test there. I have only had 
18 months experience here in the dairy line. Bor¬ 
den's April prices are. beginning at 3% test, $1.21; 
adding three cents for each one-tenth, makes it up 
to $1.81 for 5% test May, 06c to $1.56; June 00c 
to $1.56; July $1.06 to $1.66; August $1.22 to $1.82; 
September $1.31 to $1.91. Dairymen scoring less than 
25 per cent on equipment and 43 per cent, on methods 
get 10 cents per hundred less than this table shows, 
and no more than the table shows no matter how 
high they stand. The price of eggs is too low or the 
price of feed is too high, the same trouble as in the 
dairy. The question I ask is, how is the farmer 
going to change things? a. y. twining. 
Clinton Co„ N. Y. 
$1.50 1.54 1.57 1.61 1.65 1.60 1.73 1.77 1.81 1.85 1.89 
From these prices will he noticed in the heavy 
producing months, May, June, July and August, three 
cents per 100 pounds milk was added to price for 1% 
of butterfat content. For balance of year four cents 
l>er 100 pounds milk was added to price for 1% of 
butterfat. Test and payments are made twice 
monthly. If no contract was made, prices would he 
paid, or were paid, under Elgin quotations. This 
was in March last as follows: 
March lltli. 3.6% milk 30c. March 12. 3.9% 30c. 
March 13th, 3.8% 30c. March 14th, 3.8% 30c. March 
15th, 3.7% 2So. March 16tli, 3.8% 2Sc. March 23rd, 
3.7% 29c. March 26th, 3.8% 29c. 
The most striking part of these figures is in the 
test. March 11 being 3.6%, and on the 12th 3.0%, 
a difference of three points meaning a difference 
in price under present contract of 11 cents per 100 
pounds milk for same month. Recent, tests from 
same herd were 3.5, 4.0 and 3.6, herd being on pas¬ 
ture. no grain or other feeding. We are under city 
inspection, controlled by the City Board of Health, 
and the distributing and selling of 3% milk is al¬ 
lowed. If all milk is brought up to 3.5 or 4% and 
above, would that not he to the advantage of the 
city distributor? Prices have not been lowered to 
the city consumers and 3% milk can he sold. I be¬ 
lieve the transactions or methods of making prices 
by the large distributors of milk should he investi¬ 
gated by National or State governments. The dairy¬ 
men do not want to be compelled to sell under El¬ 
gin quotations, Chicago Board of Trade quotations 
< r prices made by the butter or butterine manu¬ 
facturers. C. A. H. 
t )hio. 
Butterfat Test Fairest. 
I am not surprised that the men selling Holstein 
milk are dissatisfied. Prices based on the butterfat 
test are more nearly fair than a straight price per 
100 pounds. For condensing purposes, prices based 
on content of total solids would be better, but 
it is more difficult to make the test in this way. The 
lactometer may he used in connection with the fat 
test to make these determinations. There is also 
a casein test which might he made use of. The 
solids not fat do not increase and decrease at the 
same rate: that is. at the same percentage as the 
fat; hut they do increase and decrease materially 
with the increase and decrease oi fat. 4 his applies 
between breeds as well as between individuals, 
llolstein milk can be produced more cheaply than 
Jersey or Guernsey milk because it contains more 
Sweet Clover in New York State. 
I HAVE read with pleasure F. R. Allen’s Sweet 
clover article. His experience with it as a pas¬ 
ture plant agrees with mine, and mine has ex¬ 
tended over many years: 100 per cent, of my farm 
is in Sweet clover and I doubt if anyone else in 
New York State can say this. Mr. Allen’s plan to 
sow the seed two years in succession is correct; after 
that there will be enough seed shattering off each 
season to keep up the stand. This makes a peren¬ 
nial of. it, same as Alfalfa. He says that he sowed 
10 acres in May, 1913, that had been in corn in 
1912, but does not say whether he plowed it. first or 
not. If he did I do not see how he could have been 
so successful with it, as Sweet clover must have a 
hard seed bed. Simply disk your sod or other 
ground three times in the Fall, not earlier than No¬ 
vember or December (last thing before frost, so that 
no weeds can start up), then roll twice, so as to 
get the seed bed solid. Then any time during Jan¬ 
uary or February sow 20 pounds per acre of hulled 
seed (white only) half each way, so as to get it 
even on top of the ground or snow. Freezing and 
thawing during the Winter and Spring will do the 
rest. If he had done this with the 25-acre field lie 
would have had a fine catch. Sweet clover will 
grow luxuriantly on poor sandy soil that will not 
produce Alfalfa, clover or any grain crop, if treated 
as above, and it will turn a poor yellow sandy soil 
to rich black loam in less time than any other 
legume. There is no poorer soil in New York State 
than the sand belt in Schenectady and Albany 
counties, much of it being of the “drifty" kind. 
Stock here of all kinds like Sweet clover better 
than Alfalfa or any other legume, which agrees 
with Mr. Allen’s article. As it will produce abund¬ 
antly where nothing else will grow, contains more 
protein and more tons to the acre than any other 
legume, why not raise it for hay as well as pas¬ 
ture? I believe in giving cattle the feed they like as 
long as it increases milk production, as this is what 
the farmer is after. I cut my clover about June 
15, before it commences to bloom, while it is tender, 
taking off perhaps to two tons per acre, and 
then in August thrash out a seed crop worth at 
least as much as six tons more of hay. as long as 
the price remains where it is. The yield of seed 
will average about three times as much as Alfalfa 
or Red clover, as Sweet clover so far has no insects 
July 3, 1!>15. 
nor diseases of any kind, and it is worth $15. while 
the other two can be bought, for $0. 
Schenectady Co., N. Y. A. bloomingdale. 
Dig Your Own Humus. 
I HAVE noticed in the agricultural papers that va¬ 
rious brands of “humus” are offered for sale, 
and a friend of mine took the trouble to send me 
five sacks to try on our sandy soil. I was much 
amused at the result, but my feelings might have 
been different had I paid out good money for the 
stuff. We have a black soil here which is found at 
the depth of some eight to 10 feet and which con¬ 
tains about 3.33% of organic matfrer. This layer is 
usually as much as six feet thick, and when mixed 
with 10% of cottonseed meal does make a valuable 
material for growing potted plants. This might he 
mined as marl is in New Jersey from open pits, and 
probably would not cost over a dollar a ton on the 
cars. Mixed with $2.20 of cottonseed meal it would 
he valuable for use on heavy clay soils, and the 
proportion of cottonseed meal could he increased as 
desired. There is no limit to the quantity of this 
black loam which could he procured here in Florida, 
and some of our best truckers have selected ground 
where this came within a couple of feet of the sur¬ 
face, and have grown some of the finest celery which 
lias ever been raised in the State. 
Florida. r. s. howi.and. 
R. N.Y.—Wo have stated our position on this 
“humus” matter many times. As a dressing for 
lawns or gardens it may pay, but we have no idea 
that it would he profitable to use as a practical 
farm proposition. It costs too much and the freight 
charge is too heavy. The trouble is that when this 
“humus” is advertised in such a plausible way, 
farmers get the idea that it will fully take the place 
of chemical fertilizers—when it will do nothing of 
the sort. What Mr. Howland says ought to make 
any farmer think. On most farms, or in most sec¬ 
tions, there are low swampy places or deposits of 
black soil. If this deposit is dug up, dried and 
mixed with lime, with proper chemicals added to 
it this homemade mixture can be made worth quite 
as much as (he “humus” so freely advertised. Sure¬ 
ly if a man had a small coal mine on his own farm 
we could not advise him to buy fuel at the local 
coalyard. The swamp or black deposit represents in 
plant food what the coal does in fuel. 
The Value of An Auto Truck. 
W E are in the nursery, trucking and farming 
business, and have a 2%-ton truck. As an 
emergency team and hurry-up carter we find 
it has more than paid interest and upkeep. If is 
always ready, and never tires out even when used 
day and night For short hauls it makes quick 
trips and many of them, and for long hauls it. saves 
much time. Our nearest market is 14 miles distant, 
and in one to 1% hour we can deliver a 2%-ton 
load, and it takes a team from four to five hours to 
deliver a 1^4-ton load. On the return trip we again 
save three hours on the road and lose no time feed¬ 
ing. It has also made available markets 30 to 4ii 
miles distant 
A trucker or fruit grower could make an auto 
truck pay on a 50-acre farm if he was over five 
miles from a good market. He can keep one team 
less, and where he does his own carting to market 
he will save his own time, the interest on his in¬ 
vestment and its upkeep. A machine is good for a 
definite number of miles either in live years or 20 
years, according to constancy of use. When not used < 
it costs nothing but interest I should say that 
amount of carting, distance to cart, kind of cart¬ 
ing. condition of roads, would all have to be con¬ 
sidered before the size of the farm was taken into 
account, in fact the size of the farm has nothing 
whatever to do with the question, except in so far 
as it governs the other items. To use the truck in 
short hauls when the teams were idle or were do¬ 
ing work that could he postponed without loss would 
not pay. To keep a truck simply for a small amount 
of road work would he unprofitable. The farmer 
should keep a record of the time his teams are on 
the road when they could profitably lie doing some¬ 
thing else, he should investigate the possibilities of 
hiring his truck at a fair price when he is not too 
busy to spare it and the driver. He must determine 
how much time he would save by the more rapid 
transit. From this data he can determine whether 
or not he would be making a good investment in 
buying a truck. After he gets one he will find nmii.v 
unsuspected advantages, but these are so variable 
that his decision must be made without regard to 
them. WALTER c. black. 
New Jersey. 
