“Px RURAL NEW-YORKER 
A Meeting of the Milk Committee 
T HE Milk Committee of Fifteen began its session 
on June 7 at the Utica Hotel, Utica, N. Y., with 
a further discussion of surplus milk. After several 
members had spoken briefly, attention was called to 
the fact that the surplus problem had been settled 
at the previous meeting on May 24. At that meeting 
all groups agreed to go on the multiple price plan. 
Under this arrangement all milk not required for 
city consumptiou is made into by-products, and the 
farmer gets the manufacturing value, less the cost 
of manufacture and sale. 
The price for Class I milk was the real subject 
for consideration. There was some awkwardness in 
approaching it, because the price of $2.33 recom¬ 
mended at the previous meeting for June milk, was 
not endorsed by one of the groups. When this angle 
of the subject was approached the discussion gained 
some spirit, but an entire good nature and coui'teous 
tone ran through it all. Mr. Boschart said what 
farmers want is more money; that his group ap¬ 
proved the previous action and he believed it would 
again endorse a recommendation for a higher price. 
Mr. Rhodes declared farmers would be dead or 
starved to death before academic questions were 
solved. They are waiting, he said, to hear the jingle 
of money. Mr. Bauder said give dairymen an ad¬ 
vance in price, be it ever so little, and they will all 
come in and do their part in organization. 
Mr. Sargeant said dairymen would never be en¬ 
tirely free from competition. He did not want to 
wait until all farms in his neighborhood were aban¬ 
doned. The unorganized farmers were not bothering 
him. It was the organized groups that made trouble 
for him. 
Mr. Newton reminded his associates that we had 
three cuts in the price of milk since November be¬ 
ta use of competition among the groups. The non¬ 
pool association would stick on any price made by 
the committee, and the thing to do was to agree on a 
price for the last part of June. 
Mr. Eastman feared the committee might go too 
fast, and get a jingle of brass and not of money. He 
suggested, first, local meetings to organize unorgan¬ 
ized dairymen. He thought it a mistake to make 
the June price $2.33. If adopted by all it would, he 
said, have fallen down. 
When the tendency seemed to be to drift from the 
main question, Mr. Dillon reminded the members 
that the reason given for the drastic reductions in 
the price of milk in November, February and May, 
was the competition between gi’oups for the 
liquid milk trade. Everyone, including leaders and 
dealers, admit that the price is too low. Many of 
the dealers express a willingness to pay more. The 
surplus is out of the way, and there remains only to 
agree on a fair price for Class I milk. If a gentle¬ 
man’s agreement was not sufficient, then the thing 
to do was to create simple organized machinery 
to see that the provisions of the agreement were 
observed by all, and to provide a full measure of 
publicity for offenders. Since price cutting by the 
groups brought on the price war and resulted in 
present ruinous prices, then the task is to stop the 
warfare, provide against its recurrence and go back 
to a living price for milk. The eyes of every dairy¬ 
man in the State, he said, were focused on the com¬ 
mittee room, with a hope in his heart for relief now. 
Mr. Williams said that prices had been changed 
at any time during the month, and that contracts 
provided for the privilege of changing prices when 
conditions warranted, and suggested that the price 
be increased on June 15. 
Mr. Boschart then offered a resolution to make 
the price of Class I milk, on and after June 16, 
$2.33 per 100 lbs., with the usual differentials. 
Mr. Burden said the League had not made its 
June price when he voted for the $2.33 price for 
June on May 24, but he could not support the reso¬ 
lution and would vote against it. He suggested that 
it be laid on the table and the delegation would take 
it up with the executive committee of the League. 
He said to pass it may put members in an embar¬ 
rassing position if it became the subject of a Federal 
investigation, and it is a Federal matter, as it deals 
with different States. 
Mi*. Tuck opposed the i*esolution and suggested to 
wait and ask Prof. Warren of Cornell to make a 
survey of the dairy situation and report conditions. 
Mr. Sargeant, who is a lawyer, could see no danger 
of going to Atlanta, and expressed willingness to 
take chances. Mr. Rhodes, who is also a lawyer, 
had no fear of an investigation. Mi*. Halliday had 
consulted two able lawyex*s on the legal phases and 
was assured that it was legally all right Mr. Gar- 
lock, who is also a lawyex*, said Federal laws grant 
exemptions to farm organizations, and since farmers 
are facing bankruptcy he did not fear legal ernbai*- 
rassments. 
Believing, he said, from the discussion that a mod¬ 
ification of the resolution would make it satisfac¬ 
tory to both sides, Mi*. Dillon suggested a change 
in the latter part of the resolution. It then read as 
follows: 
Whereas, The price i*eceived for Class I milk pro¬ 
duced under requirements of the New York Board of 
Health is below the average cost of production, and 
with the steadily advancing price of butter and cheese, 
therefore be it 
Resolved, That it is the sentiment of this committee 
that the price of Class I milk, on and after .Tune 16, be 
substantially increased, and that representatives of the 
Dairymen’s League be requested to present this view 
to its executive committee and to notify the other mem¬ 
bers of this committee, if it succeeds in establishing an 
increased price for the last half of June. 
The change did not alter the position of the 
League members. They voted against it* Mi*. Jones 
of the independent group did not vote. Mr. Gar- 
lock favoi*ed the price increase, but feared the 
competition of unorganized dairymen in his trade. 
He finally voted for the resolution. All the other 
members voted for it. Mi*. Dillon and Mr. Eastman, 
being honorai*y members, had no vote. 
Interested papers are giving detailed reports of 
these meetings with the hope of spreading the good 
influences of the meetings over the territox*y, but it 
would be an error to assume from i*eading the dif- 
fevent views that there has been any friction. The 
best possible spii*it pi*evails. Everyone speaks out 
freely, as they should, but there is no unkind word 
ot bitterness of any kind. The lai*ge majority ax*e 
impatient to get quick results. The others favor 
mox*e deliberation. All concede, howevei*, that these 
members are 'pei*sonally sincei*e in their expi*essed 
wish for a higher price, and this gives hope that 
the increase may be made for the 16th, or that at 
latest a still better advance may come by July 1. 
The committee will meet again on June 28, in 
Utica. 
All Back of the Milk Conference 
I was delighted at the action to get the various milk 
producers and dealers together, and at the result; pos¬ 
sibly should say the seeming result. Farmers cannot 
go on at the low price of milk ; in fact, all we have to 
sell we realize so little, and for all we have to purchase 
we have to pay from twice to over three times in some 
instances the cost previous to the war. It’s not fair or 
just. p. e. W. 
Herkimer Co., N. Y. 
I am glad of the effoi't to relieve the chaotic condi¬ 
tion of the dairy business. I have seen for some time 
the folly of keeping alive the hostility that some of the 
organizations would have us keep alive. I approve the 
effort to get together. a. c. b. 
Dutchess Co., N. Y. 
I wish to thank you for the fine start that has been 
made toward settling this milk controversy. We have 
had meetings in Herkimer County, as well as the other 
counties, and so far thei'e had been nothing done, only 
to have each organization say they were willing to get 
together and do something. I feel that there is no one 
organization that will do for all farmers because we see 
things differently, but if the different organizations can 
agree on a price plan and bind each other to be loyal 
to the plan it will certainly help the farmers to know 
what to do. If one organization can handle its station 
more economically than the other it can, of course, turn 
more money to its farmers, but it will be fair to all if 
the market price is stabilized. 
Wishing these men the loyal support of each organi¬ 
zation member in trying to work out this plan, I hope 
to see the fai-mer get something definite to work on. 
Herkimer Co., N. Y. L. e. knights. 
I am especially interested in the milk situation, and 
believe that the lack of unity among dairymen today is 
largely due to the improper management by officials, 
who are for the most part academic farmers. Things 
cannot continue this way indefinitely. What we want 
is competent and efficient service at a reasonable price. 
You seem to have the logical solution of the milk busi¬ 
ness in mind, if the already existing factions do not 
prevent your views from materialization. You gave us 
a boost in the fight of 1016, and many of the speakers 
quoted, without acknowledgment, your speech in New 
York City at a critical time. I think you have helped to 
clarify the confused condition of affairs existing at 
present and that it will be of real value to all dairymen. 
St. Lawrence Co., N. Y. p. w. a. 
It is gratifying to learn that representatives of the 
milk-producing associations have at last had a confer¬ 
ence, with a wish to secure a fair price for milk for 
the producer. Are dairymen going to stand with folded 
917 
arms and see their leaders block this effort to get a 
price for milk? We in this section receive one cent less 
per quart for our milk simply lecausc of the low price 
in New York. j. y. 
Connecticut. 
Just* as you say, our producers are entitled to and 
need a higher price for milk, and my interest, like 
yours, is to “get that idea over.’’ Let those who are 
responsible for failure explain the reasons for it, and 
we will seek and continue to seek to get producers to 
undex-stand the true condition, and provide the remedy 
if there is one to provide. I have a strong conviction 
that surplus conditions can be greatly reduced. Sta¬ 
tistics ought to show the amount of milk produced in 
New York City milk territory and if there is more fluid 
milk sold than is produced, then it is plain that the 
surplus is coming from outside of territory where milk 
is safeguarded, and I am sure that we can get con¬ 
sumers and health authorities to correct that condition. 
The time has arrived to get better prices at the farm 
for milk, and if it is necessary to have a fight to get 
them, why, let’s have the fight. mark g. du bois. 
Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 
Farmers about here are well pleased with the efforts 
to bring the rival factions of the milk war together. 
Chenango Co., N. Y. l. l. L. 
Most assuredly hundreds of farmers in this section 
welcome the conference on the milk question. We know 
many discouraged dairymen who do not know what 
way to turn for even necessities. l . b. g. 
■Oneida Co., N. Y. 
Cultivation of Orchards 
HE importance of plowing and clean cultivation 
in the apple orchard has been brought out many 
times, but now from California come some new 
points in regard to why such practices may be bene¬ 
ficial. With the corn plane it was found that at a 
temperature of 64 degrees there was twice as much 
l’oot growth when the supply of oxygen to the roots 
was inci*eased from 3 per cent to 3.6 per cent, and 
that there was thx*ee times as mnch growth when the 
supply was furthei* increased to 10 per cent. At the 
higher temperature of 87 degrees, an increase in 
oxygen from 3 per cent to 3.6 per cent resulted in 
five times as much growth, while at 10 per cent the 
growth was another three times greater! Now, it 
is well known that on some heavy soils growth of 
apple trees is relatively small, considering the high 
fertility of these soils, while on some light soils 
growth is quite strong, in spite of the lack of plant 
food. The California i*esults point toward the bet¬ 
ter aeration found in the lighter soils as being partly 
responsible for these differences. Plowing and cul¬ 
tivating, of course, open the soil and permit a bet¬ 
ter supply of oxygen to the roots of the trees. 
Whether these tremendous increases found in the 
growth of the corn plant, due to slight additional 
supplies of oxygen to the x*oots, can be expected to 
follow in the case of orchard ti*ees is, of course, not 
substantiated, but the indication is certainly there. 
And when one considers that the most of the growth 
made by trees occui's during early Spring and when 
it is remembered that fruit buds are formed before 
midsummer, the importance of eai*ly plowing and 
cultivation is emphasized ‘all the more. This also 
seems another reason for keeping the soil well 
stuffed with organic matter, for that seems to admit 
air. A cover crop with big-rooted plants, like the 
clovers, will help in the same way, for as these large 
roots decay air is admitted to the soil. 
One Angle of the Consolidated School 
H ERE is one side of school consolidation not 
often discussed. Because of illness in the 
family one little country girl lived with relatives in 
a small town: 
She started to school this year in the two-room 
schoolhouse in the little village where several districts 
are consolidated. The schoolhouse is badly overcrowded 
with no means of ventilation. As a result the teachers 
and pupils have had colds all Winter. At one time 
over half were absent with whooping cough. They 
have had chicken-pox and had to close the school 'at 
one time because of a scarlet fever epidemic and this 
week my little girl came home saying “Some of the 
children have hair trouble. What do you suppose that 
is? Miss W— said we must all have our heads sham¬ 
pooed tonight.” Fortunately Gertrude did not develop 
“hair trouble,” but some of the others did. So it. seems 
to me that consolidation is certainly not desirable from 
a health standpoint, even for those who live nearby. 
Thus the consolidated school is not all ideal, as 
some of its advocates would have us believe. There 
are undoubtedly xnaixy cases where the children will 
be better off in health, morals and sensible training 
in the district school, with a good teacher and a 
good community spirit. We intend to try to de¬ 
velop the school near home before the entire system 
is scrapped. 
