ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 39 
occurs, is superficial. The milk is conducted from the funnel through 
f pipe into a reservoir. An employe puts the cans, one after another, 
into a box or vat (of a capacity of thirty to forty gallons) containing 
hot water, scrubs them some with a brush, then holds them over a 
pipe and lets into them for a moment a jet of steam. This is the 
cleaning the cans receive. This water generally serves to wash forty 
to one hundred or more cans. 
The milk being taken in, the employes proceed with the work 
of making from it butter or cheese, or both, as the proprietor of the 
factory (whose only interest in the milk, is the fixed sum of money 
which he charges for making, fitting for market and marketing, the 
butter and cheese produced therefrom) shall direct. 
In from ten to fifty days thereafter the proprietor puts the pro¬ 
duct in the market sells it on the board of trade at Elgin, or sends 
it to a commission house in some city to be sold, as his own conveni¬ 
ence or interest dictates. Generally, upon the expiration of two 
months he announces to his patrons a dividend—and, without any 
explanatory statement, he simply gives each a check for a sum of 
money. 
The prices agreed to be charged for making, boxing and market¬ 
ing the cheese vary some—ranging generally from two to two and 
one-half cents per pound, and for butter generally it is five cents per 
pound. The proprietor of the factory keeps the accounts and figures 
the dividends. The patrons seldom keep an accurate account of the 
milk delivered. They do not know the aggregate quantity of milk 
delivered to the factory each month; neither do they know the 
aggregate amount of butter or cheese or both made, nor to whom or 
when or for what price the proprietor of the factory sold the pro¬ 
ducts. 
Concerning all of these important matters the dairyman is gen¬ 
erally not only ignorant, but is unable easily to ascertain the facts. 
It is difficult for him to obtain the data by which he could determine 
whether the products were in quality or quantity sufficient, the price 
obtained the market value, and the amount retained only the charges 
agreed upon. 
The proprietor’s interest is promoted by obtaining all the milk 
for his factory which, with his facilities, he is able to handle ; hence, 
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