909 
First Milk Payment Under Pooling Plan 
The first payment by the Dairymen's League Co¬ 
operative Association for milk under the pooling 
plan went out last week on schedule time. The net 
basis for figuring payments was $1.45 per 100 lbs. 
of 3 per cent milk in the 200-mile /one. The fat test 
and freight differentials were responsible for the 
variations in returns. 
Gross price averaged per 100 lbs. $1,735 
The deductions were, per 100 lbs.: 
Administration expenses . $0,025 
Advertising fund . 0.005 
For certificate of indebtedness. 0.100 
Deferred payments on unsold products 0.155 
Total . $0,285 
Check in payment. 1.45 
- $1,735 
The new administration kept its promise to make 
a full and detailed report of transactions for the 
month, with the exception of general financial state¬ 
ment. which will be furnished with June report and 
regularly thereafter. The voucher attached to the 
check shows in concise form just the amount of 
milk, the fat content, just what the patrons’ por¬ 
tions of the deductions are for and the gross and 
net returns. The voucher is attached by a perfor¬ 
ated line, and is easily detached before sending 
check to bank. A statement with further detail 
accompanied the check and voucher. This system 
of accounting and reporting is essential to the suc¬ 
cess of a co-operative enterprise. Every member 
knows just what is being done and just what his 
direct contribution is. If any part of it does not 
suit the members as a whole they have the power to 
change it. 
The total amount of milk reported by dealers’ 
plants and by the plants owned by the association 
for the month was 435,411.503 lbs. of this 40 per 
cent was Class A and 20 per cent Class B; 12 per 
cent Class C. 10 per cent made into butter and 12 
per cent into cheese. 
The total amount of pooled milk was 251.159,520 
lbs. This left 183.242.073 lbs. not pooled for the first 
month. 
The association handled 41.107.021 lbs. in its 83 
plants: 
Class 1 . 2.070.300 lbs. 7% 
Class 2 . 3,772.004 lbs. 0% 
Class 3 . 3,477,081 lbs. 8% 
Class 4, butter.10,568.045 lbs. 20% 
Class 4, cheese.20,107,021 lbs. 50% 
The price received for milk converted into butter 
for the month of May was 88.5 cents, and with 
cheese 87.5 cents per 100 lbs. 
Prices under the new plan for the first three 
months ai-e as follows: 
May 
June 
July 
Class 1. 
$1.95 
$2.20 
Class . 2. 
. 2.10 
1.55 
1.55 
Class 3. 
1.50 
1.50 
Class 4, butter.885 
Class 4, cheese.875 
Prices for Class 4 for June and July are to be 
determined by market quotations. 
Conditions in Orange County New York 
Present conditions in the producing sections 
promise to change the supply and price of milk in 
no small degree. The last week of June through 
Orange County we found a falling off of about one- 
third the supply both at the dairies and at the milk 
plants. Drought and heat affected the pastures and 
reduced the flow of milk. General conditions, too, 
have discouraged production and reduced the usual 
supply. Hay will be generally lighter in the county 
than last year, but it is 10 days earlier than usual. 
Harvest hands are scarce, and while some progress 
in harvesting was made in June delay as a whole in 
cutting will result in some over-ripe grass this sea¬ 
son. Oats for the most part are short ,but corn as a 
whole promises well, and Winter wheat looks good. 
Potatoes are coming on well. 
Dairying, of course, is the principal industry in 
Orange County, and dairymen have had some dis¬ 
couraging conditions, but indications are that the 
worst is over. It looks now as if we would soon 
have a demand for more milk for city consumption 
than the farmers will supply. Orange County is 
fortunate in being at the front door of the city de¬ 
mand for food, especially for milk. The people of 
the city are paying good prices for both, and econo¬ 
mic distribution and efficient marketing systems 
cannot fail to bring prosperity to the farmers of this 
fertile, progressive and historic county. 
Notwithstanding the difficulties under which they 
have operated, the farm-owned co-operative milk 
plants as a whole are making progress. The plants 
at Middletown, Bullville, Thompson’s Ridge and 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
East Walden are all doing well. Walden has made 
an exceptional record. Through losses in the Country 
Milk Company and other discouragements the plant 
went through a heavy trial three years ago. The 
local patrons and board, however, stuck light to the 
job. Jesse Du Bois was made manager. He found 
a market for the milk, and put .a check on every 
item of needless expense, with the result that the 
plant is now out of debt and has a balance to its 
credit in the bank. 
One word of caution we would express to Orange 
County farmers, as well as to others. Certain real 
estate agents bring clients into the county to buy 
farms, including stock and equipment. They offer 
a good price, but pay flown no more than enough to 
cover the value of the personal property, and some¬ 
times less. The agent gets his commission of the 
seller, and the buyer has a farm that costs him 
nothing, but a mortgage on it. Many of the buyers 
know nothing about farming, and finally get away 
with the personal property and everything else re¬ 
movable, leaving interest and taxes and mortgages 
unpaid. The owner gets back a naked farm in much 
worse condition than when he left it. Up in Colum¬ 
bia County recently an agent took a city buyer to 
see a vacant house and farm. The city man liked 
it. He could buy it of the agent for $500 in cash 
and the balance in notes. He bought it and paid 
over his $500 cash. It was his savings of years; 
but when he went to take possession of the farm he 
found the real owner, who did not know the agent 
at all. The city man gave his $500 to a slick crook, 
who has disappeared. It seems incredible that any 
man would part with his money so easily; but he 
was no doubt made to feel that he was getting a 
great bargain. Avarice is the key to most of the 
swindles. 
Milk in the Public Schools 
At Meriden, Conn., school children are given milk 
tags by the extension service of the Connecticut Agri¬ 
cultural College. On one side is the name of the 
child, with age, weight and height, and a statement 
of what he ought to weigh. On the reverse side 
the following is printed: 
GUIDES TO HEALTH, GROWTH AXD STRENGTH FOR 
SCHOOL CHILDREN 
Drink at least one pint of milk every day. 
Eat cereal with milk for breakfast. 
Eat fruit and a vegetable other than potato every 
day. 
Drink cocoa—'tea and! coffee will not make you grow. 
Drink at least four glasses of water every day. 
A full bath oftemer than once a week. 
Sleep long hours with the windows open. 
Play out of doors every day. 
A bowel movement every day. 
V 
Milk is sold at the schools at 4V-, cents a pint, 
and all children found to be underweight are asked 
to buy milk every day. All others may buy as they 
care to. We understand that a great deal of milk 
is being used in this way. It. is a fine idea. We 
have seen one card where the child, from his age 
and height, should weigh 92 pounds. Through milk¬ 
drinking he has been brought to 98 pounds. 
Wheat as Poultry Feed 
The Co-operative Povltryman of California makes 
the following statement about feeding wheat to 
poultry: 
The poultr.vmen in the vicinity of Los Angeles pa¬ 
triotically refrained from feeding any wheat to their 
hens during the war period, but after this unpleasant¬ 
ness was 'over they found that their hens were so unac¬ 
customed to wheat that they left it on the ground after 
consuming the milo and other grains. Indeed, in some 
instances, it took two or three weeks before the hens 
began eating the wheat freely. 
We have heard much the same thing from other 
places. Many poultr.vmen seem to think that a hen 
cannot live and lay well unless she is fed on wheat. 
We believe it is quite possible to make up a good 
ration of corn, barley, buckwheat and meat, on which 
hens will lay profitably, without any wheat at all. 
Some of our people go so far as to claim that egg 
production in New Jersey must be determined by the 
price of Western wheat. We doubt it. During the 
war we were told of European people who refused to 
eat cornmeal, though they claimed to be starving. 
They demanded rye bread, saying that corn is fit 
only for feeding brutes. Yet, when driven to it. some 
of these people came to like cornmeal and now call 
for it. There seems no good reason why a man 
should be the slave of a hen. 
The Slump in Western Corn 
The freight on corn from Iowa to New York is about 
30c per bushel, and from the Argentine it is about 10c, 
which gives them big advantage over us. Also, they 
probably have lower producing costs, and if necessary 
can sell their corn at point of origin far lower than 
Iowa farmers could afford to do. My understanding is 
that the scale of living among Argentine farmers is very 
low. The land is mostly owned by big landlords, and 
the actual farmer is a typical peasant of the European 
type. I am afraid the situation on beef, and possibly 
mutton and pork, will be to some extent the same as on 
the corn. It is going to be imported from the Argen¬ 
tine and New Zealand cheaper than it can be shipped 
from Iowa. I don’t know of anything to head it off 
except a tariff so high as to be practically prohibitive, 
and I am afraid that the industrial centers in the East 
would not stand for this. 
The farmers here in Iowa, in the richest farming 
country in the world, are really in very bad shape. 
They are getting from 40c to 50c for their corn, which, 
the best they can figure, costs them from 75c to 90c to 
produce. Increased production will help a little, but 
will not entirely remedy the evil. Also increased pro¬ 
duction will tend to throw more corn on the market and 
help break the price. f. 
That i.s a typical letter from an Iowa farmer, and 
if states some problems that are setting the West on 
fire. At the time this letter came we had just bought 
corn through a co-operative association. The mana¬ 
ger bought to good advantage, but by the time the 
corn reached us it cost about two cents a pound. 
Therefore it required one bushel of corn to pay the 
cost of carrying another bushel to the seaboard. We 
understand it is true that agricultural conditions in 
Argentina are such that our farmers will compete 
with low-priced, inferior labor in putting corn into 
the Eastern market. A tariff on corn high enough to 
make up the difference between freight costs from 
Towa and from Argentina would be opposed by the 
majority of Eastern manufacturers on the theory 
that it would mean higher bread and meat for their 
workmen. Eastern farmers would probably support 
if. although they are heavy buyers of corn. The 
tariff would, to some extent, stimulate corn growing 
in the East, and thus increase the home supply. Of 
course the fundamental trouble with the Western 
farmers is that their land values are too high. Many 
of them have borrowed money on inflated values, and 
must now pay with deflated prices. Fifty-cent corn 
does not fit in with $300-per-acre land. 
Western Men on Eastern Farm Land 
I was glad to see your article about Mr. Dowd’s 
favorable impression in “little old New York,” copied 
from the Chicago Breeders’ Gazette. The following ex¬ 
tracts are from another Western man, A. S. Wing, of 
Ohio, also printed in the Breeders’ Gazette, May 12, 
under the heading of “Why I Like the East.” 
“It was my good fortune to be born and reared in 
Champaign County, Ohio, a country which compares 
favorably in soil and agricultural development with the 
choicest regions of the corn belt. During the past two 
years I have lived in the East and have investigated 
agriculture, especially in New York State, and I know 
there are good farm bargains in the East. In Greene 
County I was surprised to find a field of healthy looking 
Alfalfa, the principal crops being corn, oats, rye, buck¬ 
wheat, Alfalfa and Timothy. 
“When Grandfather Wing left New York and went 
to Ohio in the early sixties he could buy the best Ohio 
land for about $(!0 an acre. That same land, which is 
still held in my family, would now bring not less than 
$200 an acre! Is not this a good reason for a young 
farmer t > consider the region of cheap land? Regard¬ 
less of what may be said to the contrary, it is a hard 
row to hoe now to get to be a farm owner in the [Mid¬ 
dle West. Take Iowa, for example, where farm land 
averages $200 an acre, and a farmer can only hope to get 
about 3 per cent on his investment. I have talked with 
several men who quit farming in the corn belt and have 
bought low-priced farms in the East. Most of them 
made good, and are getting homes and land of their 
own. There is in the East, an opportunity for the land- 
hungry farmer to get a farm of his own, at a low price, 
with good buildings, and in a neighborhood where there 
are worth-while social advantages, excellent markets, 
good roads and fine scenery. 
"I like the East because it is a settled country. The 
big cities and the big markets are here. Good roads 
prevail, and so do good schools, churches, well-kept 
homes, and all the benefits of a maturing civilization. 
In other words, one gets all the advantages of a grown¬ 
up country with cheap land thrown in. The very cities 
with their factories, that make the advantages, are the 
magnets that draw the men and boys off the farms and 
make the land cheap. I do not think this will last long. 
Already the tide is beginning to flow from the high- 
priced regions of the corn belt to the places where a 
poor man can still afford to buy a farm.” 
This is a very fair statement of the facts as they 
exist, and I hope they wiil be of interest to your readers. 
Saratoga Co., N. Y. frank wiialen. 
Manufacturing New York Wool 
F. E. Robertson, manager of the New York Sheep 
Breeders’ Association, says that by June 24 377,488 
lbs. of wool had been received at the warehouse in 
Syracuse. 
The first carload of wool to be manufaetureed was 
made into bed blankets of gray and white block pattern, 
each weighing about 4 lbs. single and 72x84 in. in size. 
One-third of these have been sold. A sample line of 
about 70 blue horse blankets, each weighing 7 lbs . was 
also made. These were sold out early, and a large list of 
waiting orders are yet to be filled. 
The second car of wool has been shipped (June 25). 
and from this will be made six sensible patterns of 
virgin wool for men’s suiting, three patterns of auto 
robes, two patterns horse blankets, black and brown, 
and an additional quantity of bed blankets. 
The directors are striving to ascertain what grade 
of virgin wool will make up what they hope to call “a 
standard line of blankets and suiting.” This project of 
manufacturing our own wools into virgin wool fabrics 
is causing most favorable comment. 
